Young people also need a balance between work and leisure time

The debate about balancing work and leisure time is often coupled with the issue of reconciling work and family life. The findings of the S Group’s study entitled ‘Young people’s expectations of working life’ show that the ability to reconcile work and leisure time is also a big priority for employees aged under 25.

The ‘Young people’s expectations of working life’ study is part of the three-year ‘Young Mind at Work’ project being carried out jointly with several partners, including PAM. The objective is to produce data and tools to improve young people’s working life skills. As a member of the project’s management group, PAM’s youth secretary Eveliina Reponen thinks that rather than talking about reconciling work and family life it’s more about finding a balance between work and life more generally.

“Balancing work and leisure time isn’t just a privilege for when you’re in your prime or middle-aged; young people also need to fulfil themselves and their life choices. For instance, work shifts, holiday dates or substitutions shouldn’t be allocated based on age; everyone should be equally entitled to participate in deciding how the working community operates, she says.

The findings of the ‘Young people’s expectations of working life’ study also revealed that 56 per cent of the young people who participated in the study do not feel that they are in a fully equal position at the workplace compared to other employees.

“This is an observation and a problem that we need to address through broad cooperation and by ensuring that young people are listened to properly at the workplace”, Reponen says.

Feedback from managers and a good working atmosphere are key for young people.

As well as attaching great importance to their leisure time, the study also shows that young people need to get feedback from their supervisor and to be able to work in a good working environment. Reponen says that, for example, the culture of immediate feedback learned from social media is also evident at the workplace and in the way young people interact. They want to influence things, they want to question existing practices and they need personal feedback to maintain their motivation and enthusiasm for their work.

The study shows, however, that young people do not value constant change very highly, because stable employment was seen as very important.

Opportunities to learn new things at work are also appreciated.
”Time needs to be set aside for learning and it also needs to be understood that when it comes to wellbeing in the working community it is possible to learn more all the time and that learning at work does not end in the first weeks. Learning new things and influencing your work are often towards the top of everybody’s list”, Reponen comments.

The first results of the ‘Young people’s expectations of working life’ study were published at a seminar organised by the S Group and the Elo Pension Insurance Company in Helsinki on 23 August. A questionnaire was carried out for the study in January-March 2018 which 1457 young people working for the S Group participated in. The research was carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.