SKEMA Business School and EY have once again taken an interest in future company employees, students of higher education and major engineering schools. The result: the 2024 OpinionWay Talent Barometer.
What motivates tomorrow’s employees today? According to the authors, two key dimensions stand out. First, young people are mostly interested in adopting generative AI from their first job.
Generative AI, a tool like any other?
Secondly, expectations from the company are more demanding, such as on the criteria of well-being at work and remuneration. When it comes to generative AI, higher education students have been quick to adapt.
A year before the study, they knew almost nothing about ChatGPT. Now, 85% say they have already used it. For 72%, generative AI is a practical tool for studies. 66% also use it for personal purposes.
And if IAGen has found a place in the students’ toolbox, it is because it allows you to increase efficiency (87%), carry out repetitive tasks (88%), analyze massive data (84 %) and find solutions (82%).
64% of respondents are now convinced that generative AI will be an essential feature for their first job. And in this perspective, 76% believe that it is up to the school to train them in these tools. For 65%, the employer has a role to play.
Two years and then gone
Will the provision of a complete range of IAGen solutions, like a laptop and a smartphone, become a lever for retaining young graduates? Nothing is less sure. 50% do not plan beyond 2 years in this first job.
To be retained, members of Gen Z ultimately share expectations quite similar to those of their elders: prospects for advancement (49%) and salary increases. Work-life balance comes next (33%), followed by a good working atmosphere (31%).
But even if these conditions are met, only 52% of students plan to extend their contract beyond 3 years. And more than 5 years? There are only 7% left. When selecting their first job, higher education and graduate school students have an obvious criterion in mind: high pay (61%).
Salaries and careers more than values
The possibility of learning a lot (57%) comes next. Future graduates are not only obsessed with their purchasing power. 55% make reducing their employer’s environmental impact a priority.
75% also expect them to respect ethics in their economic activities. However, students choose their first job on the basis of remuneration (95%) and prospects for advancement (93%). The values (of variable geometry and which do not always correspond with reality) of the company? They come further at 76%.
Young talents have the merit of being honest, analyze the authors of the barometer. Honesty is already an appreciable quality.