Millennials Drive Big Changes in Hiring and Benefits, Surveys Suggest

Millennials are driving significant changes in the way organizations approach hiring and retention by making big demands for training, pay, and opportunities for advancement, new survey data suggests.

The staff at more than half of nonprofits grew this year, and the hiring boom is likely to increase in 2017, with roughly the same proportion of organizations planning to add workers next year, according to surveys of organizations in New York and Washington. The demand for talent, researchers found, is pushing efforts to compete for workers and keep employees happy.

Two out of three nonprofit employers cited a desire for training and professional development as the most common consideration by candidates for their jobs, according to PNP Staffing Group, which produces the annual surveys of compensation and hiring in the regions it serves.

The reports didn’t target any age group, although they noted that the major trends they identified probably were driven largely by millennials.

The second biggest item on job seekers’ wish lists: clearly defined tracks for promotions and raises. Sixty-one percent of nonprofit recruiters in Washington and 58 percent in New York said candidates are asking for such clarity.

Many millennials are burdened by student-loan debt, making compensation vital to attracting and keeping young workers, said Gayle Brandel, president of PNP Staffing Group. She urges employers in large cities to take heed of the salary ranges in PNP’s report. “If they’re paying under our ranges, they’re really out of the market,” she says. “They’ve got to get in the game.”

Another sign of the millennials’ influence, and of a stiff competition for qualified workers: Employers don’t expect new hires to stay long. Seventy-eight percent of employers surveyed said they anticipate that a new employee won’t make more than a two- or three-year commitment to their organization.

This represents a big change compared with previous generations, says Ms. Brandel, when many nonprofit workers spent their whole careers at only one or two organizations. “Millennials don’t see it that way,” she said. “That, in essence, changes the culture of nonprofit organizations.”

More than 1,500 nonprofits participated in the two surveys and a third report focused on the Philadelphia metro area.

Among other findings:

• Eighty-three percent of nonprofits in New York and 81 percent in Washington reported giving raises that at least matched the rise in the cost of living in 2016.
• Program growth was the most common reason organizations cited for their plans to add staff in 2017. About 37 percent of Washington groups that plan to hire next year cited turnover and retirements as the reason, compared with 22 percent in New York. Washington’s more transient population, and its preponderance of nonprofit associations, might explain its higher turnover rate, Ms. Brandel says. The generational shift in leadership is having a big impact on associations, where “some of those executive directors have been there for 30 years.”
• The overwhelming majority of organizations acknowledged that job satisfaction among their employees needed improvement. In New York, 60 percent of groups said specific issues were hampering employee satisfaction, and 23 percent said job satisfaction over all needed a boost. In Washington, 68 percent cited specific issues, and 14 percent said worker satisfaction over all needed improvement.

Note: Survey included data from more than 1,500 organizations.

Source: PNP Staffing Group