Money, flexibility, and a cool boss - this is what young workforce is after when choosing a workplace

How do young people choose a job?

The results of PwC’s survey show that the reduced uncertainty has not led respondents aged 19 to 28 to return to the priorities they had before the pandemic. Moreover, certain aspects became even more pronounced, with base salary still remaining the top priority. This is followed by control over working hours, i.e. a flexible and predictable work schedule. Young employees accept if flexibility goes hand in hand with occasional overload, but they expect corporations to provide proper compensation in such cases. 

The pandemic substantially reshaped young people’s attitudes toward workplaces. The new situation clearly strengthened the role of corporate culture, which is key not only to a better employee experience but also to a successful and appealing employer branding. Employees and job-seekers give a higher priority to immediate colleagues and management style: these factors earned the fourth and sixth places in young employees’ overall ranking in 2021. Experienced employees consider the personality of their immediate superiors even more important and ranked this factor third, which choice may be attributable to the pandemic.

Where are we going to work?

Experience shows that corporations are reacting differently to the possibility of returning to the office. Many organisations are maintaining a hybrid work schedule, some are resuming full office presence, and other have become even more progressive.

Experienced hires and career starters have different expectations in regard to working from home. The option of remote work is particularly essential to employees over 28: it is the fourth most important factor in choosing a workplace. Although working from the office is important to young employees because it helps them in learning and relationship building, their responses also reveal that they would not return to the offices of a company that will not offer the option of working from home any longer.

Young people have different views on where they would like to work: those living in the capital consider working from home to be decisive and ranked it eighth, whereas it proved to be less important in the Eastern parts of the country, and got the 23rd place in the Northern Great Plain region. 
 

PwC’s Most Attractive Employer 2021 Award industry category winners

Although PwC’s survey targets all generations, the Most Attractive Employer Award is still given by the votes of respondents aged between 16-28, based on open-ended survey responses.

Notes:

Methodology of the survey:

In this year’s online survey, PwC Hungary asked nearly 30,000 high school students aged over 16, higher education students and employees about what they look for in a job, what expectations they have of employers, and what employer brands they find the most attractive in Hungary.

PwC’s Most Attractive Employer 2021 Awards were given in ten industry categories and one overall category, based on responses received from participants aged 16-28 (responses were “top of mind,” and the most mentioned Hungarian employer brands received the award). The industry classification was carried out primarily on the basis of respondents’ perceptions as well as each brand’s self-definition. Although data collection is ongoing, the awards were given based on responses received during our campaign between 1 September and 31 October 2020.

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