The Millennials, aged about 26-41 (there are different definitions of the ‘Generations’), currently comprise the largest segment of the workforce. As they continue to shape the workforce, it is important to understand how they perceive feedback in the workplace. According to a 2021 report by Deloitte, Millennials make up 46% of the Australian workforce. Recently, many of them have been having a hard time at work, in October 2022, research found that 56% of Millennials say their work is suffering as a result of poor mental health.
Even though many are having a hard time mentally, when it comes to Feedback, generally speaking, Millennials believe they are doing pretty well. I recently (2023) surveyed Millennials in the Australian workplace, and here’s what I found:
A snapshot of Sue’s recent research:
Millennials Offering Feedback:
When it comes to offering feedback, 65.6% of Millennials feel most confident when offering Acknowledgement feedback (This is what you are doing well), and only 3.1% feel confident offering Evaluation feedback (This is how you are going).
Millennials feel the most confident when offering this type of feedback:
Other findings:
53.1% of Millennials believe they are offering enough feedback in their workplace, with a quarter believing they are not.
50% of Millennials described themselves as comfortable offering feedback.
18.4% of Millennials felt they were clumsy at offering feedback in the workplace.
Millennials Receiving Feedback:
Nearly half (46.9%) of Millennials believe they receive enough feedback in the workplace.
Over 90% of Millennials rated themselves as either Resilient or Receptive when it comes to receiving feedback, with only 9.4% describing themselves as reluctant.
How you can help Millennials be their best:
Offer Millennials Guidance Feedback. Guidance feedback lets the person know how they can improve their performance. This might be offered in the form of coaching or mentoring, teaching or telling. The majority (62.5%) of Millennials find Guidance feedback the most useful to receive when it comes to improving their performance in the workplace.