OREANDA-NEWS. October 08, 2007. Tomorrow’s workers expect their employers to behave responsibly. They expect to use foreign languages at work and to work across international borders far more than previous generations. They do not, however, expect flexible hours and home working, according to new research published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, reported the press-centre of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Nearly 3000 graduates from China, the UK and the US (all soon to start work for the world’s largest professional services firm) were asked about their expectations of work and careers. The findings give a valuable insight into the minds of ‘millennial’ professionals and also reveal far-reaching implications for the future of people management.

Over a third of the UK respondents expect to be using a language other than their English at work which challenges the common perception that learning languages is in decline in UK universities. Some 90% of Chinese graduates believe they will use a language other than their mother tongue. The USA is the home of the most idealistic top young graduates with 90% saying they will actively seek out employers whose corporate responsibility behaviour reflects their own. China is not far behind. The UK response is lower at 71%.

The portfolio career is a myth according to this survey group. Some 78,4% believe they will have a modest two to five employers in their careers, reinforcing the point that stability and certainty is still the first choice of many. An average 5,5% of respondents expect to have more than ten employers through their careers, but this number is as high as 11.5% for Chinese women.

Only 5% on average believe they will be working mainly from home. This is as high as 7,4% in China but remains a meagre 0,6% in the UK. Some 75% of respondents overall expect to work regular office hours.

The report, Managing Tomorrow’s People: The Future of Work to 2020, shows how organisations need to adapt to the demands of a rapidly changing world and pushes companies to ask themselves hard questions about how they are going to attract, retain, motivate and move the people they need in the future.

PricewaterhouseCoopers used the scenario planning methodology pioneered by Shell in the 1970s*, for the project. They project three possible future scenarios for work. In one, business is king, one is ruled by the themes of social responsibility, and in the other, informal networks continually supplant any attempts at global domination.

The role of people management and human resources is examined in detail in each of these ‘worlds’. In the first scenario, competition for the right people is fierce and companies are forced to extreme lengths to get the people they want by providing increasingly sophisticated benefits packages. Through these, employees can be tied-in by ‘lifestyle dependency’ deals where the company picks up part of the tab not only for childcare and pension provision but also transport, food and even accommodation. In the second, employment law drives responsible employer behaviour and in the last scenario, HR as a discrete function has become completely obsolete.

Michael Rendell, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said:
“It is said the future is not just a place we go, but a place we partially create. The challenge for employers is to create a platform for employment and talent management brave enough to look beyond the mid-term and focus on what kind of organization they want to be fifteen years from now – when today’s new recruits will be leading those businesses.

“The resources that big companies will be competing for most of all in the future are people with the right skills, but there is a worrying lack of board-level thinking on how this challenge is to be met, especially given the dramatically changing expectations of the future workforce.

“Companies who do not ensure the viability of their people pipeline will find themselves in trouble or even extinct over the next two decades. Those who survive the ‘talent crunch’ will work to get the employment deal right on an ongoing basis.”