What’s weighing on the minds of today’s workers

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The amount of social and economic disruption over the last few years has changed the priorities of all generations in the workforce, said a new report that offers tips on providing staff with what they need.

The report, Examining the Multigenerational Workforce, from Robert Half explores what managers need to know about today’s multigenerational workforce’s top priorities and concerns.

One finding is that money matters for most workers. A job that can provide a competitive salary with merit increases has the biggest impact on job satisfaction and retention for Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. And it’s Gen X workers who feel most underpaid, Robert Half reported.

Baby Boomers were the outlier here — they were the only generation that said a positive team dynamic was the most important factor of job satisfaction.

Robert Half recommended reviewing salary benchmarks to ensure staff are being compensated properly.

The report further noted that Gen Z (late 1990s to early 2010s) professionals prefer complete freedom to choose where and when to work. They also craves greater guidance, networking and mentorship than employees of other generations — and they do feel that missing out on those experiences is the biggest drawback of remote work.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, Gen Z (73 per cent) leads the way with concerns about AI impacting their jobs, compared to 68 per cent of millennials, 44 per cent of Gen Xers and one-third of Baby Boomers.

However, all but Millennials would be willing to reskill in order to pursue a new role with their current employer if their job was at risk. Millennials instead said they’d prefer to look for a new role elsewhere.

All generations have consistent dealbreakers: A lack of salary transparency, unclear or unreasonable job responsibilities and poor communication with a hiring manager rank among the top reasons for workers to withdraw from consideration for an open role.

“Understanding the priorities of multigenerational teams will help businesses attract and retain workers across generations,” said David King, senior managing director at Robert Half Canada and South America. “Recognizing where the alignments are can aid companies in creating wider policies and workplace cultures that satisfy workers of all demographics. Identifying differences is also crucial, to ensure that you are offering appropriate development plans for people at various stages of their careers, and highlighting the perks and benefits most pertinent to each group.”