Sanne Willigenburg & Corien Dieterman
Sanne and Corien discussing the challenges of young people and employers in the labour market.
Ibo Metz & Victoria Kroon
Ibo and Victoria are talking about financial security and the challenges for young people and employers.
Download: Workforce Preference Study 2023
Read all results?
Invest more in a good base salary
Young people consider financial security more important than ever. They value a good base salary as the most important thing (1st position). They would also like a permanent contract quickly and an increase in salary (3rd and 5th positions). Welmers: 'For employers, that means it may be better at present to invest less in flexible employee benefits, such as mobility or training budgets.
The conditions involved in attracting employees are particularly important for young people. These are the more traditional components that you can evaluate externally, such as a salary, a permanent contract and commuting distance. Things to do with retaining colleagues are now reflected only to a limited extent in the best positioned results of the Workforce Preference Study. Presumably the attraction factor for young people is more important than the retention factor. So that is where my focus would be as an employer.'
What attracts young talent to their (future) employer? The top 10 preferences:
Be more opportunistic in your labour market communication
In the previous PwC survey Hopes & Fears, 40 per cent of young people said they would consider looking for another job within the next year. 'However,' says Welmers, 'there are ultimately very few companies that also have a 40 per cent turnover within that target group. By no means all young people who say this actually leave.
It also helps to keep communicating clearly about factors that young people consider important. For instance, we see standard texts like 'no 9-to-5 mentality' in many vacancies. This is an unappealing message to young people. As an organisation, focus on flexibility and how you want to provide financial security. So don't state: "Come and work for us because it is so challenging." But instead: "Come and work for us, because you will receive a permanent contract immediately." It is really acceptable for current generations to be more opportunistic.'
Young people prefer to work less
'We didn’t expect this', says Raymond Welmers. 'Considering the labour market shortage, we have looked into the willingness of young workers to work more, for example within organisations where 36 or 38 hours per week is the norm. The idea was that this could help alleviate the labour market shortage. Our research shows that young people would rather work fewer hours than more. This preference actually makes the labour market shortage larger rather than smaller. The solution to this problem does not only lie with the new generation. There are also challenges related to part-time work, retirement age, and labour migration. Perhaps the way organisations currently structure their employment conditions does not provide enough incentive to work more.'
Raymond Welmers, labour market specialist at PwC
Reward and ensure personal recognition
The WFPS 2023 further shows that young people value personal recognition. According to Welmers, it is important for organisations to look beyond bonuses when it comes to remuneration policy. 'You used to be able to agree on meeting targets and the corresponding pay, but that form of performance pay is sinking further down the preference lists year after year.
These days, young talents actually value personal recognition (9th position) and having an approachable manager (8th position). With the rise of hybrid working with people working from home more often, employers should be aware that this may make young people feel less recognised and their achievements less noticed. In addition, recognition in the form of a salary increase (5th position) and a permanent contract (3rd position) is also very important. Young people would like to be rewarded systematically for their work.'
Give young people confidence and flexibility
It is sometimes difficult for organisations to retain young people. Welmers believes that you can't always keep everyone. ‘You shouldn't assume that, but you need to make every effort to ensure that you manage to retain those groups that are most crucial to your organisation. Give young people confidence and the flexibility for their own work-life balance. They can handle that responsibility and autonomy extremely well and it is an important tie-in factor.'
It is also clear that young people consider it important who they work with (6th position). 'Colleagues are important to everyone,' Welmers concludes. 'I think it is one of the most important reasons for people to stay with or leave an employer. You therefore need to look closely at whether people within your teams are complementary to each other, and whether they can handle the calibre of the work. As a result of the tight labour market, we are seeing unsustainable workloads taking on unhealthy proportions, resulting in increasing drop-out rates and turnover. Organisations that are better able to retain their talents will suffer less. There are therefore dual benefits.'
PwC’s Workforce Preference Study 2023
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