13 Exercise: Millennials at work

Vocabulary Exercise:

• Match each word with its definition

__ excessive         a. (adj) more than is necessary, normal, or desirable; immoderate

__ ethics               b. (n) moral principles that govern a person’s behavior

__ flexibility         c. (n) the ability to be easily modified

__ interpersonal d. (adj) relating to relationships or communication between people

__ mindset          e. (n) the established set of attitudes held by someone

__ productivity   f. (n) the effectiveness of productive effort

__ promotion     g. (n) the action of raising someone to a higher position

__ sacrifice          h. (n) an act of giving up something

__ turnover         i. (n) the rate at which employees leave a workforce and are replaced

__ workforce      j. (n) the people engaged in or available for work

• Listen to the article. Fill in the blanks with words in Exercise 1.

Millennials (those born between the early 1980s and the early 1990s) make up a huge part of our _________ but they seem to lack loyalty to the companies and the leaders they work for. Multinational companies are noticing larger _______ rates of millennials as employee retention rates fall.

Two large-scale surveys have been conducted in order to understand the _____ of the millennial generation, each with over 10,000 millennials participants.

The key findings of these two survey indicate that:

Millennials are as committed to their work as their more senior colleagues.

Millennials value interesting work and a good work-life balance. They do not believe that _________ work demands are worth sacrifices in their personal lives.

Millennials want _______ in their working hours and are willing to give up pay increases and promotions for a flexible working schedule. They believe that success should be measured by _______ and not by the number of hours they are seen in an office.

Millennials want to feel supported and appreciated by their company and their superiors.

Millennials want more opportunities to develop their skills. These include technological skills, teamwork and________ skills.

Millennials believe that businesses and business leaders should contribute to the improvement of society and they are more likely to be loyal to a company with strong ______.

• Look at the photo and read the information. Then discuss the following questions:
• What are millennials?
• What ideas do you have about them as a group?