Bauer Media research shows many supplementing income outside of contracted work.

Millennials are struggling with tough working conditions, research by Bauer Media has revealed, with 41% saying they struggle to get by on their current wage (Bauer Media Millennials Trends 2016). To counterbalance this, a quarter (25%) said they do things to make money outside of their contracted work.

Millennials find work to be all consuming; 65% think about work outside of work hours, 38% often do work outside of work hours and nearly half (49%) said that work and travelling takes up all of their time during the week. In addition, a fifth (18%) classed their work/life balance as ‘bad’.

Not surprisingly, 15%* of millennials are planning on changing jobs in the next year, compared to 8% of all adults.

Despite this, the research revealed the group to be very ambitious. Half* (50%) agreed that they see the work they do as a career rather than just a job (compared to 34% for all adults) and 53%* said they want to get to the very top in their career (compared to 25% for all adults).  Over half* have ambitions to set up their own business one day – much more than the 28% who agreed from the all adults category.

Millennials are also twice as likely to sacrifice time with their family to get ahead at work, research by Bauer Media has revealed, with 29%* admitting they would compared to 16% of all adults.

Rebecca Holman, Editor of Bauer Media owned The Debrief, said: “It’s clear from this research that millennials place real value on their careers, wanting to excel. However, we should be concerned about the struggle many millennials face in today’s employment market – this entrepreneurial group clearly want to reach the top of the career ladder, but are coming up against real day-to-day issues, leading to unhappy working conditions and even a willingness to sacrifice family time. The working world is changing, with the erosion of traditional 9 – 5 jobs, and we need to ensure we support the development of new skills to ensure young people are well placed to embrace these changes.”

Abby Carvosso, Group Managing Director, Bauer Advertising, said: “We pride ourselves on our deep audience understanding, allowing us to both understand how audience groups are behaving currently, as well as predict changing behaviours and anticipate issues that will grow in importance. Reaching 57% of all UK millennials via our media brands, our editorial talent work closely with insight such as this study to create campaigns for commercial partners that have true cultural impact.”

Bauer Media will be discussing these findings in more detail at Advertising Week Europe. The ‘Millennials: Meet Your Future Boss’ event will take place on Wednesday 22^nd March at 10.15am, at the Picturehouse Central. More details can be found here.

Millennials, which refers to those aged 16 – 34, are a highly valued audience; making up one in four adults in the UK with a predicted audience growth to 17m in 2019. Bauer Media’s insight comes from a unique study of 300 Millennials to provide an in-depth analysis of current behaviours.

*TGI Clickstream (2016 Q4)