FROLITICKS

I recently read a Washington Post article which begged the question as to why Millennials — usually defined as those born between 1982 and 2000 — keep leaking government secrets? The article noted that a 2016 poll by the Economic Innovation Group found that 72 percent of American Millennials had a low confidence in their federal government.  Who can blame them given the Trump administration’s track record to date!  The author also noted that young employees are more likely to demonstrate less loyalty to corporate employers for a number of legitimate reasons.  Among these is the fact that corporations are investing little in employee training.  Instead, they are hiring young persons whom they believe have the requisite expertise and can work independently without immediate close supervision.  In addition, Millennials are much more likely to seek other employment if they are not quickly appreciated and consequently promoted in relation to their chosen career paths.

Bettered educated and informed employees today are much more likely to whistleblow on complaints about working conditions, workplace harassment, illegal corporate activities, etc., etc. Furthermore, there are more professional career-oriented women in the labour force who are willing to speak out publicly about inequities and harassment in the workplace.  We’ve seen the result of this trend in numerous recent high profile cases of sexual harassment highlighted in the media.

Governments and corporations like to talk about employee loyalty as being important to the successful delivery of programs, services and products. However, the nature of loyalty is a two-way street.  Employers also have to demonstrate loyalty to their employees and ‘walk the talk’.  When employees decide to whistleblow about irregularities or breeches of policy, then employers need to take such matters seriously and fairly.  Unfortunately, often enough the employer does not act on the complaint in an appropriate and fair manner.  This can result in employees believing that it is acceptable to leak information about the matter to outside sources, frequently via social media.  Of course, when this happens, the whistleblower may be punished and promising careers can be ended.

Books have been written and studies have been made about the values and attitudes of the ‘Millennial’ generation. Millennials are becoming more important in the labour force, particularly since the Baby-Boomers are retiring and Generation X is right behind. For Millennials, it’s a priority to make the world a better place and to promote improvements in work-life balance.  For this reason, Millennials are more likely to be interested in an organization that cares about global, social and environmental causes.  Organizations demonstrating good ‘corporate social responsibility’ will strengthen employee loyalty and will be more successful in eliciting their employees’ trust.  If more organizations were to do this, perhaps there will be a much needed renewed trust by all of us in both governments and corporations.