Predicting turnover intention of indonesian

millennials workforce in the manufacturing

industry: a PLS-SEM approach
Romadhani Ardi and Niken Anggraini

Abstract Romadhani Ardi and Niken

Purpose – This study aims to assess the factors that can affect the turnover intention of millennial talents Anggraini are both based
working in the Indonesian manufacturing industry. at Department of Industrial
Design/methodology/approach – This work analyzes 115 responses from millennial talents working in Engineering, Universitas
the Indonesian manufacturing industry on the issue of turnover intention. Data were collected through an Indonesia, Depok,
online questionnaire. The collected data were then tested using partial least square-structural equation Indonesia.
modeling.
Findings – The findings suggest that competency development, work–life balance and meaningful work
have a direct impact on the employee satisfaction of millennials in the Indonesian manufacturing industry.
However, compensation and benefits have no significant effect on job satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications – This study has limitations in data collection, concentrated merely
in the Jakarta Greater Area. Hence, it would potentially influence the generalization of the results.
Originality/value – This study reveals the potential lack of awareness within Indonesian manufacturing
companies in providing a valuable compensation and benefits program for millennials.
Keywords Millennials, Turnover intention, Employee satisfaction, Manufacturing industry,
Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), Indonesian workforce
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Before the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing industry played an essential
role in the Indonesian economy, contributing at least 19% of the gross domestic product
(Rahman, 2020). However, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed this sector to tighten its
business and caused a downturn due to severe supply–demand uncertainty (Iswara, 2020).
The pandemic has exposed, if not escalated, a problem that the manufacturing industry has
faced for several years – talent shortage.
Received 2 August 2021
There are two possible reasons why manufacturing firms in Indonesia are experiencing Revised 16 October 2021
6 February 2022
a talent shortage. First, the job seekers’ interests are shifting from manufacturing to the 9 June 2022
service sector. This situation could be due to the public’s perception of the nature of the 24 July 2022
Accepted 28 July 2022
working environment of the manufacturing industry, such as excessive work shift
This research was funded by
systems, the messy situation of factories and unsafe working conditions (Suryaratri and the grant of Publikasi Terindeks
Abadi, 2018; Thompson and Gregory, 2012). Second, a massive influx of millennials Internasional (PUTI) Q3 from
Directorate of Research and
has emerged in recent years and poses unique challenges to decision-makers in the Development, Universitas
manufacturing industry. Approximately two million people join the Indonesian labor pool Indonesia (UI) number
NKB-4576/UN2.RST/
each year, with a workforce of more than 128 million workers in 2018 (Budiati et al., HKP.05.00/2020. The authors
2018). Accordingly, Indonesia’s millennials are two-thirds of the labor market (Statistics appreciate the constructive
comments from the anonymous
Indonesia, 2019). reviewer.

DOI 10.1108/ICT-08-2021-0056 VOL. 55 NO. 1 2023, pp. 47-61, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 0019-7858 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 47
 This phenomenon is crucial because millennials have unique attitudes and values about the
nature of jobs (Naim and Lenka, 2018). One important report indicated that most millennials
have little trust in the existing firms. They doubt whether:

1. companies would really respect the business ethics; and

2. business leaders would indeed regard the greater cause of society (Deloitte Indonesia,
2019).
Moreover, millennials believe that it is challenging to get an opportunity to pursue adequate
career development and have a working environment that promotes innovation in the
manufacturing industry (Koudal and Chaudhuri, 2007).
Millennials are fond of job-hopping; they search for a better place for professional growth and
opportunities (Rivers, 2018). This situation might contribute to the high labor turnover rate in
the manufacturing industry. Another report presented the duration of Indonesian millennials
willing to work for a company – 40.8% of millennials selected 3–5 years, 20% chose 1–2 years
and approximately 5% selected less than a year (Deloitte, 2019). This report also revealed that
most millennials are reluctant to have a long-time career in one company; hence, millennials
are associated with a high turnover rate because they aspire for freedom and flexibility.
This study examines factors that affect millennials’ turnover intention in Indonesia’s
manufacturing industry using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
The significant contribution of this study is that it provides insights into the variables that can
minimize the turnover intention of millennials in the Indonesian manufacturing industry, as
research on this topic is limited.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the literature about turnover
intention, millennials and PLS-SEM. Section 3 provides the methodology for conceptualizing
the model, developing the questionnaire and conducting the survey. Section 4 presents the
results of the measurement and structural analysis using PLS-SEM. Finally, Section 5
highlights the essential findings and areas for future studies.

