News
The Leadership Challenge in 2024: Why Do Some Millennials Shun Management Roles?
A new challenge for companies is emerging in 2024 with the convergence of multiple generations within organizations. Following the retirement of baby boomers, millennials have begun to assume leadership positions; however, a Visier survey in the United States revealed that only 38% of “individual employees are interested in
becoming people managers in their current organization.”
According to Alfredo Alfaro, CEO of First People Consulting, this trend is already evident in Latin America in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. In Peru, the sectors experiencing this shift are technology, marketing, and operations.
Why aren’t millennials seeking management roles?
To understand why millennials don’t want management positions, you have to understand what they want when looking for a job, says Mario Bonifaz, commercial manager at Onuris Talent. “Millennials prioritize freedom—whether it’s the freedom to move around and work remotely or the freedom to do other things on the side. So, they avoid those leadership roles because they won’t allow them to live the kind of life they want,” he explains.
For Alfaro, this isn’t a conformist attitude, as some might suggest, but rather a sincere reflection on their life priorities. “The current climate of uncertainty and now recession is impacting professionals’ decisions. Peruvian millennials between the ages of 27 and 35 are now asking themselves a question they didn’t ask very often before: What is important to me? This brings not only their professional lives
but also their personal lives into focus. They’re seeking balance.”
According to Ernesto Rubio, CEO of Ronald Career Services Group, millennials don’t find a “civil service”-style career path of vertical growth attractive, as conceived by Generation X or baby boomers—those current bosses
in their 40s or 50s who have risen to become managers or directors through their own effort and sacrifice. Millennials in their mid-30s—and, of course, recent Gen Z graduates—value other aspects of the professional world over “being the boss.”
Challenges for Companies
Companies need to rethink how to adapt leadership models to the generation they work with, because motivators have changed, Alfaro notes. In this regard, the challenge is to establish a new “emotional salary” structure to attract and retain talent.
According to Mario Bonifaz, a small percentage—just 5%—of companies in Peru are implementing changes to adapt to this trend in employability. “In our country, there are still many leaders who struggle to let go of the reins and allow their employees to work remotely, for example,” he notes.
For Ernesto Rubio, large Peruvian companies need to emulate the career development structures of “school companies.” “Companies like Coca-Cola, IBM, and P&G already have succession plans in place alongside mentoring programs for the next generation. That is what I would recommend to organizations
, given the current trend where millennials are assuming leadership positions, often without having had mentoring tailored to their profile,” he notes.
Employability specialist Andrea Juzcamaita warns of a talent drain from organizations if changes aren’t made in time. “There can be two scenarios: having older generations that lack an adequate connection with millennials, leading them to leave the organization due to a lack of elements like commitment and purpose beyond financial gain; or hiring millennials as managers who don’t last in the role. So they have to change their structures to ensure profitability,” she argues.
Along the same lines, Sandra Cubas, regional managing partner at Cornerstone Group, warns of high staff turnover in middle and top management positions compared to 15 years ago. “People tend to stay between 5 and 7 years in a company in top positions, and in middle management roles they stay 2 to 5 years. In other words, they seek to grow, but they don’t necessarily end up committing to the project or the company,” she says.
From the Millennial Challenge to the Centennial
Generational convergence is already a reality in most companies in Peru. Experts agree that emotional compensation is increasingly valued over financial compensation among both younger millennials and centennials.
Sandra Cubas maintains that it is important to develop soft skills within organizations. That is, how you communicate and how you connect with these new professionals. “Today, what this new generation is looking for is a more open structure, with greater and much more flexible communication, and other types of benefits that aren’t necessarily financial. Work-life balance and building relationships are valued more highly.
So, when an organization isn’t willing to invest or adapt, it struggles to retain talent, and turnover rates will be much higher.”
For this reason, organizations must update their job profiles, as the skills of millennials or baby boomers differ from those of centennials. Additionally, it is important for companies to update their job offers with new benefits, new requirements, and more multifaceted roles to keep employees engaged and motivated at work; otherwise, staff turnover will become a problem within organizations.
