Emily Jaksch believes that Millennials are the most misunderstood generation of our time. Through her studies and work in the field of Human Resource Management she noticed that Millennial bashing had become a global sport. This had created a massive divide where many Millennials felt disengaged and disenfranchised. Luckily, this generation has someone in their corner with Emily devoting an enormous amount of time and money studying and understanding why this divide exists.
Emily Jaksch is the Director and Founder of HR Gurus. She is an award-winning HR expert with more than 2 decades of experience in all areas of strategic and operational HR. Emily has worked across many industries including large international and Australian companies such as The Royal Bank of Scotland, the iconic GM Holden and Australian giants Wesfarmers and Coles. Her vast experience across many industries allows her to easily understand the issues and challenges organisations face in managing multi-generational teams, and how to see and engage Millennials as more than employees but also as ladders.
In 2018, Emily expanded her business to include speaking and coaching primarily around changing the dialogue about Millennials. She kept getting asked to speak at conferences and events, as many businesses were struggling to understand why Millennials were so different, and how to attract and retain them, and more importantly how to keep them engaged. This is really when her research journey began, as when she tried to get to the bottom of what makes this generation so difficult to manage she struggled to find recent, relevant Australian data.
One thing led to another, and she decided she needed Australian data, so she invested over $30,000 to conduct a first of its kind research study surveying over 1,000 millennials (defined as those born between 1981 to 1995) in Australia. The study called The Australian Workplace Millennial Study deep dived into what Millennials really wanted in the workplace, what motivated them, what their values are around work, and other interesting information about lifestyle, what makes them stay and leave jobs etc. After finishing her research, Emily published an e-book titled Why the Gap? – Are Millennials the Most Misunderstood Generation of Our Time? The book unpacks all the data and dispels many Millennial myths, you can get a free copy and read the results here.
But this was just the beginning, the response to the research was overwhelming, and led to a sister organisation being born “Generation Us.”
“Our sole purpose is to help Millennials find their purpose and break the mould.” Emily explains. “Generation Us exists to help Millennials break free from the widely accepted “me, me, me” narrative. Our role as leadership coaches is to be in their corner and give them the right mindset and skills to take ownership of their lives, both professionally and personally. We know there’s more to a generation than just a love for avo toast and we want to empower the people beyond the stereotype.”
Emily’s passion for empowering the next generation of purpose led leaders is evident. She knows that Millennials are the biggest generation on record, and that they now make up the biggest proportion of the global workforce. She also shared that this year the oldest Millennials are turning 40, demonstrating that Millennials have now grown up.
“Millennials are not who we think they are, and I should know I have been researching them for many years now.” Emily states. “I have interviewed over 100 Millennial entrepreneurs on my Podcast Purposely and what I can tell you is that this generation has a unique mindset that cannot be taught.”
Emily is now putting this research to great use, creating and developing coaching programs for Millennials to help them find their purpose and break the mould. The podcast is also focused on changing the narrative by showing the world what Millennials are really capable of. This year Emily will also launch her second book “The Millennial Mindset” which will help people understand and access what makes successful Millennial entrepreneurs and thought leaders tick. The book is a culmination of the research study, Emily’s experiences and the qualitative interviews with some of the world’s most exciting and inspiring Millennial business leaders.