2. Literature review
Based on the theory of planned behavior, people’s intention to act on an issue can affect their
actual behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Many studies have found a correlation between turnover intention
and turnover behavior (Cho and Lewis, 2012; Joo and Park, 2010; Lee and Whitford, 2008; Tan
et al., 2019). Turnover intention refers to planning to end a relationship or membership with a
business entity (Zhang, 2016). There are two types of employee turnover, i.e. voluntary and
involuntary. Voluntary turnover is when an employee consciously intends to leave a company,
whereas involuntary turnover is when a company deliberately makes this decision.
The tightened competition to access talents causes organizations to pay attention to
voluntary turnover intention because they must prevent this from happening. Some
interrelated factors complicate the situation. On the one hand, voluntary turnover intention
creates an opportunity to replace incompetent talents. On the other hand, it mostly leads to
unfavorable outcomes for the company, such as direct expenses to the organization and
indirect costs of losing tacit knowledge and weakening its reputation (McElroy et al., 2001).
Hence, organizations always attempt to retain their seemingly committed employees across
different generations.
Howe and Strauss (2000) classified generations based on the era in which individuals were
born. Their age influences their perspectives, behaviors and attitudes toward work (Ertas,
2015). Howe and Strauss’ classification comprises four generations:

1. silent generation (born from 1925 to 1942);

2. baby boomer generation (born from 1943 to 1960);

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3. generation X (born from 1961 to 1981); and
4. generation Y or millennials (born after 1982).

The three latter generations currently share the same workplace, yet they might have
different aspirations about work.
Millennials are believed to be tech-savvy, experiencing the development of information and
technology communication through extensive social media exposure (Kapoor and Solomon,
2011). They also learn enthusiastically and participate in various activities to help their
personal growth. Millennials appreciate the balance between work and personal life (Ng
et al., 2010). On the contrary, baby boomers and X generations tend to be more
individualistic and value a straightforward command-and-control approach. These opposite
characteristics depict a potential clash of generations. Brack and Kelly (2012) illustrated the
complexity of the current working place situation as follows:
䊏 Millennials tend to collaborate with a broader network outside their organizations and
respect more diverse perspectives, whereas the older generations might consider
these behaviors as a lack of loyalty.
䊏 Millennials aspire to personal enrichment and development, thus seeking flexibility in
their workplace. This notion somehow contrasts with that of their senior co-workers, who
value stability and security.
䊏 Millennials regard meaningful work (MW) and a sense of accomplishment as more
valuable job satisfaction factors, whereas older generations value a high salary and
responsibility more than the other factors.

One might criticize the generalization and applicability of these generation cohorts and their
characteristics in other places outside the Western regions because the concept’s
originality and the empirical analysis regarding these topics mostly came from the Western
view. To our knowledge, no study has proposed alternative cohorts for the Indonesian
setting. Many studies in Indonesia accept the generational cohorts as it is and then use
them as the basis of analysis, including the work of Arli et al. (2017), Gunawan et al. (2020),
Irawanto (2019) and Febriandika et al. (2020), to name a few.
Despite that, our study argues that the generational concepts, especially of millennials, are
relevant in the Indonesian context. The relevancy occurs because of their practicability,
especially considering that Statistics Indonesia (a nondepartmental government institute of
Indonesia, responsible for conducting a national decennial census) has presented one of
the 2020 population census results using the generation cohorts (Statistics Indonesia,
2021). Not surprisingly, Statistics Indonesia cited a source from the USA as the basis for the
classification of population in the census.
Another important thing needs to be addressed when discussing the characteristics of
millennials and other generation cohorts: there also appears another stream of literature
that suggests little to no evidence of generational differences, especially within the
workplace setting. For instance, Cucina et al. (2018) examined the presence of
generational differences in workplace attitudes. They figured out that only minor
differences existed in these variables across generation membership. Furthermore,
Heyns and Kerr (2018) explored the influence between generational cohorts and
employee motivation and found little evidence of the differences in intrinsic and
extrinsic motivational preferences across cohorts. It might be possible that the
behavioral differences exist, not because of the generational membership but rather
because of the workers’ stage of life.
Accordingly, a recent study found that Indonesian millennials are not that radically different
from other cohorts (Utomo and Noormega, 2020). Here, these authors attempted to explore
the millennial’s specific values, behaviors and attitudes by studying more than 5,500

