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More part-time work? Training younger workers to expect less

A majority of younger job seekers say having a flexible work schedule is most attractive characteristic of a company.

September 4, 2014 by Jason Hamilton — VP of Marketing, Snagajob

The unemployment rate is decreasing, but that hasn’t seemed to boost the economy as expected. That’s because more and more people are getting back to work, but for less hours and less money. Are we changing the definition of a stable job and unknowingly training the younger generation, our future workforce, to expect less?

What is a benefit to today’s workers? Pensions, vacation pay, retirement funds? None of these are what job seekers are searching for. So what’s importance? A flexible schedule. Something that seems so simple but can be lost in the shuffle. This is something that cannot be lived without in today’s marketplace. With the impact of more jobs for less hours, more and more job seekers have no choice but to find multiple positions and get sucked into the juggling act that is their week-to-week routine.

To better understand what’s important to today’s job seekers, we asked: What would make you interested in working for an employer?

Option choices included:

• Increased Holiday Pay
• Child Care Assistance
• Awards/Recognition
• Flexible Schedule
• Education Assistance

Seventy-six percent of job seekers ages 16-24 year olds picked Flexible Schedule as the number one benefit that would attract them to work for an employer.

If you aren’t able to get a wage increase, which benefit would motivate you to be a better employee?

Options included:

• Training/Personal Development
• Employee Perks (shift preference, parking, etc.)
• Awards/Recognition
• Gift Cards

Thirty-three percent of all job seekers picked Training/Personal Development. However, 39 percent of 16-24 year old job seekers picked Employee Perks (shift preference, parking, etc.), going back to the importance that scheduling has on today’s younger job seekers.

There won’t be a need to teach today’s job seekers the importance of work-life balance, something many of us didn’t have to worry about until we were much older.  Every day, they are getting a hands-on lesson in balancing their job(s) and families while searching for more opportunity.

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