What a generation wants: feedback and work-life blend

The new generation of soon-to-be graduates and young professionals is changing the rules on the labour market. Demand for young, well-educated staff is high. There are more vacancies than there are young people to fill them. Their self-confidence is considerable and their expectations of a future employer are rising.
In the first part of my "What a generation wants" series we looked at the reasons behind the so-called war for talent, and I set out what defines my generation, the one labelled Generation Y or the millennials, and explained why the purpose of their work and financial security are essential pillars of their satisfaction and productivity at work.

You can find part one here: What a generation wants: purpose and security.

In this second part I will look at two further aspects that I draw from my constant exchange with people of my generation and from my own views. I would recommend engaging with them if you want to hold your own in the recruiting contest for the best talent and keep those people for the long run.

Feedback

Members of Generation Y are often notably self-assured. Behind that apparently confident manner sits an unusually strong appetite for feedback on their own performance. Preferably as quickly as possible. How do those two things fit together?
This is not about stroking anyone's ego. The reasons for wanting fast feedback lie in the communication culture of the generation. In other words: in how we handle our smartphones.

Our brains are wired quite differently for communication than those of our parents' generation. For us, communication is immediate. We are used to responding to messages within a few minutes or even seconds. We can transfer our thoughts into our phones as a text message almost in real time, often considerably faster than we could have said the same thing out loud. We are already so used to that lightning-fast exchange that pauses in communication can unsettle us.

In dealing with young employees, managers should therefore put a lot of weight on fast, regular feedback. Conversations in person are especially worth recommending. A large part of our communication is already digital, so we value a personal exchange all the more. Feedback of that kind makes a real contribution to reflecting on how we are performing. What we would most like to know is exactly where we are already strong and where there is still room to improve.

Work-life blend

Work-life balance has been a catchphrase for several years and has established itself as a fixed part of the recruiting strategies and employer branding of many companies worldwide.
Work should not dominate life, either in hours or in mental capacity. Alongside the job there should be enough time for hobbies, family and friends, personal development and the rest. Anyone who now concludes that my generation, cheerfully disparaged as the "can't be bothered" generation, is unwilling to do demanding, time-intensive work is mistaken. What will matter most in the coming years is the working model.

We have been calling for reform of the working world since well before the pandemic. To be more precise: we are calling for more flexibility. Where work-life balance still describes a strict separation of professional and private life, the idea of a work-life blend is gaining ground.
Our generation is willing to combine work and private life. The condition, alongside enjoying the work itself, is self-determination.
Stoically going flat out for our employer for eight hours straight and only being allowed to think about our private lives again once we leave the office has long counted as antiquated for us.

We want more freedom over when and where we do our work. We want to be paid for what we deliver, not for the time we sit out. We do not want to work in an environment where we are not allowed to deal with private matters during official working hours, even where doing so would not affect our performance in the slightest. Employers who grant rising top talent that flexibility and extend the necessary trust will be rewarded for it in future.