The stereotype of an overworked businessman is so prevalent that it even invaded a horror movie I recently watched on Netflix (Called Train to Busan, I highly recommend it). While it takes the entire destruction of his country in a zombie apocalypse for the main character of that film to learn his lesson about the need for a proper work-life balance, you won’t have to tell the world’s youngest, most talented workforce as much.
Work/Life Balance Is a Top Career Goal
It may take a lot of creativity to keep up a proper balance, but professionals are putting in the effort. Research and consulting firm Universum Global has the analysis:
“Across both [the business and IT] industries, students continue to place work-life balance at the top of their career goals,” they reported.
“It is important to note that work-life balance might carry varying implications across the globe. What is seen as balancing work and personal life in the UK might be very different in Japan or France. We can see in both fields of study, there are some countries where it falls to the second or third most desirable trait. In the case of German and Russian engineering/IT students, work-life balance falls below being secure and stable in the job. For India, however, talent is more attracted to the idea of finding an international career and, in the case of engineering/IT students, working in an entrepreneurial, creative and innovative capacity. Though the goals of students in India do happen to differ slightly, work-life balance still remains in their top three most desired career goals.”
Businesses are improving to match: Another new study showed that a full 50 percent of knowledge-profession employees polled “feel that work-life balance conditions in their workplace have improved in the last 5 years.”
Interestingly, the report ties the dominance of work/life balance (along with the internet in job security, another top trend) to an uptick in gender diversity among the younger generation. Since they are more invested in “sharing the responsibilities of income and household prosperity,” they want their place of work to get on board as well.
…But Money Still Talks
Can anything challenge the esteem that young talent places on work/life balance? Yeah.
“Financial reward and compensation is still a top attractor. In most cases, high future earnings rank number one in the eyes of students across all regions. Of course, though money talks, there are still those soft attributes that rank high on the candidate wish list. Above all, work-life balance is pivotal to today’s professional with creative environments and the chance to develop skills also at the top,” the report says.
While it won’t keep employees around if they hate a job, compensation will attract them. Turns out that there’s still one big reason people everywhere hold down jobs: Cold hard cash.
Read more about the delicate balance between work and life here at TechCo