How young women are changing the workplace

By Laura Cox Kaplan

Millennials – loosely defined as those born between 1980 and 1995 – think and work differently. To be competitive, now and particularly in the future, organizations will need to create a culture and work environment that attracts and retains a new generation of workers. This is especially true as organizations work to attract, retain and promote women, who should one day occupy a higher number of senior positions. As a member of PwC’s executive management team, it is a goal on which I am very focused.

This year, PwC took a close look at the views and work preferences of millennial women. The study, Next generation diversity: developing tomorrow’s female leaders, revealed several findings about how Generation Y women around the world think about work. Perhaps most importantly, our study – and the research we have done on global megatrends – shed light on how organizations will need to adapt to recruit and retain this key segment of the workforce.

First, the millennial woman is more highly educated and more likely to be employed than previous generations, and she is more confident than generations of women before her.  Fifty-one percent of millennial women – compared to 61% of millennial men – say they feel they will be able to rise to the top of their respective organizations. Our study found that the Gen Y woman considers opportunities for career progression to be the most attractive employer trait. She also has more global acumen and is more technologically savvy than previous generations.  Finally, the Gen Y woman has a strong sense of egalitarianism and is likely to seek an employer with a strong record on equality and diversity.

Why is this significant?

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