Today’s young professionals have different career expectations than previous generations. Although they attach importance to extrinsic factors such as salary, image, and free time, they also view training and close communication with executives as key elements.
In order to retain and develop the potential of this talent, organizations need to familiarize themselves with the concerns of these highly qualified professionals. They also need to understand young people’s “job-hopping” approach to career development so that they can offer a plan in line with their expectations. Talent is a scarce resource, and recruiting resolute young professionals with the right skills is essential to present and future competitiveness.
Although today’s new professionals are engaged and committed to their jobs, they are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities at other organizations.
Promotion
These new professionals view job-hopping as a path to higher wages that does not undermine their potential for promotion. Companies therefore need to introduce compensation systems designed to retain young workers. Netflix, the audiovisual content provider, uses a salary adjustment system that ensures that high-performing employees receive top-of-market salaries. This strategy guarantees that the company pays competitive wages compared to other employers, thus demonstrating its firm commitment to keeping top talent.
A decade ago, promotions that came with a significant increase in responsibility were more likely to be awarded internally, whereas today there are no differences in promotion patterns between an organization’s longest-serving professionals and its most recent recruits.
Incessant job search
Although today’s new professionals are engaged and committed to their jobs, they are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities at other organizations. Total dedication and involvement in their current project is no guarantee of loyalty.
This incessant search for a new job is primarily due to the fact that young people set career goals that are not linked to any particular organization. They do not see frequent job changes in a negative light. Even if they are not unsatisfied with their current job, they don’t want to feel like they’re missing out. At the same time, technological changes have made the job market and the flow of information between employers and candidates more transparent, with sites like Glassdoor.com, Vault.com, LinkedIn, and even Facebook facilitating connections.
When they receive insufficient feedback about their performance or sense a mismatch between their assignments and their skills, these professionals are more likely to seek out other opportunities elsewhere. Their job search expands as their network grows; hence, a company’s most proactive employees will also be the most proactive in looking for outside opportunities.
Among today’s young people, greater importance is placed on high-involvement jobs supported by senior management than in previous generations.
Best practices
The most effective human resource practices to discourage these professionals from pursuing other job opportunities involve high stakes assignments (jobs with high visibility and responsibility for key decisions) and support from senior management.
Among today’s young people, greater importance is placed on high-involvement jobs supported by senior management than in previous generations, when people mainly developed their careers in hierarchical organizations that followed predictable patterns of professional promotion.
The gap between the practices employees consider important for professional promotion and those which are actually implemented by their organizations is largest in the areas of mentoring (a more experienced member of the organization contributing to a newer employee’s personal growth), coaching (assistance in developing job skills), training, and the support of immediate supervisors and upper management. Young people consider job transitions between functions, divisions, or regions with new and different responsibilities less important for their career development than high stakes assignments or support from senior management. It is also worth noting that young people do not put a very high priority on the management of racial, sexual, and cultural diversity either.
In this scenario, companies with flexible promotion channels—which allow employees to take on new positions as they are ready for them—are more successful in retaining this new talent. Practices that have been successfully implemented by other organizations include employee clubs, specific events to welcome new hires, and annual gatherings to share experiences.
Smaller companies also need to offer new challenges and give a voice to young people taking their first professional steps by allowing them to interact with upper management.
New generations want to ensure their success and devote great effort to professional development by taking on important, high-visibility jobs and enjoying the support of top management. Organizations that ignore these expectations show that they don’t understand—or are ignorant of—these professionals’ needs and do not support their personal growth.
© IE Insights.
