What Kind of Workforce Should Employers Expect in the Future?

Disclosure: Post sponsored by Spherion, but all opinions are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.

I’ve been provided access to information from Spherion’s Emerging Workforce Study findings.  You’ve seen me post these over the last couple years.  Today’s blog post will be talking about the future workforce and the challenges that employers are facing.  With more generations than ever in the workforce, employers need to learn how to satisfy the wants and needs of each to recruit and retain.  More below.

About the 2015 Emerging Workforce Study

The Emerging Workforce Study by Spherion has examined the issues and trends impacting employment and the workplace for more than 18 years. The 2015 study examines several forward-looking trends and indicators for what the future workplace will become. As the perspectives, attitudes and expectations of the workforce continues to evolve, employers need to better understand workers for greater success.

What else should you know?

• More than 2,000 workers and 225 human resource managers were surveyed on their opinions and attitudes around critical workplace topics such as recruitment, employee engagement, job satisfaction, retention, employee advocacy, social media use, generational differences and work/life balance. Findings from this in-depth research reveal new trends, insights and impacts that are important for U.S. employers and their employees.
• The study was conducted by Harris Poll, a Nielson company, between March and April 2015.
• The survey offers great statistics and trend information for HR managers and businesses and points to an interesting, growing gap between employers’ and employees’ views.
• The survey also includes data that can impact HR strategies to increase engagement, productivity and retention, among other topics important to the employment life cycle and workplace.

The Workforce employers Can Expect in the Future

With more generations in the workplace than at any other time in history, employers are faced with the challenges of recruiting, managing and retaining workers with vastly different wants and needs. On top of this, employers are very concerned with the growing skills gap and know that narrowing the gap is critical to their future success.

The findings:

• Employers are concerned about the future workforce:
  • 82% say recruiting and attracting Generation Y workers are critical to their company’s future success.
  • One-third of employers are concerned about turnover and retention, which is a significant jump over last year when not even a quarter (23%) of employers shared the same concern.
  • 70% say that Baby Boomers exiting the workforce will leave a major skills gap within their organizations.
  • 63% have increased succession planning and efforts to address impending Boomer retirement.
  • 58% report they are already preparing to attract and recruit Gen Z to stay ahead of future talent needs.
• Gens Y and Z are least loyal generations and most likely to leave current employers.
• Gens Y and Z engagement and job satisfaction are low.
• Online reputation is important to them and their satisfaction in employer branding is low.

My Thoughts

With boomers planning on retiring in the next 5-10 years, is Gen Y and Z ready to pick up the slack? The answer could be scary for organizations as most Gen Y and Z employees don’t plan on staying very long and as the study shows, their job satisfaction is also very low.

Recruiting Gen Y is no easy task as it is, now add in the fact that they need to locate candidates who will make it a plan to hang long enough to pick up skills previously held by the boomers.

To keep Gen Y & Z around long enough to do so, companies should consider increasing perks and work flexibility.  Trusting their workforce with a flexible work schedule will increase the life span of their employment.

Looking for more information on the 2015 Emerging Workforce Study findings?  Just click here for more.

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Spherion partnered with bloggers such as me for their Emerging Workforce Study program. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any idea mentioned in these posts. Spherion believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Spherion’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.