Millennial women: Get a move on

Millennial women, or "burnt-out by age 30", as they have been described, are the ambitious generation of women born between 1980 and 1995. Career-focused and impatient to reach the top, they are likely to see off old stereotypes and change the workplace faster than their predecessors.

Aged between 19 and 34, millennials are described by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation as the most studied generation in history. More and more companies are trying to understand and attract a younger, more ambitious and demanding pool of talent. Firms like PwC and Deloitte publish reports on this cohort each year.

Amrop Landelahni CEO Sandra Burmeister says millennial women have a very different approach to the workplace than their predecessors. They are "high-maintenance" employees, not interested in 30-year tenures at one organisation, and seek workplace flexibility. "Shorter tenure and alternative employment models have become the norm. The global shortage in highly skilled professions has led to massive skills mobility," says Burmeister.

At SA universities, women now outnumber men by almost two to one in obtaining tertiary qualifications, says Amrop Landelahni. Graduates in accounting reflected a 50/50 gender split in 1999. By 2011, women represented 58% of all graduates and the trend is up in the sciences, engineering and information & communication technology.

And 53% of graduates coming into corporate jobs are millennial women.

Millennial women are more career-focused than their mums and delay having children into their 30s. This is because they have grown up in an output-driven and high-performance environment, Burmeister says. "Burnt out by age 30 and focused on their career, they are task-driven and seek out a high-performance environment. They perform markedly better than men," she adds.

Opportunities for career progression and a strong record on equality and diversity are important employer characteristics sought after by female millennials. More than 80% say these factors determine what organisation they decide to join.

These are women like S’onqoba Maseko, who at 27 is the executive assistant to FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana. This year she was appointed head of FNB’s Innovators Programme, which has created award-winning banking products. Actuarial science graduate Maseko says she looks for an employer that shares the same values she does for a greater connection with the company and to ensure she thrives. "At some point we will all run out of time or energy," she says. "I want to run out of energy first, rather than run out of time and bemoan what I could and should have done."

Another millennial woman is Zukie Siyotula (30), CEO of Thebe Capital, an investment company with a portfolio of R6bn and interests in Shell SA, Altech Netstar, Vodacom, Combined Motor Holdings and Safripol. Siyotula is on the board of each.

PwC associate director René Richter says millennial women have grown up in an era in which they have been exposed to issues of gender equality being publicly discussed. Aware of their qualifications, they aspire to higher levels of management. "Millennial women have been exposed to newspapers and regulations," says Richter. "This has made them aware of their contribution. They are also output-driven and know that they don’t have to be seen in the workplace."

About 71% of millennial women want to work abroad but continue to be penalised for being women when it comes to international assignments, the PwC report says.

Burmeister says millennial women work hard but their numbers continue to drop as they move up the ranks. Firms need to look at parallel efforts to manage diversity, as they now have three generations in the workplace at a time.

Sneha Shah, head of financial and risk for Africa and chair of the Global Advisory Council of Women at Thomson Reuters, says more attention needs to be paid to entry-level women. "We are struggling with how the entry-level can feel motivated and included. We need to cater for every stage."

Richter says the combination of a drive from companies to increase women in leadership positions and the demands of millennials will lead to the corporate workplace environment improving for women faster over time.