VOL. 55 NO. 1 2023 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 49

 millennials residing in 11 cities in Indonesia, from Medan on Sumatra Island to Makassar on
Sulawesi Island. This vital work then identifies seven types of Indonesian millennials, as follows:

1. the adventurer, who loves to explore new things and vocals on their opinions;
2. the visioner, who is inspiring, charismatic and achievement-driven;

3. the artist, who has strong aesthetic aspirations and a unique sense of spontaneity;
4. the leader, who is goal-oriented, dedicated and has strong leadership skills;

5. the socializer, who likes spending time and energy encouraging others and involve
deeply in social activities;

6. the conservative, who is family oriented and relies on facts when making decisions; and
7. the collaborator, who is eager to create great teamwork and is full of ideas.

Even though the Indonesian millennials express characteristics that have similarities with
the previous generations; still, they show distinct behaviors and attitudes, such as:
䊏 They observe news and information through mixed channels, including Television,
YouTube, Instagram, social media and newspapers. These activities would then
influence their subsequent behaviors, such as Google search activities for observing
new and exciting stories or online shopping decisions (Utomo and Noormega, 2020).
䊏 They have a significant number of digital activities on the internet. They not only often
access common platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook but also
connect to more niche channels such as Line and Tiktok (Utomo and Noormega, 2020).
䊏 Consequently, Indonesian millennials have distinct relationships with mental health
issues. They not only have a higher vulnerability to depression due to increasing social
media exposure but also higher awareness of various treatment modalities for solving
their mental problems (Citraningtyas, 2020).
Considering the discussion regarding the generational cohorts and its characteristics, our
study uses PLS-SEM as the main method to accomplish the research objective. PLS-SEM is
a variant of SEM that explores or extends an existing social theory (Hair et al., 2021). It is
suitable for assessing the causal relationships in a developing model/theory, consisting of
reflective and formative measurements. This method allows such assessment in a situation
where the sample is limited and normal distribution of the sample is difficult to achieve (Hair
et al., 2019). Previous works have used PLS-SEM to examine the millennials’ workplace
behaviors in the developing countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates,
Oman and Egypt (Mahmoud et al., 2020; Qadri et al., 2022; Supanti and Butcher, 2019).

3. Methodology
3.1 Model conceptualization
Figure 1 shows the conceptual model under study, developed based on the literature
review. Mainly, this study uses the work of Ng et al. (2010) as the basis to determine the
latent variables of the conceptual model because of the following reasons:

䊏 They gathered a relatively large number of samples to examine the millennials.

䊏 Their work was one of the first studies to assess the demographic heterogeneity within
the millennials generation.
䊏 It provided evidence that culture – as a result of country’s background – might influence
millennials and the differences among generations (Deal et al., 2010).

PAGE 50 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j VOL. 55 NO. 1 2023

 Figure 1 Model conceptualization

Hence, it opens a space for further work investigating the characteristics of millennials from
other regions.
Ng et al. (2010) revealed several factors contributing to millennials’ career choices, i.e.
salary and benefits, prospects for career advancement, development of new skills,
meaningful work (MW) experience and satisfying life outside work. Several studies have
also highlighted the relationship between employee satisfaction (ES) and turnover intention.
Hence, the conceptualized model in this study uses ES as a mediating variable in the
relationship between competency development (CD), compensation and benefits, work–life
balance (WLB), MW and turnover intention (Frian and Mulyani, 2018).
ES is considered the main factor in preventing turnover intention, i.e. when employees love their
job, it increases their commitment to their company (Bayarçelik and Findikli, 2016). ES would
eventually decrease turnover intention (Frian and Mulyani, 2018; Rizwan and Mukhtar, 2014).
Employees ensure the smooth running of a company’s daily operations. Therefore, ES is
essential because it is a company’s core asset. Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H1. Employee satisfaction (ES) has a significant negative impact on the turnover intention
(TI) of millennials in Indonesia’s manufacturing industry.
Another factor that can improve ES is CD. CD is activities carried out by a company and its
employees to improve employee function, enhance employee learning processes and
increase employee career competency (De Vos et al., 2011). De Vos et al. (2011) developed
an instrument to measure CD. This variable was measured using 12 items (CD1–CD12). This
study proposes the following hypothesis about the relationship between CD and ES:
H2. Competency development (CD) has a significant positive impact on employee
satisfaction (ES) of millennials in Indonesia’s manufacturing industry.
ES also depends on other factors such as compensation and benefits (CB), WLB and MW
(Saxena and Rai, 2016; Stefanovska-petkovska et al., 2019; Steger et al., 2012). Employee

