The 'Millennial' Bane

An entrepreneur's journey is almost always a lonely one. The word, 'startup' has taken on a sexy avatar with regular funding news to the tune of crores of rupees. However, there are many who are not necessarily looking to pick up funding. We are trying to build companies in the new economy but with the old age focus on self-sustaining profitability.

For the last six months, I have been speaking to many 'self-starters' who didn't start with 'mommy and daddy's' seed capital of Rs 2 crore. We literally started with our own savings, acumen and hard work. In my dipstick survey, the biggest pain point for young entrepreneurs was talent retention. A website developing company out of Gurugram, a content editing firm in Kolkata, a production house in Mumbai – all complained of attrition as the biggest irritant. Copious hours and money spent on training people who use younger companies as boot camps only to eventually fly the nest.

The oblique reference to the word 'millennial' also came up several times. Millennials will form the bulk of the Indian workforce; as per studies, Gen Y is likely to occupy 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the workforce by 2020 and 2025 respectively. Being an 'elder millennial' myself, this survey and my own personal experience fascinated me enough to write about it. Being dependent on lean, efficient teams, young entrepreneurs can't splurge on human resource; our biggest USP becomes training fresh talent. Hiring millennials, therefore, becomes the bane of our existence.

The 'millennial' is driven, confident, and experimental; making for the ideal human resource for growing companies. They are open to taking on evolving roles and willing to don multiple caps. But most are fed on the 'startup' dream of swanky glass offices with foosball in the corner as recreation. Their perception of startups is deeply disjointed as most disdain the early stage and want to magically plonk their derrieres at the 'unicorn' stage; all the while wearing their 'startup' badge with pride.

The millennial's inability to know their own minds also emerged as the biggest issue. Fickle beyond reparation, they flit through multiple jobs in a year. My company's LinkedIn job posts have applications from many millennials who have joined a new job just a month ago and are already looking for a shift. During interviews, they have no plausible explanation for this need for a job change. This generation is also aware of the need for work-life balance and their own 'down time'. Even complete freshers come with their own list of demands! Obviously, the lack of a substantial age gap between this entitled bunch and their bosses makes for flippant behaviour at times.

I could write a book from my personal experience of working with millennials. I have burnt many fingers by now, learnt a lot, and loathed many an experience. From taking job offers just to negotiate fatter pay packages from their current organisations to haggling for salaries while encouraging bidding wars between companies, today's millennial is as smart as they come. In our early years, we wouldn't dare negotiate salaries; accepting what was offered as long as it was commensurate with our work experience. Also, being given extra work by the boss was an achievement.

And then there are millennials with 'personal issues' – family problems, love life debacles, substance addiction. I have seen them all. The most recent experience was of an employee who divulged a couple of weeks after joining that she was clinically depressed and is on medication. Being well-aware that mental health is as important as one's physical health, I encouraged her to concentrate on work and find her balance. When she wanted to resign after three months' training, I offered flexible hours, work from home options, and personally counselled her on learning to find the meaning of life through work, writing, and art. But to no avail! Just a couple of weeks after thanking and assuring me for accepting her mental health issues, I was left high and dry with a resignation over a midnight email; no apology, no explanation, no thanks!

And that's when I realised that my dipstick survey had come true in front of my eyes. Talented as the millennial may be, there are only a few who are ambitious and committed to building careers. Most are happy hopping from job-to-job, blogging for fun, trying to be Instagram influencers, and taking time off from work to seek a deeper meaning of life that will never be within their immature grasp. To all the young entrepreneurs like myself, I wish you luck. May we find kindred souls from this younger generation who understand the value of work, knowledge, discipline, and compassionate bosses. And to the 'confused millennial' applying to me for a job – Excuse, please!

(The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. The views expressed are strictly personal)