Research and results

Citation

Nolan, S. (2009), "Research and results", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 8 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2009.37208cab.009

Research and results

Article Type: Research and results From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 8, Issue 3

A look at current trends and data

Story 1

New generation of workers embrace traditional working

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Millennials at Work. Perspectives from a New Generation research report shows that the millennial generation – the new generation of workers that entered the workforce after 1 July 2000 – does not expect to reject traditional working practices. The research is part of the ongoing Managing Tomorrow’s People series, which looks at the expectations and opinions of over 4,200 graduates from 44 countries in relation to the future of work and their attitudes on subjects such as rewards/incentives, corporate responsibility, technology and global working.

According to the report, the perception that millennials are disloyal and will reject traditional work practices is a myth. The findings show that while global opportunities and robust corporate responsibility are critical to the millennials, they expect to be predominantly office-based, work regular office hours and have a small number of future employers. The research suggests that some companies should re-assess their efforts to attract and retain younger workers to ensure they are channeling their investment effectively, particularly in light of current cost pressures.

Other findings include:

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  Global mobility. Respondents were very open to overseas assignments, with Indian graduates showing the greatest appetite for working overseas (93 percent). Eighty percent of all respondents want to work internationally and 70 percent of global respondents expect to use another language at work.

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  Technology and information sharing. Millennials view technology as key to socializing and networking, with 85 percent as members of a social networking site, such as Facebook. Forty percent are comfortable about giving employers greater access to their personal information in the interests of personal and business security.

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  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expectations. Tomorrow’s workers expect their employers to behave responsibly, with 88 percent stating they will seek employers with CSR values that reflect their own. Additionally, 86 percent would consider leaving an employer whose CSR values no longer reflected theirs. An employer’s policy on climate change is seen as important or very important by the majority of graduates globally (58 percent).

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  Reward and development. Globally, training and development is the most highly valued benefit for millennials in the first five years of their career – with one third of respondents electing this as their first choice benefit (aside from salary). Almost all respondents (98 percent) stated that working with strong coaches and mentors is important to personal development.

Michael Rendell, partner and global head of human resource services, PwC, comments: “The millennials want many of the same things from work as the generations before them so companies do not need to tear up their people strategies to manage the new generation of workers. What is new is younger people’s ability to mobilize into another job if their expectations and ideals are not met. To manage this difference, companies need to think creatively about reward strategies, using metrics and benchmarking to segment their workforce in a similar way to how many companies segment their customer base.”

For more information

The full Millennials at Work report can be downloaded from www.pwc.com/managingpeople2020

Story 2

Communication skills important leadership attribute

In a poll by international leadership development organization, Common Purpose, communication skills were highlighted as an important leadership attribute. Over 58 percent of the 750 respondents picked the ability to communicate as their top choice of what they look for in a successful leader. Other top choices were empowering, visionary, inspirational and decisive. The survey’s findings suggest that while a leader’s role will always be to inspire, their job – perhaps more so in such turbulent times – is to communicate these values to others inside their organizations and to transmit these values to external audiences.

When asked to describe their own leadership, good communication skills also ranked highly, taking the second slot (selected by 44 percent of respondents), to approachable (50 percent), suggesting that creating positive working relationships with others is central to how people judge their own success as leaders. Acting strategically and with integrity, and empowering others, made the top five most important factors, again showing a high level of awareness of a leader’s role in developing others – and pushing outwards to give staff a chance to grow.

Commenting on the poll results, Julia Middleton, chief executive of Common Purpose, says: “Leaders can’t just be handed a script any more and told where to stand. They have to speak to and with people, find the right words, illustrate their ideas and vision with compelling stories and convince those they strive to lead that they mean what they say.”

For more information

Visit: www.commonpurpose.org.uk

Story 3

Generation Y values salary over society

When looking for a job, Generation Y workers (people born after 1982), expect more employee benefits than their older counterparts, and value salary more than corporate social responsibility (CSR). These are some of the findings of a research project undertaken by recruitment specialist, FreshMinds Talent. Entitled Work 2.0, the research surveyed over 1,000 people and followed up with a series of focus groups to explore how the generational divide defines attitudes to work. Findings include:

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  Ethics versus salary. Generation Y would take a job that offers the higher salary over one with an organization that has introduced initiatives such as a focus on CSR or a strong involvement in the community or that has a positive impact on the environment. In contrast, Generation Y would take a lower salary to work in a company that has flexible working hours, offers the ability to work from home, uses their skills better and has better training opportunities.

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  Perks. Generation Y workers are generally more demanding than Generation X (people born between 1964 and 1981) and Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1963) when it comes to the extra perks that come with the job.

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  Loyalty and longevity. Forty-one percent of Generation Y workers believe that the company they work for says something about them. Despite this, they are generally unwilling to commit a large chunk of their working life to one firm.

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  The individual and the company. People in the Generation Y category are ambivalent to the role of the company, with 40 percent believing that the organization makes no real impact on helping them get their job done. These figures grow much less marked in older employees

For more information

Visit: http://talent.freshminds.co.uk/

Story 4

Lack of data for managing absence in European organizations

At a time when organizations are looking to reduce costs, many firms are failing to effectively manage their employee absence rates due to a lack of good data, according to Mercer’s 2008 Pan-European Health & Benefit report. While the majority can access simple data on the number of days employees are absent, only two-fifths (42 percent) say they can identify the cause of employee absence and still fewer (33 percent) have data on the direct cost of employee absence. Twenty-one percent of organizations report that their company is unable to access good data relating to the level, causes or cost of absence.

The research is the result of a survey of nearly 800 companies across 24 European countries. The data shows that, on average, European employees are absent 7.4 days per year. According to the report, 58 percent of respondents said that, on average, employees were absent five days or fewer per year. However, 15 percent report averages of 10 days per year or more, an increase from the 12 percent in 2006. The highest absence rate was reported by respondents in Bulgaria, Portugal, Norway and the Czech Republic, with the lowest by respondents in Turkey (4.6 days). The UK and Spain also reported low average rates (5.5 and 5.7 days, respectively). In a comparable USA survey by Mercer, respondents reported an average of 5.1 days.

Of those companies able to measure causes of employee absence, musculoskeletal, stress, mental health and cancer conditions were cited as the main causes of long-term absence.

For more information

Visit www.mercer.com/healthsurveyeurope

Sara Nolan