Work-life balance ranks as highly as Pay on Talent’s lists of priorities and far ahead of any other category !

💡 A clear majority of employees see their personal life as more important than their work life.

🔥 Work-life balance now ranks as highly as pay on workers’ lists of priorities (93%) more than any other considerations. The importance of work-life balance is also reflected in a continued focus on flexible working, even as employers are increasingly advocating a return to the office.

〰️ Given the volatile economic situation in many parts of the world, employees put stability ahead of taking on greater responsibility

⚠️ More disturbing, almost a third (29%) of all respondents say their employer doesn’t understand their generation, according to a new interesting research published by Randstad in partnership with Dynata using data 📊 from among 27,000 workers in 34 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas conducted between October 23 and November 11, 2023.

✅Work-life Balance edges ahead of Compensation and benefits

Researchers found that for nearly two-thirds of respondents (60%), their personal lives are more important than their work lives.

✔️ Work-life balance now ranks as highly as pay on workers’ lists of priorities (93%) more than any other considerations. When researchers also look at employees' next career move, work-life balance is even more important (57%) than higher pay (55%).

✅Career advancement and training matter

Researchers found that employees have become more positive about the economic environment, with only 23% stating that they are concerned about the impact of economic uncertainty on their career progression.

Another interesting findings, researchers noticed that the proportion of people saying they wouldn’t accept a job if it didn’t offer career progression opportunities (42%) is nearly the same number (39%) of those saying they don’t want career progression because they are happy in their role.

☝️ Even though the majority of employees consider career development opportunities to be important, more than half (51%) say they would stay in a job they like even if it offers no chance for progression.

For others, they are not seeking career advancement because of circumstances in their lives outside of work.

✅Employees prefer stability over responsibility

Researchers noticed that given the unstable economic situation in many parts of the world, workers are prioritizing stability over taking on greater responsibilities: 59% of them are looking for a full-time position within a business rather than a part-time position.

Researchers found that there is a thirst for training, with 72% of employees rank this as important, slightly above the 70% who prioritize career progression.

➡️ People want clarity about the training and development opportunities available, the career choices they have with an employer and the work-life balance achievable in their roles.

Researchers also found that (29%) of all employees say their employer doesn’t understand their generation and Gen Z and Millennials exceed this average markedly, underlining that employers have to put greater emphasis on winning them over:

❌ A quarter of employees feel uncomfortable sharing their viewpoints due to fear of judgment or discrimination (26%).

❌ More than half of all respondents (55%) are hiding aspects of themselves at work.

📌Finally researchers conclude that Ambition is no longer viewed in its traditional sense of career progression. Organizations will need to reconsider the ambitions of talent, build a more nuanced understanding of balance and forge strong connections with their workforce, as talent looks to build a true partnership with employers.

Also employers must create clear lines of communication with colleagues in order to understand what progression looks like to them and what motivations they need.

To provide this clarity, organizations must provide frequent and clear feedback, enable staff to realize their ambitions and regularly recognize their contributions. Doing so will ensure a healthy, connected and productive workforce.

☝️ 𝙈𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬:

This magnificent research with a large dataset shows once again that across the world, the traditional desire of employees which is more salary has clearly changed and they are wanting a real work-life balance, flexibility while having a interesting career progression. If companies want to retain their best talents in 2024, it will no longer be enough to increase their salary by a certain percentage and this is particularly true for the new generation Z.

Thank you 🙏 Randstad researchers team for these insightful findings:

Sander van 't Noordende Roberta Cucchiaro

Dave Ulrich George Kemish LLM MCMI MIC MIoL

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