Millennials Think They Can Do Better Than Their Bosses

The future of workplace is undergoing a huge transformation, owing to the emergence of advanced technologies. However, another wave of change is also coming from the millennials as more of them are flocking into the workplaces. According to an interesting survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and Future Workplace, seven out of 10 employees worldwide (69%) say they can do their boss’s job better and millennials form to be a major composition of those employees.

This global survey was conducted amongst 3,000 employees in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S, across five factors: communication, competence, empowerment, professional development, and support.

Manager-Employee Relationship

The survey revealed that the employee-manager connection remains critically important across the globe. Quoting the statistics, 70% of employees say their relationship with their manager is an extremely or very important factor when deciding to remain at their current job, with 22% agreeing it’s somewhat important. Millennial (79%) and Gen Z (73%) employees feel strongest about the importance of the manager relationship for retention. Contrary to this, the older the employee, the more critical they are of their boss. However, if seen the bigger picture, overall, managers are found good at their jobs with the majority of employees grading bosses an A or B for competence.

An interesting fact surfaced in the study was, while the bosses worldwide are well regarded by their employees, at least one in three employees feels their manager could improve at modelling work-life balance (37%); their ability to coach for better job performance (37%); handling performance-related issues (33%); and communication (33%).

In terms of having the most satisfactory relationship with their managers, India tops the ladder. Indian employees are by far the most satisfied with their managers, with at least eight out of 10 grading managers an A or B in every category. Conversely, French, German, and U.K. workers are by far the most pessimistic about manager performance, as those countries ranked in the bottom three in every category surveyed. The categories under survey included competency, communications, hard work, work life balance and job coaching.

Call for CXOs’

As the future of workplace is witnessing a change, the leadership or the CXOs need to gear up.

“As the working world continues to evolve, and new generations enter the workforce, styles, preferences, and perceptions will continue to change. With the number of Millennial managers growing, attitudes toward aspects of management and working style will also change. As the student becomes the teacher, organizations should have a clear lesson plan for leadership development and effectiveness in key areas to set tomorrow’s managers up for ongoing success,” says Joyce Maroney, executive director, The Workforce Institute at Kronos.