News

Managing tomorrow’s people – global survey reveals what the millennial generation want from work

According to a new global report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers today, the perception that the new generation of workers, the ‘millennials’, are disloyal and will completely reject traditional work practices is a myth...

See the company profile  |  ČESKY (Jak řídit zaměstnance zítřka? – celosvětová studie zjistila, co mladá generace očekává a vyžaduje od zaměstnání)

• Training and development is the benefit the millennials value most highly - particularly coaching and mentoring
• Millennials do not expect to completely reject traditional working practices
• Robust corporate responsibility is critical to attracting and keeping the new generation of workers
• 61% of CEOs say they have difficulty attracting and integrating younger workers

According to a new global report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers today, the perception that the new generation of workers, the ‘millennials’, are disloyal and will completely reject traditional work practices is a myth.

The ‘Millennials at work’ research is part of PwC’s ongoing ‘Managing tomorrow’s people’ series and is based on survey responses from over 4,200 graduates. Individuals in 44 countries, including the Czech Republic, were asked to respond anonymously about their expectations of work and careers.

The findings show that global opportunities and robust corporate responsibility are critical to the millennials. They expect to be predominantly office-based in combination with home office, work regular office hours with elements of flexible working and have a small number of future employers. The research therefore suggests that some companies should re-assess their efforts to attract and retain younger workers to ensure they are channelling their investment effectively, particularly in light of current cost pressures.

The importance of this is reinforced by findings from the 12th annual PwC CEO Survey, to be published next year, which show 61% of CEOs say they have challenges recruiting and integrating younger employees.

Global mobility

Respondents were very open to overseas assignments: 80% of all respondents want to work internationally. Czech respondents prefer Western Europe (especially the UK) and the USA as their country of assignment.

70% of respondents expect to use another language at work. While only 38% cited English as their first language, 83% expect to use English at work. French and Spanish follow with 19% and 14%, respectively. Almost all Czech respondents expect to use English at work and almost half of them expect to be using German.

Flexible working

Although just 3% of respondents expect to work mainly at home, most of them (80% of Czech respondents) believe they will combine office and home (or other locations) for work. Two thirds of all respondents and three quarters of Czech respondents expect to combine regular office hours with flexible arrangements.

Three-quarters of respondents believe they will have between two and five employers in their lifetime. These findings appear to debunk the image of millennials characterised by a lack of loyalty and avoidance of traditional working practices.

CSR expectations

Tomorrow’s workers expect their employers to behave responsibly, with 88% stating they will seek employers with corporate social responsibility (CSR) values that reflect their own.

Additionally, 86% would consider leaving an employer whose CSR values no longer reflected theirs – Argentina (94%), the US and Brazil (both 92%) are home to the most idealistic graduates in that respect. Among Czech respondents, CSR is high on the agenda for almost 84%.

“The importance of corporate responsibility to young employees is also obvious from our experience at the workplace. Our employees, for example, want PwC to help them to get involved with the community and internal surveys show that they value our ethical approach to business. Responsibility has to be part of the whole business - from observing ethical principals to the selection of suppliers to the environmental impact to dealing fairly with employees. As employees have first-hand information and direct experience, they are the best ‘litmus paper’ of how their company really performs no matter what is says about itself in the public,” says Lenka Čábelová, Marketing & Communications Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Czech Republic.

Reward and personal development

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). This is three times higher than the proportion that chose cash bonuses. Almost all respondents (98%) stated that working with strong coaches and mentors is important to personal development. Czech graduates have the same expectations.

Jana Byczkowská, Human Capital Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers Czech Republic, said:

"In PricewatehouseCoopers, each employee has their own internal coach, who supports them in their personal and professional development. It is within this cooperation that the future focus of the career is decided. Their career progress within the firm depends on their proactive access to development and personal motivation with cooperation with the coach. Our company builds on the motivation and initiative of workers, and therefore we try to hire graduates who want to actively shape their future."

Q: Please select the benefits you would value most over the next 5 years other than you salary?