LinkedIn has conducted its traditionally insightful Global Talent Trends 2022 report.

It consists of 67 pages, so Make it in Ukraine made a concentrated report to highlight the most important thoughts, observations, and useful figures.

The main line of the report is a new look at company culture and how to adapt it to this Brave New World.

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" (Peter Drucker)

‍Top 3 Priorities when choosing a new job

Remote work and competition for talent has shifted the priorities of employers and employees. It is no longer enough for companies to offer high salaries and corporate benefits. 

Over the last two years, employees have faced a lot of different stresses (from lockdowns and forced remote work to a reassessment of their own values).

That's why flexibility, freedom, and lots of personal space for staff is now critical. 

This is fully confirmed by the figures (survey of professionals about their priorities when choosing a new place of work).

Moreover, when it comes to culture, candidates prioritize solid culture more and more. Let's see the %’s of candidates who choose the culture as a #1 criterion (descending):

• Global Avg.: 40% of all candidates surveyed
• Australia and New Zealand: 47%
• France: 46%
• U.K.: 45%
• Spain: 45%
• Southeast Asia: 43%
• USA: 42%
• Canada: 41%
• Brazil: 40%
• India: 39%
• Germany: 35%
• Italy: 32%
• Mexico: 29%

Are companies listening and taking action?

The most rational companies understand this and are actively taking action. So, in a survey of the top Talent Acquisition experts on what areas they think companies should invest in first, the 5 priority areas look very reasonable:

• Professional development opportunities
• Flexible work support
• Mental health and wellness
• Training managers to lead remote and hybrid teams
• Diversity and inclusion
  

Well, the intersection of personnel demands and strategic planning by business executives is an excellent trend.

Digging into Flexibility

Gone are the days when some rigid structure and a single standard for everyone was mandatory.

The first to collapse was the "9-to-5" schedule.

Many companies have either switched to 100% remote mode, or are implementing a hybrid format (some days in the office and some days remotely, or some employees work remotely, some in the office, etc.). We have already written about this in a separate article:

Tech giants: Back to office or still remote working style?

In addition, the best business philosophers actively support the idea of each person rearranging his or her work schedule into the most flexible format possible. So entrepreneur, investor, and philosopher Sahil Bloom writes beautifully about being like a lion. 

"If your goal is to do this inspired, creative work, you have to work like a lion.
Wait. SPRINT. Eat. Rest. Repeat."

It may seem that all these are just pretty words, with no special relationship to business reality. But they are not.

According to the survey, if employees feel flexible and free at work, the company gets a strong boost in Employer Branding, through positive feedback from employees and a good reputation among candidates (recommendations and "word of mouth," as you know, are very fruitful for the company).

Companies realized this. Just look at how much the numbers have grown in three years, referencing to flexibility as one of the core value propositions.

It's incredibly interesting how this looks across different generations. As you can see, Gen Z appreciates flexibility most of all.

Especially considering that the focus of the driving energy in the workforce today (especially in technologically complex industries - development, IT, blockchain/crypto, R&D, etc.) is shifting more and more from millennials to Gen Z.

Appreciating Well-being

Thanks to the survey, the clichéd truth, that employees who are valued love their jobs, takes on very concrete and calculable meanings.

Are the companies responding to such a request for welfare?

Yes, they "caught the wave": including this category in their job posts, guarantees more engagement.

In terms of well-being and "peace of mind", we do not see such a dramatic difference between the generations (the step is literally 10%). But here, too, Gen Z is more demanding of truly comfortable working conditions.

Candidates are becoming determined and ready to change jobs

The shift in priorities and care for one's own well-being has successfully merged with the globalization of labor markets and the move to remote work.

Microsoft 2021 Work Trend Index says that more than 40% of the world's workers are ready to change jobs within the upcoming year.

Since we are very closely studying the local IT market in Ukraine, we also have quantitative confirmation of these words.

Almost 40% of IT pros have already switched jobs in 2021. The average tenure of 1 job is less than 15 months (and is decreasing).

In addition, the number of people trying out different roles (looking for themselves) is growing. For example, 30% of the Ukrainian IT specialists surveyed at Djinni worked at their last job for no longer than six months.

But let's get back to the LinkedIn report. According to their data, candidates have become pickier about their job choices. They now look at 2x as many job posts before they apply (the authors compared the data for 2021 and 2019).

As you see from the image, when employers mention culture, it really works (for peaky candidates as well).

A quick glance around the globe

As you work out your strategy for attracting and retaining talent, it's extremely helpful to know the geography in which certain trends prevail.

So, in our opinion, it is quite valuable to know the regions where people are more willing to change jobs. This means that your efforts to attract talent can pay off better here.

Asia-Pacific leads with a huge gap, followed by Eastern Europe. Although we keep insisting that Ukrainian talents are among the most solid in this context (see our blog + preparing a big report on IT labor market in Ukraine for 2022).

Bottom Line

The world has changed dramatically in the last two years. Whereas previously companies could disregard the interests and needs of employees, it doesn't work that way anymore.

Professionals have significantly revised what is important to them and now pay much more attention to the company culture and values, to the level of flexibility and freedom, and to the opportunities to ensure that their well-being is maintained at the appropriate level.

And only those companies that understand these sentiments and requests, giving their employees what they need, and are not declarative, but sincere, will thrive.

P.S. Want to get ahead in this crazy race for the best employees? You know what to do.