Research identifies six post-pandemic worker types

Research from Henley Business School has identified six workforce segments that have emerged following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its survey of 3,000 full-time UK employees asked what motivated or deterred people from applying for a certain job, and found that the majority felt work needed to fit around their life, with 72% stating that their career must allow sufficient free time for hobbies and interests.

Only 19% said they were willing to work longer hours to progress in their careers.

The report says that we are now in the “omniployment era”, where the workforce is not one-dimensional and preferences are varied.

The six most prevalent types of workers are:

• Socially conscious workers. These workers value a company’s record and stance on ESG issues and make up 15% of the workforce, half of whom are in junior roles.
• Employee advocates. This group expects employers to treat their workforce well and place high value on employee benefits. They make up just 10% of the workforce and are mostly female.
• Work-life balance advocates. They value the ability to work flexibly from home, perhaps with a four-day week or unlimited leave. This is the largest share of the workforce at 39% and 55% of whom are male.
• Salary-driven weekend workers. This group is motivated by the salary range on offer and are not concerned about employee benefits, location or ESG issues. They do not mind working long hours to get the salary they desire. Seventy per cent are male and this group makes up 13% of the workforce.
• Employee satisfaction enthusiasts. This group is highly sensitive to employee reviews and are swayed by benefits packages. Only 10% of the workforce fall into this category, comprising mostly those aged 35-54 (38%).
• Lone rangers. Employees in this group are focused on salary and location, and are motivated by the opportunity to work remotely. This segment represents 14% of workers and the majority (57%) are male.

It found the top red flags when looking for a job were a toxic workplace with bullying, harassment or micro-aggressions (59%), an unsafe working environment (58%), poor work-life balance (56%), uncompetitive salary/bonus (54%) and being overworked (54%).

The factors most likely to push someone to leave their current job included not being recognised or given credit for work (cited by 34%), poor management (33%) and workload (30%).

To attract and retain talent, Henley Business School advised employers to adopt a flexible response to a segmented workforce through tailored HR offerings.

Dr Rita Fontinha, director of Flexible Work at Henley Business School, said: “Omniployment might be a new term but the idea is not – heterogeneity in the labour market existed far beyond the pandemic. However, our data-driven focus offers a fresh perspective, allowing us to characterise the shift, post-Covid, by quantifying it to detail what’s happening now between different and diverse groups in the workforce.

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“It is crucial that business leaders wake up to the Omniployment Era and take steps to change the one size fits all approach of the past. If they don’t, it’s clear that employees in sectors with a high demand for talent feel empowered to look elsewhere.”

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