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 compensation can be defined as “a return in an exchange between their employer and
themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company, or as a reward for a
job well done” (Milkovich et al., 2014). In contrast, benefits are “any form of indirect or non-
cash compensation paid to an employee” (Klonoski, 2016). This study modifies the
instrument from the work of Merga and Fufa (2019) and Williams et al. (2008) to measure
CB; they were measured using four items (CB1–CB4). The following hypothesis is proposed
about the relationship between CB and ES:
H3. Compensation and benefits (CB) have a significant positive impact on employee
satisfaction (ES) of millennials in Indonesia’s manufacturing industry.
WLB is a human resource management strategy companies implement to help their
employees deal with work-related stress and minimize conflicts between employees’
personal and work lives (Ganiyu et al., 2018; Osman et al., 2017). WLB was measured using
three items (WLB1–WLB3) modified from the study of Haar (2013). The following hypothesis
is proposed about the relationship between WLB and ES:
H4. Work–life balance (WLB) has a significant positive impact on employee satisfaction
(ES) of millennials in Indonesia’s manufacturing industry.
Finally, MW can be regarded as a resource companies use to increase psychological
empowerment in the workplace. It is a sense of achieving higher goals, appreciating what
people stand for and sharing responsibilities between employers and employees (Tan
et al., 2019). This adapted 10-item variable called Work as Meaning Inventory, developed
by Steger et al. (2012) (MW1–MW10). The following hypothesis is proposed about the
relationship between MW and ES:
H5. Meaningful work (MW) has a significant positive impact on the employee satisfaction
(ES) of millennials in Indonesia’s manufacturing industry.

3.2 Questionnaire design and data collection

This study assessed the conceptualized model through a questionnaire administered to
millennials who work in manufacturing companies in the Jakarta Greater Area. The experts
validated the questionnaire to ensure face and content validity. The first part of
questionnaire gathers information about the demographics of the respondents. The second
part comprises 39 questions, measured on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The third part gathers information about the respondents’
opinions regarding retention programs in the manufacturing industry. To ensure the depths
of the responses, the targeted respondents must have worked for the manufacturing firm for
at least six months and hold at least a diploma.
A pilot study was conducted to ensure the reliability of the measurements. Then, the
questionnaires were distributed to the targeted respondents online; 159 responses were
retrieved. After careful examination, only 115 questionnaires were processed because of
missing data. According to Hair et al. (2019), the sample size should be 10 times greater
than the maximum number of links pointing to a single latent variable in the construct.
Hence, the sample size of 115 is appropriate for the analysis. Table 1 presents the
demographic variables of all respondents (39.1% are females).

4. Results and discussion

4.1 Generic results
The initial results reveal insights about turnover intention, as depicted in Figure 2. It
shows that most respondents intended to leave their company. Most of the reasons are
internal, e.g.:

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 Table 1 Demographic variable
Variable N (%)

Education level
Diploma 13 11,3
Bachelor 86 74,8
Master 16 13,9
Type of manufacturing industry
Metal 21 18,3
Automotive 27 23,5
Chemical 12 10,4
Pharmaceutical 8 7,0
Electronics 4 3,5
Food and beverages 16 13,9
Others 30 26,1
Work experiences
<6 months 6 5,2
6–12 months 13 11,3
1–2 years 21 18,3
2–4 years 37 32,2
>4 years 38 33,0

䊏 the employees felt unsatisfied with the benefits and compensation;

䊏 they experienced uncomfortable working conditions; and
䊏 they felt there was a lack of career path in their current job.
The primary external reason for turnover intention is to pursue new experiences and challenges.

