4 common reasons why younger employees disengage–and leave

Why are younger employees so dissatisfied with their work lives?

Recently, we’ve had some playful debate in the office about this New York Times article, which dissects a 27-year-old’s complaints about the demands of a 40-hour workweek, despite many of their desires for a job being met. This conversation also intersects with the labor shortage currently raging in the U.S.

There’s not just one tidy reason that younger employees aren’t happy with their current work conditions or careers. Rather, there’s a web of interrelated problems that affect different people in different ways, but are generally having a negative impact on younger employees. Here are four reasons in particular that younger employees aren’t satisfied, along with ways to win them over:

1. There’s a big gap between wages and cost of living.