JobStreet Malaysia today announced the Laws of Attraction recruitment study, with data from more than 10,000 local candidates across over 25 industries. Especially now, at a time where organisations are looking to build and retain teams to combine skill and mindsets needed in the part towards post-Covid economic recovery.
The Laws of Attraction study not only offers insights at a Malaysia-specific level but also information in terms of specialisation, industries, age groups and job levels with an overview comparison for each finding.
For Malaysian organisations navigating their way forward after the end of the Movement Control Order (MCO), these finds go hand in hand with the government stimulus package designed to help retain the existing workforce and securing new talents to rebuild.
The study reveals thinking driving four generations of jobseekers from Gen Z: aged 18-23, Gen Y: aged 24-34, Gen X: aged 35-54 up to Baby Boomers aged: 55-65.
Salary and Compensation along with Work-life Balance applied to all Malaysian talents but not for Gen Z. They prefer Personal Growth and Career Development as they are just starting to enter the workforce.
Gen Y focuses on Career Development in an organisation when it comes to choosing a job, including overseas training and promotion opportunity.
Job Security drives Gen Y, X and Baby Boomers due to factors such as commitments or family. Majority of Malaysians in the workforce are currently from Gen X and Gen Y, which comprises 45 percent and 40 percent respectively.
However, these key drivers differ according to various industries. Salary and Compensation are high priorities for the Banking/ Finance and Consulting (IT) industries, whereas Work-life Balance is important for Advertising and IT industry. For talents in the Auto, Electronic & Manufacturing and those in Oil & Gas, they are driven more by Career Development.
With more Gen Z, Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers working together, organisations today face unprecedented challenges in managing a multi-generational workforce.
Multi-Generational Workforce
The two major factors of driving changes in the multi-generation workforce are demographic and technological transformation. In terms of demographics, each generation has different ways of communicating, different ways of working, and each with different expectations for employers. This expectation has to be managed for employees to work efficiently.
“With four generations working together, organisations and recruiters need to pay attention to the subtleties of multi-generational cooperation so that the organisation can successfully maximize integration, collaboration and engagement toward business recovery as well as sustainability.”Mr Gan Bock Herm, Country Manager of JobStreet Malaysia explained.
Accelerating Digitalisation
The Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked digital transformation in organisations. The way organisations and employees communicate has changed, including the deployment of technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics to cope with the pandemic’s onset.
These changes also impact the skills that are required in the workforce as well as how recruitment processes are done. Almost overnight, organisations not only had to speed up their digital transformation but more importantly, maintain a humanised recruitment process.
The Laws of Attraction study found that 34 percent of Gen Z find it acceptable to have interviews through video calls than other generations, as compared to Gen Y at 32 percent and Gen X at 30 percent. Unsurprisingly, just 19 percent of Baby Boomers found video interviews acceptable.
Work-Life Balance
All work and no play makes a dull boy. Again, unsurprisingly, the second most common factor across all generations and is an important sub-driver for work-life balance is the ability to work from home or remotely.
This has been proven to be particularly important as the Malaysian Government enforces social distancing and the MCO to help contain the spread of Covid-19. Now, it’s more so a requirement, rather than an option, at a time when organisations in non-essential industries operate remotely to ensure business goes on as usual.
The Laws of Attraction findings further assist organisations to understand the perception of working from home from the four generations. It reveals 72 percent of Gen X prefer to work from home, closely followed by Gen Y with 71 percent, Gen Z trails with 64 percent and Baby Boomers at 66 percent. Malaysians are receptive toward working from home or remotely, given the higher than 50 percent approval rating from all generations.