4.2 Descriptive statistics

This study analyzed whether there is a significant relationship between the demographic
variables and turnover intention using the chi-square test. This test shows that gender,
salary, location of undergraduate study and workplace location are associated with turnover
intention (Table 2).
These results are relevant because the selected variables are among the factors discussed
in the Indonesian context (Statistics Indonesia, 2019, 2020). Here, gender might influence
turnover intention because of the presence of Article 82 of The Indonesian Labor Law
Number 13/2013, which only gives a relatively limited time for the right to maternity leave
and childbirth, i.e. 1.5 months before and after delivery (a total of three months). Moreover,
because millennials prioritize feedback, a suitable income can be considered positive
feedback on achieving their performance (Ng et al., 2010).
Education is one of the factors that is associated with turnover intention. Studying in
reputable universities in an urban area of Indonesia can make millennials dissatisfied with
their work because they think they deserve a decent job after graduation (Zhang, 2016).
Some industrial region attracts talents to work there because industry location determines
the minimum wage in Indonesia. Another factor that affects millennials is the work locations,
i.e. the availability of facilities that can support activities and security around the workplace.

4.3 Outer model measurement

An outer model measurement was carried out using SmartPLS 3.3. This analysis comprises
reliability, convergent and discriminant validity testing. The results of the tests are presented
in Table 3. According to Hair et al. (2019), a value between 0.6 and 0.7 of composite
reliability (CR) is an acceptable level of reliability, and a value from 0.7 to 0.9 is considered

VOL. 55 NO. 1 2023 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 53

 Figure 2 Results of turnover intention among respondents

Table 2 Chi-square test to determine relationship between demographic factors with

turnover intention
Chi-square test
Variable x2 p Evaluation

Gender 7.6179 0.0222 Significant

Degree of education 1.7681 0.7783 Not significant
Salary 20.8473 0.0076 Significant
Working experience 11.7274 0.1638 Not significant
Location of undergraduate study 8.8520 0.0313 Significant
Location of workplace 13.5750 0.0088 Significant
Type of manufacturing industry 17.3639 0.0667 Not significant

PAGE 54 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j VOL. 55 NO. 1 2023

 Table 3 Measurement model result
Descriptor Mean SD Cross loading

Turnover intention (a = 0.773, CRa = 0.855, AVEb = 0.603)

TI 1 3.922 0.988 0.559
TI 2 3.252 1.141 0.808
TI 3 2.991 1.131 0.874
TI 4 3.278 1.076 0.824
Employee satisfaction (a = 0.853, CRa = 0.891, AVEb = 0.579)
ES 1 3.617 0.900 0.693
ES 2 2.626 0.946 0.819
ES 3 3.748 0.873 0.812
ES 4 3.252 0.922 0.670
ES 5 3.148 0.925 0.735
ES 6 3.148 0.998 0.821
Competency development (a = 0.920, CRa = 0.933, AVEb = 0.523)
CD 1 3.461 1.074 0.740
CD 2 3.600 0.921 0.712
CD 3 3.339 1.126 0.724
CD 4 3.417 1.079 0.744
CD 5 3.713 0.940 0.760
CD 6 3.330 0.852 0.537
CD 7 2.930 1.053 0.352
CD 8 3.400 1.045 0.839
CD 9 3.122 1.081 0.727
CD 10 3.504 1.050 0.784
CD 11 3.270 1.049 0.873
CD 12 3.357 1.015 0.735
Compensation and benefits (a = 0.806, CRa = 0.869, AVEb = 0.626)
CB 1 3.791 0.775 0.770
CB 2 3.661 0.913 0.817
CB 3 3.791 0.763 0.686
CB 4 3.426 1.013 0.879
Work-Life Balance (a = 0.929, CRa = 0.955, AVEb = 0.875)
WLB 1 3.461 1.032 0.945
WLB 2 3.409 1.012 0.936
WLB 3 3.383 1.060 0.925
Meaningful work (a = 0.926, CRa = 0.938, AVEb = 0.566)
MW 1 3.235 1.098 0.721
MW 2 3.574 0.970 0.853
MW 3 3.748 0.883 0.737
MW 4 3.304 0.971 0.817
MW 5 3.730 0.848 0.853
MW 6 3.626 0.859 0.8
MW 7 3.730 0.858 0.763
MW 8 3.113 1.125 0.090
MW 9 3.574 0.875 0.739
MW 10 3.800 0.887 0.834
Notes: aComposite reliability; bAverage variance extracted

