86% of Small Business Owners Say “Future Growth Relies on Millennials”
Small firms investing 15% of annual turnover to recruit millennials with majority under pressure to attract young talent
UK small and medium enterprises are reliant on millennials-those born between 1980 and 2000-to ensure the future success of their business, according to new research by Lloyds Bank.
The survey, which questioned 400 small firms with turnover of between £1m and £25m, found that 86% of business owners were dependent on recruiting millennial talent and the research indicated that small businesses are, on average, spending 15% of their annual revenue to recruit millennials.
More than three quarters of the business owners surveyed said they feel under pressure to sell themselves to millennials and a third admitted that they have worried a young candidate has turned down a job offer because they didn’t like their business culture.
25% of business owners even said that they wanted a millennial employee to take over their business one day.
Lloyds also asked 200 millennials (mainly undergraduates and recent graduates) on what they look for in a job and the most popular answers were flexible working hours (45%), regular training (32%) and the option to work from home (22%).
Gareth Oakley, managing director of small and medium enterprise banking at Lloyds, said:
“Small and medium-sized enterprises need to work hard to recruit millennials as the future of their business could depend on having them on board. They can tap in to a range of attributes, from hard skills such as digital and technological know-how, to fresh ideas and new perspectives.”
