This is how young people want their world of work to be

27.04.2022 Allgemein, News

On 21 April 2022, our event “Sabbatical, Spirit and Stock Options – How young people want their world of work”, co-organized with atempo, took place in Lendhafen Graz. Despite the bright sunshine, we were happy about a well-filled event hall, in which we discussed, among other things, what Generation Z demands from their (future) employers, why social enterprises in particular offer attractive jobs and how the topic of New Work is dealt within different organizations.

In the beginning of the event, there were stimulating welcome words via video message from Regional Councilor for Economics Barbara Eibinger-Miedl and City Councilor for Economics, Günter Riegler, whom we would like to thank very much for their continuous support and their commitment to our topics. Wolfgang Mayrhofer from WU, Vienna delivered the first keynote speech. His research focuses on what people expect from their jobs. In his presentation, he focused on Generation Z, who are just in the beginning of their careers.

In order for companies to be able to count on motivated and committed workers in this age group, it is particularly important to treat them as equals and to create a sense of belonging. Kirsten Tangemann, Board Member of Social Business Hub Styria, held the second presentation. She showed that social enterprises in particular have the potential to become desirable jobs for young people. This is because many want a meaningful job in which not only the salary alone, but also the opportunity to change things for a better world plays a decisive role beyond the job itself. A social business that makes a positive contribution with its business goal can has a particularly importance here.

Afterwards, Walburga Fröhlich, co-founder of atempo and capito, gave us an insight into her company, which is not only a successful social enterprise, but also takes up the New Work approach in many ways and offers employees many benefits. Two important points are to offer a good balance between safety and challenge in the workplace and to perceive the individuality of each employees and to take this into account. To encourage creativity, the company has a large community garden with WLAN, where employees can work productively and also plant their own vegetables. To encourage a change of perspective, all employees have the opportunity to take an eight-week paid sabbatical after five years of service.

After the lectures, there was a panel discussion led by Rüdiger Wetzl-Piewald, CEO of the Social Business Hub Styria, with Claudia Fröhlich, head of organization and finance at the Kleine Zeitung, Wolfgang Mayrhofer from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Helmut Fink-Neuböck, responsible for corporate development, sustainability and digitization at Raiffeisen Landesbank and Christian Hauser, data scientist at atempo. During the discussion, burning questions from the audience could be clarified and exciting insights into the represented companies could be gained. The entire event showed that the world of work is currently undergoing a remarkable transformation, to which companies must also react appropriately. The development is moving more and more from an employer to an employee market and job seekers make their decisions very consciously. In particular, mutual trust between the company and its employees, meaningful work and flexible time management are three of the many points mentioned that play an important role.

At the end of the event there was a delicious buffet provided by “Das Lorenz”. With small snacks and coffee, the guests had the opportunity to exchange ideas and network. We would like to thank all speakers and participants for coming and the atempo team for the joint organization.

We can all help shape what the future world of work will ultimately look like. As long as there are still so many innovative companies and committed people who develop working environment in a meaningful and positive way, we can look to the future with excitement and optimism.