Top 10 Millennial business concerns organisations can’t afford to ignore

Millennials – a generation defined by Pew Research Centre as those born between 1981 and 1996 – have been the source of fascination for businesses and academics in recent years, presenting enormous commercial opportunities in almost every market.

But getting into the mindset of an entire generation can be tricky, with only a few organisations having cracked the code. Luckily, market research company Morning Consult has composed a report that sheds light on Millennials and their business concerns. Here, we examine the top 10 insights provided by the report:

Labour practices
When compared with previous generations, Millennials can be considered among the world’s most ethical consumers; just 25 percent of the participants in Market Consult’s survey said they would purchase goods or services from a company if they knew it adopted labour practices they didn’t support.

Employee wellness
The way companies treat their employees is also a key consideration for Millennials. In fact, 51 percent of participants said they would like a company more if it paid employees a good wage, while 40 percent said their estimation of a company would go up if it was generally considered a nice place to work.

Sharing is caring
Millennials greatly favour organisations that engage in charitable activities. Indeed, 38 percent of those surveyed said they would engage with a company more if it gave a small share of its profits to a good cause.

The term Millennials most associated with their favourite brands was ‘well priced given the quality’, followed by ‘reliable’, ‘high quality’ and ‘trustworthy’

Diversity matters
According to the report, 36 percent of respondents said they would judge a company on how diverse it was, with 32 percent saying they preferred companies that made efforts to promote women into leadership positions.

Politically minded
The politics of an organisation can make or break its relationship with Millennials. This was emphasised by the fact 29 percent of respondents said they would not buy goods or services from an organisation that adopted a different political stance to their own.

Meanwhile, 24 percent revealed they had boycotted a company in the last year, with 26 percent of this contingent citing political reasons.

Brand association
The term Millennials most associated with their favourite brands was ‘well priced given the quality’, followed by ‘reliable’, ‘high quality’ and ‘trustworthy’.

Brand loyalty
When asked what factors had increased their loyalty to a brand, Millennials earmarked reliability and/or durability as being the most important influence, with quality of products and customer service ranking closely behind.

The customer is always right
At the other end of the spectrum, 74 percent of Millennials cited poor customer service as a key factor in reducing brand loyalty, while 70 percent singled out brands not paying employees well enough.

Popularity contest
Technological organisations were by far the most favoured brands among young adults, with YouTube, Google and Netflix topping the list.

Honesty is the best policy
When asked to choose the value that mattered most from a list of 22, Millennials opted for ‘honesty’. ‘Reliability’ and ‘helping family’ came second and third, respectively.