Bought loyalty - retaining Gen Y Russia Viewpoint careers advice blog

Bought loyalty - retaining Gen Y Russia Developing and keeping hold of local talent is critical in Russia. With declining birth rates and increasing mortality rates, as well as poor infrastructure and a less than desirable climate, it’s not an easy place to bring talent to. How do you hold on to the generation most renowned for having a high turnover? This is a group that have come into a very different workplace to their parents, who from the mid-90s had the experience of over-inflated wages and bitter competition for talent. They therefore tended to move jobs very frequently and saw this as the norm. Gen Y Russia seem to be fairly pragmatic and don’t plan to act the same way. Neatly, 80 per cent expect to have six or fewer employers in their career, but they’re aware that job security is hard to come by. There is a degree of uncertainty throughout this group, with more than half unsure of how long they should stay with their first employer. Organisations have an opportunity to influence them and create a loyal mindset with the right employee value proposition. First and foremost, the money has to be right. 73 per cent of Russian 18â€"30 year olds want personal wealth most from their work. However, it’s not the only driverâ€"they also look for interesting work (71 per cent) and want to pick up knowledge and expertise along the way (57 per cent). Like Gen Y China, they also place a lot of importance on having a modern or pleasant working space. They’re not so bothered about helping others, solving problems or even feeling like they’ve made a positive contribution at work. There’s no real interest in creating a social life around work, which puts them at odds with many of their global peers, and are not as bothered by flexible working arrangements. Instead, they look for more tangible rewards. Implications for HR It looks like retaining this group is not too difficult a challenge, provided you’re willing to provide appropriate levels of pay and engaging work. Also beneficial would be a formal training and development programme to help Gen Y Russia attain the knowledge and expertise they want. Given the right employee value proposition, this group should be relatively loyal, especially when compared to many of their peers across the world. Yandex stands as an example of a company that has worked hard to retain talent. It makes sure employees are engaged in interesting work in an inspiring environment. However, even so it suffers from complaints of less than competitive salaries. Read the full report on Gen Y Russia and The World of Work. If you would like a printed free copy of our Gen Y research then please email us with your name and postal address. Send me a copy Engage with fellow HR professionals across the globe and stay up to date with the latest HR news, by joining our LinkedIn group. Join the conversation