Managing Chinese millennial employees and their impact on human resource management transformation: an empirical study

Abstract

Millennials entering work have not only transformed China’s workplaces, but have also brought new challenges for HR managers and opened gaps with older generations of employees. Chinese millennial employees have unique features, partly explained by being born under the one-child policy in China (since 1980). While preliminary research has pointed to significant differences in the needs, aspirations and well-being of millennials compared to previous generations in the workplace, a dearth of deeper research means that we poorly understand Chinese millennials and their impact on human resource management (HRM). To help organizations rethink HRM policies and practices for the millennial generation, this study first explores the characteristics of millennial employees in China. Guided by self-determination theory, it discusses ways to manage Chinese millennial workers and examines how current human resource development can be transformed to respond to the needs of Chinese millennial employees. In the study, survey-data on 519 millennial employees and a subset of 150 in-depth interviews were utilized. Last, we set out the HRM policy implications for Chinese organizations.

Keywords:

• China
• human resource management (HRM)
• millennial employees
• PRC
• well-being

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Professor Aidan Kelly, Professor John Hulpke and Professor Stephen Nicholas for providing comments on this study.