good to satisfactory. All the CR values of the model (Table 3) show that all the latent
variables exceed these requirements. Hence, all of them are reliable.
Furthermore, this study used convergent validity to explain the extent to which the latent
variables are correlated (Surienty et al., 2014). This analysis uses variables whose average
variance extracted (AVE) values are greater than 0.5 (Hair et al., 2019). Table 3 shows that
all the latent variables exceed the minimum requirement of the AVE. Moreover, variables
with a factor loading of less than 0.5 are not included in further analysis. Hence, this study
removed an item from the CD (CD7) and MW (MW8) categories.

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 Finally, discriminant validity was used to examine the degree to which items in the latent
variables differ. According to Fornell and Larcker (1981), discriminant validity can be
calculated by comparing the correlation between a latent variable and the square root of
the AVE of that latent variable. As shown in Table 4, all the square roots of the AVE are more
significant than the correlation values in the rows and columns, so this model has adequate
discriminant validity.

4.4 Inner model measurement

This study uses the coefficient of determination (R2), cross-validated redundancy (Q2) and
goodness of fit (GoF) as the main criteria to assess the inner model. According to Sanchez
(2013), the interpretation of R2 could be classified into three categories: (1) when the R2 is less
than 0.3, it is classified as a low level, (2) between 0.3 and 0.6 is moderate and (3) more than 0.6
is high. Here, the R2 value for turnover intention is 0.406 and for ES is 0.599, which indicates a
moderate causal relationship among the latent variables in the model. The predictive relevance
(Q2) is 0.762, suggesting that the model is good. The GoF is 0.396, indicating that the model’s
fitness is good (Garson, 2016). In summary, the structural model is robust.

4.5 Hypotheses testing

The next step was to assess the influence of the latent variables within the conceptual
model. A relationship is considered a significant effect if the p-value  0.05 and
t-statistics  1.96. The results were shown in Table 5.
The t-statistics and p-values in Table 5 show one crucial finding, i.e. no significant
relationship between CB and ES. The relationship between CB and ES has a t-statistic value
of 0.209, which is less than 1.96 (two-tailed significance level of 95%), and the p-value is
greater than 0.05; thus, the H3 is rejected. The other hypotheses are accepted. Hence,
these findings show that ES negatively and significantly impacts turnover intention, whereas
CD, WLB and MW positively impact ES.
The relationship between ES and turnover intention can be traced back to the study
of Mobley et al. (1978). They showed that turnover intention begins with employee

Table 4 Discriminant validity

Latent variable 1 2 3 4 5 6

1) Compensation and benefits 0.791

2) Competency development 0.506 0.748
3) Employee satisfaction 0.437 0.669 0.761
4) Meaningful work 0.434 0.664 0.651 0.793
5) Turnover intention 0.366 0.607 0.637 0.462 0.776
6) Work–life balance 0.377 0.382 0.573 0.462 0.407 0.935
Note: Diagonal values represent the square root of average variance extracted while the rests show
squared correlation

Table 5 Results of hypothesis testing

Relationships Path coefficient t-statistics p-values

H1: ES ⇨ TI 0.637 10.953 0.000

H2: CD ⇨ ES 0.024 0.206 0.837
H3: CB ⇨ ES 0.252 2.522 0.012
H4: WLB ⇨ ES 0.374 3.269 0.001
H5: MW ⇨ ES 0.305 3.192 0.002
Note:  Significant at p-value  0.05

