It can come as no suprise that today's workforce (in all sectors) has serious concerns about job secruity. The fears are most pronounced amongst 18/24 year olds: nearly half of them are worried that they could loose their job in the next six months, but at the same time, this is the group that's most confident to finding comparable employment elsewhere.
Signs of optimism?
Interestingly, there's one particular group of people in the jobs market who are emerging from the downturn with an optimistic outlook on their prospects. This group is made up of people who - of necessity - have had to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities as their workplaces have downsized - they are known as 'Generation R'.
Generation R are professionals who've expanded their skills by having to work in more flexible teams during the recession. Theyve defined new ways of working and dont want to return to the old. Theyre an exceptional resource and slowly but surely the competition to hire them is intensifying.
What people want
Which begs the question "what's the right kind of offer?"Salary is still a strong differentiator between organisations as far as today's workforce is concerned, but of equal importance are issues such as a proper career path, good traing and professional development programmes. This could well be becasue amongst those who have upskilled during the past eighteen months, very few say they've had any support of training to assist them.
Add to that the fact that at least half the workforce feels its skills are being under-utilised, and this call for a stronger focus on developing peoples skills could be a key factor in deciding people whether to stay or go should the opportunity present itself.