(Expansion) – Much has been said about the impact of remote work on employee productivity and retention, however, in my opinion, very relevant issues such as work engagement or commitment and the new labor market rules have been less discussed.
A recent report from Gallup indicates that the level of work commitment compared to 2019 has dropped considerably in the last year: 31% in people born before 1989 and a dramatic 54% in those under 26 years of age.
In my opinion, this last figure should not be surprising, since these young people entered the world of work during the pandemic in which, due to remote work, not only was the line between personal and work life more blurred, but also the Interaction in the workplace was interrupted.
It is enough to enter Tik Tok and search for “quiet quitting” to see the dimension of this trend and understand what is happening in this age group where they boast of not committing to companies and working under the law of minimum effort, under the argument of not falling into the ” burn out” that so harms other generations.
But be careful, these new rules of the work culture not only impact the junior levels of the companies; management positions that in the pre-pandemic world had the direct advantage of seniority not working on Fridays or working remotely, while the middle ranks were tied to their desks from 9 to 6, are today those who are tied to their offices .
By example, they encourage their teams to come to work in person while the middle levels are the ones who are outside or those who at least feel they have the right to work from wherever they want.
This context has led some companies in cities like New York to “bribe” their employees with apparent good results, reimbursing them for lunch on those days when they come to the office and even offering on-site catering with increasingly sophisticated menus. .
While I can assume that almost no one over the age of 40 would change their decision to go to the office because there is free lunch, a 20-25 year old seems to do so without difficulty.
Regarding the hiring market, as a result of the recent downturn in economic activity, most companies have not only reduced their recruitment efforts but, even in markets such as the United States, recruitment is increasing significantly. fact that even with job offers sent and accepted by the candidates, the companies decide to close the vacancies.
Experts agree that eliminating vacancies when the job offer is made, beyond the damage to the company’s reputation and the individual who is left stranded, is an unequivocal sign that the company has survival problems.
Even considering that the labor law in that country is much more flexible and allows that even with signed contracts a company does not have a greater risk, if it finally decides not to hire the candidate, in my opinion the important thing is to realize that all these new rules of the labor market confirm that the true impact of remote work technology and the emotional and economic impact of the pandemic is still in the making, and that we will not know the extent of its consequences for a few years.
Editor’s note: José Alberto Parra García is Director of Digital Strategy for the USA and LATAM at Grupo Planeta; Previously, he was part of the teams at Storytel, Apple and Amazon, leading platforms in digital entertainment. He has been a professor at the Universidad Anáhuac and ITESM and is a graduate of the IE Business School from the Master in Positive Psychology, Leadership and Strategy program. He runs the podcast. Follow him on and on @pepeparragarcia. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
