Susanne Iser, Director Strategic Recruitment & Talent Acquisition, Beiersdorf AG, a CEMS Corporate Partner, shares her excitement for the generation coming into the workforce.
In my eyes the generation entering the workforce right now is much more playful than previous generations. They expect to have fun at work, as work is one part of their life which is to be enjoyed.
They are also up for challenges in their roles to learn, grow and develop their portfolio and fill their backpack with work experiences.
Job security is a criteria not to be neglected for them. Yet job security does not mean receiving a paycheck at the end of the month, it’s about the fields a company is investing in. When they see a company investing in digital transformation that’s a sign for them that that organisation is secure because they are thinking about the future. If it’s a company with no ambition to step into the digital landscape that’s a sign that it’s not a safe place to work – it is not future fit and probably won’t exist in three years’ time!
Flexibility is crucial
Flexibility and trust is also crucial to this generation. They don’t want to be micromanaged or tracked if they work from home or in the office, or how many days they do at each. They want the flexibility and the trust to, for example, work from abroad so they can extend home visits or holidays.
In a recent poll that I was reading, which looked at the main reasons employees leave organisations, flexibility with regards to working models ranked at number 19 in 2020, by 2023 this had leapt to fifth place. I’ve also noticed that in interviews, questions about sabbaticals and annual leave are now already asked in the first meeting.
What the company offers beyond pure work is also important to this generation, in terms of benefits such as wellbeing and health programmes.
Another big change is the shift in power caused by the skilled worker shortage. This demands a shift in attitude for companies, especially in the West, as the decline in the birth rate filters through.
