1 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:06,140 Hi. 2 00:00:06,140 --> 00:00:09,960 I'm Meryam Bukhari, a student in the 2016 class of the MIT Sloan 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,040 MBA program. 4 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:13,960 I'm 26 years old and a millennial. 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:15,040 What do young workers-- 6 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,410 millennials-- today want from their jobs and careers? 7 00:00:18,410 --> 00:00:21,300 And how do they want to establish and maintain 8 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:23,200 a balance between work and life? 9 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,810 These questions are important to lots of people-- 10 00:00:25,810 --> 00:00:29,410 employers wanting to recruit and keep young talented workers, 11 00:00:29,410 --> 00:00:32,940 millennials like me who are about to enter the workforce, 12 00:00:32,940 --> 00:00:36,930 and hordes of consultants giving us and business leaders 13 00:00:36,930 --> 00:00:39,850 advice about the changing workforce. 14 00:00:39,850 --> 00:00:41,840 So let's start with what our parents told us 15 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,100 when we were growing up. 16 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:46,050 My parents, like I would guess many of your parents 17 00:00:46,050 --> 00:00:49,120 if you're a millennial, said that if I worked hard in school 18 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,030 and got a good education, I would do well in life, 19 00:00:52,030 --> 00:00:55,420 even better financially and socially than they did. 20 00:00:55,420 --> 00:00:58,150 But today, many of us are worried 21 00:00:58,150 --> 00:00:59,980 that our generation, the millennials, 22 00:00:59,980 --> 00:01:02,750 might not achieve that goal. 23 00:01:02,750 --> 00:01:05,620 And if we ask young people today if that's 24 00:01:05,620 --> 00:01:07,420 what they really want out of their careers, 25 00:01:07,420 --> 00:01:09,530 we get different answers. 26 00:01:09,530 --> 00:01:13,220 For example, the people who took this course last year 27 00:01:13,220 --> 00:01:15,500 said that their top probability was addressing 28 00:01:15,500 --> 00:01:18,850 big, important problems at work, while also having 29 00:01:18,850 --> 00:01:20,680 a sensible work-life balance. 30 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,610 Doing well financially was also important. 31 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:27,210 But these data, like other surveys of young professionals, 32 00:01:27,210 --> 00:01:30,200 show that it's not at the top of the list. 33 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:30,710 Hi. 34 00:01:30,710 --> 00:01:32,200 My name is Eileen Rivera. 35 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,420 And I'm a third year student at Wellesley College. 36 00:01:34,420 --> 00:01:37,160 I'm also a millennial about to enter the workforce. 37 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,200 And as you saw, there is no one single most important 38 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:41,030 aspiration. 39 00:01:41,030 --> 00:01:43,750 This extended quote from a young woman in the class 40 00:01:43,750 --> 00:01:46,610 illustrates how she sees these different aspiration fitting 41 00:01:46,610 --> 00:01:47,110 together. 42 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,640 "My dream includes a job where I do 43 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,850 important work, something that gives back to the community. 44 00:01:54,850 --> 00:01:57,620 I dream of having a work-life balance that melds together. 45 00:01:57,620 --> 00:02:00,060 I hope that I'm able to utilize technology 46 00:02:00,060 --> 00:02:02,920 to make work more accessible and eventually have the option 47 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,570 to do work from home. 48 00:02:04,570 --> 00:02:07,160 I do hope to be able to find a company that has a retirement 49 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,070 plan where the company contributes 50 00:02:09,070 --> 00:02:10,560 some percentage to the plan. 51 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,580 In some regards, I hope to have some of the same benefits 52 00:02:13,580 --> 00:02:14,770 that my parents had-- 53 00:02:14,770 --> 00:02:18,070 health insurance, retirement plans, et cetera. 54 00:02:18,070 --> 00:02:20,910 Most importantly, I want to have passion for my work. 55 00:02:20,910 --> 00:02:22,490 I want my work to help people. 