Young Australians ‘don’t want to make mistakes of older generations’

AUSTRALIANS in their 20s are making relationships and travel priorities above making money and career success.

Lea Fernandez, Brooke Malouf and Kaila D'Agostino discuss attitudes to what defines success at Bronte Beach. Picture: Jenny Evans

MILLENNIALS who work to live instead of the reverse are driving a change of attitude in workplaces.

A new survey has found money and career success rate lower on the scale of important issues than work-life balance, travel and relationships with friends and family.

Social researcher Claire Madden said the findings line up with her research into what people in their 20s care about.

Lea Fernandez is about to move from Sydney to the South Coast while Kaila D'Agostino (right) agrees work is not the end goal. Picture: Jenny Evans

“Their fundamental approach to life is different to the older generations,” she said.

“The era in which technology provided a lifestyle of convenience and more opportunities than ever before has shaped their outlook.”

Ms Madden believes millennials have learnt crucial lessons from their parents.

“They’ve seen older generations focus on career and miss out on other areas of life,” she said. “They don’t want to pay the price their older counterparts have paid.”

According to LinkedIn’s Success Survey, for 65 per cent of Australians success is based on their health and happiness, with more than a third saying that traditional ideas were outdated.

Half of Aussies surveyed rated work-life balance as the key to success while 57 per cent said it came down to spending time with friends and family, 52 per cent said it meant the opportunity to travel and 58 per cent defined success as having close friendships.

Just 36 per cent of people said it was based on achieving professional accomplishments, 17 per cent on getting a pay rise and only 9 per cent said success was earning more money than friends.

MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS AND HEADLINES

MORE RELATIONSHIPS NEWS AND HEADLINES

Ms Madden said the young do not consider careers as their reason for being.

“They are a social generation which places a higher value on relationships, experiencing life now and not just saving up to experience life in retirement.”

Lea Fernandez, 26, a graduate architect, is about to move from Bronte to the South Coast for a better work-life balance.

“It’s smaller, it’s more relaxed and a simple lifestyle,” she said.

Botany PR worker Kaila D’Agostino, 26, doesn’t believe work is the end goal.

“I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy and I don’t think that money necessarily brings happiness,” she said.

Originally published as Young Australians ‘don’t want to make mistakes of older generations’