generational change
Why so many women 50+ want to change jobs
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The “baby boomers” also have demands on their work, as a XING study has now found.
Generation Z is often said to change jobs like other people change their underpants: unfaithful, with absurd standards and preferably a 3-day week. Conversely, the 50+ generation (also known as the “baby boomer” generation) is accused of submitting to inhumane working conditions and working for the sake of working without any sense or understanding – “because it’s always been done that way”. Unsurprisingly, both prejudices that are lumped together do not do the individuals justice at all.
Much more: one forsa survey on behalf of the job network XING now shows that the wishes of the 50+ generation are not so dissimilar to those of the younger generations. And that not fulfilling such wishes has consequences: every fifth middle-aged person in Germany is open to a new job. It seems that companies now have to look both ways at how to make work more attractive – and meaningful. Because one thing seems clear from the results of the study: Older people make fewer compromises because they know exactly what they’re worth.
Women and men over 50 are looking for meaning in their work
With “YOLO” (“You Only Live Once”), the younger generation has launched a mindset that is not only intended to encourage daring actions, but also to express a truly existential truth: “You only live once.” Younger people in particular are said to pay particular attention to the meaningfulness of their work – but the older generation is not only in no way inferior to them in this respect, they even focus more on it. According to the survey, older people are significantly more likely to want a meaningful job (64 percent) than the younger generation, for whom this factor is still very important (58 percent of people between 18 and 29, 55 percent of people between 30 and 49).
Generations Y and Z are also known as “Generation Purpose”, explains Petra von Strombeck, CEO of NEW WORK SE, to which XING belongs, in a press release on the study. The meaningfulness of the job is even more important for baby boomers when choosing an employer. Von Strombeck provides a possible explanation afterwards: The older people would “usually earn enough to be able to afford this attitude in the truest sense of the word – and thus want and have to make fewer compromises”.
And anyone who believes that young people are the only ones who want to save the planet: they will be taught a lesson here too, because more than one in five people (26 percent) over 50 would like to act in a sustainable manner – which means that this factor is most important for older people. This compares to 18 percent of 18 to 29 year olds and 21 percent of people between 30 and 49.
Why the older generation wants to change jobs
When it comes to the reasons for changing jobs, young people have more in common with older people than differences: Almost half of those surveyed are bothered by a salary that is too low (45 percent) in combination with a high stress level (37 percent). Experience gained over many years in the job also causes some employees to take a more critical look at their employer: More than a third of those surveyed (35 percent) stated that they were dissatisfied with the strategic orientation of the company – so dissatisfied that they are looking for a new job.
Another 35 percent see poor leadership as a trigger for the desire to pursue a new job – so the older generation is more critical on this point than the younger ones (27 percent of 18 to 29 and 30 percent of 30 to 49 year olds would looking for a new job for the same reason). Companies shouldn’t just be trying to attract new workers, but also to keep those who are already there, von Strombeck explains. It is “fatal for a company to lose its most experienced and often long-serving employees”.
Generation X, i.e. people between the ages of 41 and 55, and the baby boomer generation (56 to 65 years) made up a total of more than 29 million inhabitants of Germany at the end of 2021. Some of them have already retired, and more will follow. “Statistically speaking, we will lose 1,000 employees per working day in Germany by 2035,” warns labor market expert Dr. Julian Stahl in an interview with XING. “Companies must inspire experienced knowledge holders to stay with them beyond this age in order not to fall behind in an intensifying competition for talent.”
Sources used: xing.com, handelsblatt.com