56 00:02:22,490 --> 00:02:24,750 And I hope to make a decent living, 57 00:02:24,750 --> 00:02:27,690 while making the generations before me proud." 58 00:02:27,690 --> 00:02:30,700 All this suggests that even though our generation shares 59 00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:33,010 many of the same concerns of prior generations, 60 00:02:33,010 --> 00:02:36,110 we care more about having an impact and work-life balance 61 00:02:36,110 --> 00:02:36,930 and money. 62 00:02:36,930 --> 00:02:39,100 Our generation of workers also looks 63 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:41,310 very different than workforces of the past, 64 00:02:41,310 --> 00:02:43,820 both in America and around the world. 65 00:02:43,820 --> 00:02:46,630 Almost half of Americans today are people of color. 66 00:02:46,630 --> 00:02:49,200 And many millennials here and around the world 67 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,310 are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. 68 00:02:52,310 --> 00:02:55,545 We will all be working together, learning from each other, 69 00:02:55,545 --> 00:02:57,420 and some of us will be starting families that 70 00:02:57,420 --> 00:02:58,910 blend our diverse backgrounds. 71 00:02:58,910 --> 00:03:01,850 So we will want our workplaces to embrace who we are 72 00:03:01,850 --> 00:03:03,710 and where we come from. 73 00:03:03,710 --> 00:03:06,020 But many millennials are also having a hard time 74 00:03:06,020 --> 00:03:06,920 getting started. 75 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:09,210 In the US, the majority of millennials 76 00:03:09,210 --> 00:03:12,560 say we are not earning enough money to live like we want to. 77 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,800 More than a third of millennials report 78 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:17,760 that we depend on our families for financial support. 79 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,180 So many of us have to start out in debt from student loans 80 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:23,420 and can't find full-time or career-building jobs 81 00:03:23,420 --> 00:03:26,090 in the fields we studied in school. 82 00:03:26,090 --> 00:03:28,770 How does all this affect how and where we work? 83 00:03:28,770 --> 00:03:32,680 Well, for one thing, we move around from job to job a lot. 84 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,370 A recent survey said people between age 22 85 00:03:35,370 --> 00:03:39,170 and 32 change jobs between one and four times in the last five 86 00:03:39,170 --> 00:03:39,850 years. 87 00:03:39,850 --> 00:03:44,200 And 66% expect to change jobs again in the next few years. 88 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,110 Many of us are also sending a clear message 89 00:03:46,110 --> 00:03:49,480 that we want more opportunities, not just for ourselves, 90 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,570 but for everyone regardless of race or the income bracket 91 00:03:52,570 --> 00:03:53,870 in which they were raised. 92 00:03:53,870 --> 00:03:56,990 That's why some are protesting against low wages of fast food 93 00:03:56,990 --> 00:04:00,660 companies, racial injustices, and income inequality 94 00:04:00,660 --> 00:04:02,410 as seen by the Occupy Wall Street Movement 95 00:04:02,410 --> 00:04:05,607 in 2011 and by protests of women and men 96 00:04:05,607 --> 00:04:07,190 who are forced to work in unacceptable 97 00:04:07,190 --> 00:04:11,297 conditions in garment factories in global supply chains. 98 00:04:11,297 --> 00:04:13,130 What does this mean for the next generations 99 00:04:13,130 --> 00:04:14,710 of managers and leaders? 100 00:04:14,710 --> 00:04:17,350 Sloan School MBAs who studied data from last year's class, 101 00:04:17,350 --> 00:04:19,350 concluded that as managers of the future, 102 00:04:19,350 --> 00:04:23,150 they will need to listen to their employees, 103 00:04:23,150 --> 00:04:25,320 engage them in solving problems that really matter 104 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,450 to the organization and to society, 105 00:04:27,450 --> 00:04:30,350 and be flexible in how, when, and where 106 00:04:30,350 --> 00:04:33,280 people work so they can be productive and attend 107 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,120 to personal and family affairs. 108 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,662 Those are the messages sent by last year's class. 109 00:04:37,662 --> 00:04:39,120 Let's see how this year's class can 110 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:40,494 bring our voices into the process 111 00:04:40,494 --> 00:04:42,679 of shaping the future of work.