The experiences of millennials as university administrative staff

Abstract

High millennial employee turnover in the U.S. is a challenge to higher education institutions with a $68 million annual financial loss to some colleges (Harris, Hinds, Manansingh, & Figueron, Rubino & Morote, 2016). Millennials are the fastest-growing U.S. demographic and are expected to account for 75 percent of the world's workforce by 2025 (Csorba, 2015; Fry, 2015; Maiers, 2017; Mendryk, 2016). The knowledge gained from this study seeks to inform higher education institutions on how to retain millennial employees (Queiri, Yusoff, & Dwaikat, 2014). The research question was guided by the job embeddedness (JE) theory and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): How does the lived experience among millennial employees influence their decision to stay in an administrative position at a university? Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions from five millennial administrative staff employed in four Massachusetts-based higher education institutions for at least three years (Creswell & Poth, 2017). The emerging themes from this study suggested that the participants had experiences influenced by a combination of all three dimensions identified with the JE theory, links, fit, and sacrifice, thereby leading to their longevity. While the results showed evidence to support the positive impact of JE, the data also suggests that under certain conditions, JE could be harmful to morale, job performance, and organizational commitment. With a strong relationship between millennial experiences and employee retention, higher education leaders and HR practitioners must focus on increasing the longevity of their best employees by seeking to understand the experiences of millennial staff in order to develop and execute successful retention strategies. Keywords: retention, turnover, millennial, higher education, job embeddedness