Younger Staff Prefer To Work In The Office, Says Ernst & Young

GLOBAL – Ernst & Young’s Chief Executive & Global Chairman Carmine Di Sibio thinks that working in the office is vital for promoting corporate culture, and he revealed that in-house data shows that younger employees prefer that set-up, according to a recent report from Yahoo Finance.

“We don’t really mandate anything, but we’re encouraging our people to get back to the offices,” Di Sibio told Yahoo Finance during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We’re finding that our 20-somethings, they want to be in the office. It’s our 38- to 45-year-olds — usually dual-income, with young kids who have moved to the suburbs — who don’t want to commute back into the city.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some experts have raised concerns that younger staff who are earlier in their careers could be missing out on lucrative career progression opportunities and professional networking. However, flexibility has become an increasingly crucial consideration for many employees who are able to work from home (WFH).

Regardless, Di Sibio pointed out that people are reconsidering how they work, and they’re less afraid to switch to another job or opportunity.

“There is no doubt there has been resignation,” Di Sibio noted. “I think post-COVID, everyone is re-evaluating their life. They want to know what’s happening out there, what they want to do. Some of them just want to slow down, they don’t want to work as hard.”

While Ernst & Young has also seen staff attrition, Di Sibio revealed that they hadn’t encountered too many difficulties in recruiting thanks to keen interest in its training programs.

“They (staff) want skills, they want skill building, they want training, and we offer a lot of that,” he added.