YOUNGER EMPLOYEES AREN’T PROTESTING FROM THEIR SOFAS AGAINST THE PRINCIPLE OF THE DAILY GRIND, THEY ’RE PURSUING JOBS AND CAREERS THAT MEET THEIR VERY SPECIFIC NEEDS – EXPECTATIONS SHAPED BY RECENT GLOBAL AND ECONOMIC EVENTS. EMPLOYERS NEED TO ENSURE THEIR OFFERING DOESN’T JUST TICK THE FLEXIBLE WORKING POLICY BOX, BUT MEETS FOUR DISTINCTIVE CRITERIA.

A policy that requires employees to be in the office say, three days per week, still has a whiff of staid presenteeism about it, that doesn’t fool today’s market-savvy, digital natives. They’re impressed by employers that focus more on what workers need to deliver, rather than prescribing working hours and location and support greater remote-working and expect less synchronous logging on and off and certainly no e-surveillance. Younger employees also say they will stay longer if given the freedom to pursue projects or part-time businesses outside of their day job, according to Microsoft’s research. Furthermore, with additional rocketing living and energy costs, younger workers are placing higher value on job security and are also twice as likely to be affected by financial stress than older colleagues.

Employers with a history of firing at the first sign of a downturn and ruthlessly prune graduates, will not be perceived worth the elbow-slicing competition required to make it through the door. With the recent jobs market boom and record vacancies, new joiners have seen healthy pay offers as salary wars have seeped from mid-senior levels into early career pay bands. But candidates aren’t naïve, they know they will likely be expected to put in long working hours in return and put home and social lives in a distant second place. Alongside negotiating for the best pay packet, they value cost-of-living adjustments and time-related benefits such as generous extended leave offers, firebreak weekends – meeting-free Fridays and Mondays – as well as additional company days off and work-related social time and imaginative office spaces that combine the informality of working from home with wow-factor décor and boast-worthy perks.

Younger employees are keener than ever to benefit from learning and development, not just through structured programmes and formal training but through informal routes too. On-the-job observation and shadowing, access to mentors and sponsors, networking and relationship-building opportunities are enormously valued and offer lasting impact to early careerists. McKinsey research shows that skills derived through experience account for 60-to-80 percent of lifetime earnings for upwardly mobile workers and employees will increasingly switch employers to find the growth they are seeking. Consequently, internal career paths must be enhanced with, profile-raising opportunities, stretch assignments, career guidance and coaching provision.

This may sound like a one-way flow of benefits, but leaders are highly aware that their business success relies on their ability to hire and retain talent, develop skills needed for the future and help employees reach their potential by offering a meaningful, enjoyable work experience. In a 2022 survey by PwC, 77 percent of C-suite executives said the ability to hire and retain talent is most critical to achieving growth. In reviewing your offer to younger employees, assess how competitive your package is on all of the criteria described above. If you tick most of those boxes, you will be waving your hand-picked new joiners smugly through the door. But there is one other crucial factor that will determine the equally important question of how long they will stay – a positive work culture that demonstrably values wellbeing, sustainable workloads and a sociable, supportive environment. Without that, flexibility cannot cut it alone.

Helen Beedham is the author of The Future of Time Published by Practical Inspiration Publishing

FOR FURTHER INFO WWW.HELENBEEDHAM.COM