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dissatisfaction with work, so they begin to entertain thoughts of leaving (thoughts of
quitting). After a certain period, they look for a new job (intention to search); if the employee
finds another job, the intention to quit the job (intention to leave) occurs. To achieve high
productivity, companies must try to minimize job dissatisfaction.
The significant relationship between CD and millennials’ satisfaction in the manufacturing
industry reveals that some variables such as CD programs provided by companies, would
increase ES (Joshi, 2019). Every individual needs career development when working in a
company because it can improve an individual’s performance, positively impacting the
company and increasing its productivity (Ylinenpää, 1997).
WLB has a significant effect on the job satisfaction of millennials. Some of the indicators
used to measure WLB (Greenhaus et al., 2003) are “a sense of enjoying every aspect of life
well,” “the ability to balance personal life and work” (involvement balance) and “satisfaction
with work–life balance” (satisfaction balance). This situation means that, when millennials
who work in the manufacturing industry feel they have a WLB, it can affect their satisfaction
level. The manufacturing industry has a relatively stable and definite working hour system;
for example, the first shift starts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the second shift starts from 4 p.m. to
12 p.m. and the third shift starts from 12 p.m. to 8 a.m. This system can help employees
manage their time between work and personal life to increase job satisfaction.
MW’s significant effect on ES indicates that the respondents had experienced
meaningfulness in their work, affecting their WLB. Individuals who feel that work has
meaning will be committed to their work – both to the company and the type of profession –
reducing their desire to resign. They are also rarely absent without reason (Steger et al.,
2012).
CB has no significant effect on the job satisfaction of millennials in Indonesia’s
manufacturing industry. This situation happens plausibly because of the lack of millennials’
understanding of the CB provided by the company. The decision-makers might have
developed the current compensation and benefit programs without considering the
characteristics of millennials. For example, millennials do not consider housing or car
installments for five years as an essential benefit because they presume that they will not
stay in the company for that long. They perceive it as a bonding, which they dislike (Deloitte
Indonesia, 2019). Another cause is that the service sector tends to provide higher CB than
the manufacturing industry. This situation might be one reason that CB do not significantly
affect the job satisfaction of millennials in the manufacturing industry. Because CB do not
significantly influence ES, manufacturing companies should review CB programs to match
the characteristics of millennials. Moreover, transparency and fairness in the calculation and
distribution of CB should be considered so that these factors can affect the level of ES
(Saxena and Rai, 2016). Finally, our findings are consistent with previous studies that stated
a negative relationship between ES and turnover intention.

5. Conclusion
The findings of this study have important implications for academics and practitioners as it
theoretically contributes to the literature about the work attitudes of different generations
from the perspective of human resource management practice. It recommends that
companies should implement programs to reduce employee turnover intention; examples of
such programs are providing training and enhancing learning opportunities to retain
competent employees. Based on the results, our study suggests that when employees
acquire new skills as part of their CD, it would then play a significant role and makes a
company more attractive.
Interestingly, this study finds that CB do not significantly affect millennials’ turnover intention
because the manufacturing industry tends to have lower salaries than the service industry.
Employees are the most valuable company assets because company achievement

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 depends more on intangible assets than traditional physical and financial indicators
(Surienty et al., 2014). Human resource experts must understand that millennials have
characteristics that might be different from those of previous generations, so they should
customize the retention programs that suit the personalities of millennials. For instance,
millennials want the firms to support their concern for environmental or social causes.
Here, the companies might offer paid time off for volunteering activities. Moreover, because
millennials value flexibility more than stability, the firm could promote proportional flexible
working hours program or flexible working space.
Still, to ensure that these specific development programs would not unnecessarily burden
the human resource department, the managers must approach these needs with caution.
They might opt for the opportunity to develop a flexible benefits program with a healthy
mixture of fixed and customized benefits options. The fixed benefits could come in some
conventional ways (e.g. health insurance and retirement plan), regardless of the generation
memberships. In contrast, the customized ones would give a chance to millennials to
choose their unique benefits, such as getting a free gym membership or having a personal
financial advisor. In addition, the company might start to design activities that suit the
personalities of millennials (and the later generation) through the management trainee
program for the recruits. Here, the participants are mostly fresh graduates, and they would
have characteristics in common; hence, the concerns that the customized approach would
conflict with the older generations become minor.
This study has some limitations that serve as a basis for future research. First and foremost,
this study accepted the generational cohorts and their characteristics, allowing future works
to explore the acceptability of generational research from the perspective of human
resource practitioners in Indonesia. Second, the distribution of respondents is concentrated
in the Jakarta Greater Area. A future study might survey a larger sample size across regions
and focus on novel factors that represent Indonesian culture. Finally, future works might
consult with more experts from various backgrounds to design programs based on the
significant factors that affect turnover intention. To achieve this, it can use the multicriteria
decision-making approach to conduct the research.

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Corresponding author
Romadhani Ardi can be contacted at: romadhani.ardi@ui.ac.id

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