How do job starters want to work?

Translated from Ralf Junge's blog entry: Wie wollen Berufseinsteiger arbeiten?

In my last post of the Us-Dissidents Series I was looking for answers to the question, if - the young job starters - need to be labeled. Today I am asking: How do these young starters actually want to work? 

Actually it is quite simple - we want to work self-determined and flexible, not necessarily bound to work hours and - place. Apparently there is a revision and rethinking at companies. The other day I just read an article in Karriere Spiegel written about "Job Sharing". Private occasions, photos, music or videos, nowadays we pretty much share (almost) everything - why not the job as well? Job Sharing is a concept of part-time working. One position is staffed by two workers (in part-time), sharing all tasks and having less than 40 hours a week to sit at the desk. Tasks and working hours are splitted between both workers. According to Karriere Spiegel this model of part-time working was excercized by about 20 Percent of companies in 2009. 

"Companies experiment with such things", said Susanne Schwarz, Head of human Resources at Exozet Berlin. I have met Susanne at the HR Bar Camp this year as she spoke about flexible workplace engeneering. Some of her Colleagues work abroad - practically in home office. This is possible as well and companies discover these kind of techniques working for them - literally. 

Now does this mean I want to persuade you to change your way of workplace and working hours radically? No. This would be a (few) step to far for now. But, I would like to inspire you to consider thinking beyond the the regular and conventional  possibilities of conditions designing regarding a job. Susanne Schwarz told me in a conversation: "The Management has to change, meaning, the way how they lead their employees. It needs to be more even and transparent. And this hierarchical Up-to-down delegation won't exist anymore hopefully. This is eaxactly what the young generation demands"

Exactly! We want to walk the discourse together and think about and realize possibilities, opportunities and changes, you name it, together! Talking to us on eye-to-eye level is important to us. And so should be our opinion to you as well. This is how we would liek to create a transparent company and working atmosphere in which we actually like to work at and everybody's attribution is contributing to the companies success.  

Do-Gooder. Dream Dancer. Waverer. Work-Refuser. These are merely a few names current career beginners are titled with often - describing the legendary "Generation Y", those belonging to the population group born between the years of 1980 to 1995.

I was born in 1984, which makes me a member of this particular generation. Since you, as dedicated readers and Human Resourcer, care so much about this generation, I would like to share my thoughts and opinion with you, trying to give you some insights on this matter. With this, a new category of our Blog is born: Us Dissidents. 

RJ