YPulse’s new Employer Intent Index lets users track the top companies young consumers are excited to work for. Here are their top 15…
TL;DR:
- Gen Z and Millennials are fueling The Great Resignation, making it more important than ever for brands understand what they’re looking for in a workplace
- YPulse’s new Employer Brand Index finds that the top 15 brands young consumers want to work for include YouTube, PayPal, and Amazon
- Tech brands dominate their list, but they’re also excited to work for their favorite retail, entertainment, and sports brands
Last year, YPulse explored The Great Resignation in our trend report, What’s Next For Work. And all buzzy headlines aside, our research shows that, by and large, the pandemic has provoked a monumental change in young people’s relationships to work and how they’re forging ahead in their careers. More than half of young consumers told YPulse they’re interested in changing jobs or industries while a quarter already have within the last year. In other words, Gen Z and Millennials are indeed fueling The Great Resignation.
Driving this trend forward is the fact that young people know it’s an employee’s market. Companies have struggled to fill roles, leading them to add perks, raise starting salaries, and even craft roles tailored to target young peoples’ interests. So what brands are they actually interested in working for? YPulse is already tracking affinity for over 1,000 of the world’s leading brands on a daily basis, and we recently added a new question to our Brand Tracker to assess how likely young consumers are to consider working for each brand in the future. The resulting Employer Intent Index and analysis give current YPulse Pro users a clear view of whether Gen Z and Millennials want to work for your brand, top employers and rising stars, and insight into what might be influencing their employer preferences. The top brands they want to work for are decided by an index score combining two measures: Young consumer’s likelihood to work for a brand and their awareness of the brand. Here are the top 15 brands Gen Z and Millennials in the U.S. in the Employer Index, among the brands YPulse is currently tracking:
The Top Brands They Want to Work For
Among 13-39-year-olds in the U.S.
- YouTube (65%)
- PayPal (65%)
- Amazon (64%)
- Google (63%)
- Nike (61%)
- Apple (60%)
- Netflix (60%)
- Target (58%)
- Amazon Prime (57%)
- Coca-Cola (56%)
- Visa (55%)
- Walmart (55%)
- NBA (55%)
- Disney (55%)
- Nintendo (54%)
YPulse Pro users can access the full employer branding data here.
Don’t have a YPulse Pro account and want to learn more? Contact us here.
YouTube is the number one brand 13-39-year-olds want to work for
But more than any other company, our data finds that Gen Z and Millennials want to work for YouTube. These generations grew up on the video platform, and it continues to serve not only as a source of entertainment, but a place to learn and find community YPulse’s brand data has continuously shown its strong standing among young consumers for overall affinity: YouTube also closed out 2021 as the top YScore+ brand among Gen Z, and it’s the No. 1 media, tech, and entertainment brand among 13-39-year-olds in North America, according to our brand tracker. The Employer Index data shows that compared to other top employers on the ranking, YouTube is more likely to be a brand that they pay attention to, feel expresses who they are, and gets them. In other words, YouTube is big with these gens, and that means they want to work for the brand, too.
Tech brands dominate the ranking of their top desired employers
At first glance, it’s clear that young consumers are interested in careers in tech. Nine of the top 15 brands they most want to work for are tech-related, from social media platforms to fin-tech to the biggest online retailer in the world. Arguably, the top three brands on the ranking are all tech brands in their own ways. When we look at the top brands they want to work for by generation, interestingly, Apple is actually number one among Gen Z. Compared to other top employers, Gen Z is more likely to see Apple as a brand that’s hot, cool, and keeps getting better. As a generation that’s more tied to their phones than any other, Apple continues to play a central role in their lives, and it may be boosting their desirability as an employer.
PayPal is second on the employer ranking–driven by Millennials
The second-top company young consumers want to work for is PayPal. But the brand is actually at the top of Millennials’ ranking, and number five on Gen Z’s. PayPal closed 2021 as the brand with the top YScore+ for Millennials, and continues to perform highly with this generation. While peer-to-peer payment services were already popular with young shoppers before the pandemic, they skyrocketed during lockdowns, especially as young people shifted to more ecommerce shopping and looked for dependable ways to pay for their purchases. YPulse’s fintech report found that the majority of Millennials use PayPal, while our shopping and retail report found that more than half of Millennials prefer to shop online. This is reflected in some of the scores that distinguish PayPal from other top employers on the ranking: They’re more likely to score highly as a brand Millennials recommend, pay attention to, and talk about.
Entertainment brands also occupy many spots on the top of the employer ranking
Of course, YouTube is at the top of the ranking–and while we’ve spoken of them as a tech brand, they’re very clearly a top entertainment brand for these gens. But while they’re at the top, they’re not the only entertainment brand young people are interested in working for. Netflix is at number seven on the list, and the NBA, Disney, and Nintendo round out the top 15 ranking. Of course, these are brands than being them joy, but it should also be noted that both NBA and Disney are more likely to be seen as brands that reflects diversity than other top employers, indicating a quality that these generations are looking for in their workplaces.
YPulse Pro users can access the full employer branding data here.
Don’t have a YPulse Pro account and want to learn more? Contact us here.
