In a rapidly changing business environment, organizations are facing a talent crisis dealing with high employee turnover. Changes in the composition of generations in the marketplace have led organizations to understand the majority generation who are already working, namely Generation X and Generation Y. It is important for organizations to know the generation composition and professional characteristics of their employees.

This study compares the Generation X and Generation Y on the preferred retention factors including development opportunities, leadership, job autonomy, work environment, and compensation. Data collection is conducted through a survey using questionnaire to 352 employees consisting of 116 employees of Generation X and 236 employees of Generation Y. Data Analysis is performed using Independent Sample T-test.

The study results show a significant difference between the mean score of Generation X and Y employees. The factors that have significant difference are development opportunities, job autonomy, work environment and compensation, while Leadership does not have a significant difference between those generations. This means organization needs to focus on differentiating the employee retention strategies for Generation X and Y related to development opportunities, job autonomy, work environment and compensation.