Getting off on the right foot, getting to know people and getting on at work in general is much more challenging than ever before in today’s hybrid workplaces. But what do we need to know and how can we help? This is new ground for employer and employee alike. We can’t afford to ignore it, hence this is the focus of our research led session at the ISE Student Development Conference on 5th July. Read on to find out more from Senior Consultant, Emma Bacon..…..

Born in 1974, I am Generation X (born between 1966-1979). My first job out of university was in an office working 9-5, Monday to Friday. I would turn up on time every day, did what I was told to do, took lunch in my designated time slot, and never left earlier than 5pm. Computers were not commonplace, and email had not been invented. One of my jobs each day was recording the incoming mail in a book and typing out replies on my typewriter. If you wanted to talk to someone you either did it in person or called them on the phone. This is how I perceived the working world to be.

Time has passed and technology has advanced a lot! We can now work from anywhere we can get a phone or Wi-Fi signal. This was brought to the fore in 2020 due to the global pandemic. Most of us had no choice but to ‘WFH’ and Teams and Zoom became second nature to us all.

Hybrid working is now available for most and the flexibility and opportunities it offers are being fully embraced. As someone who has worked both ways, I feel very privileged. I built the majority of my networks pre-pandemic and am now able to leverage these from home.

Imagine though, that you are Generation Z, and are just starting your career. This is your first and only experience of the workplace. The only networks you have are friends from school and family. Not only are you learning a new job, you also have little to no prior work experience to benchmark your experiences against. Without being in a physical office it can be tough to navigate the organisation’s politics, culture, etiquette and norms. Circumnavigating these aspects can be crucial to be able to thrive at work.

How can we help them integrate into working life when they have no terms of reference? How do we instil the importance and benefits of social networking beyond the conventional online platform?

This generation have different experiences, beliefs, values and behaviours than other generations. How can we ensure that we see things from their perspective whilst also imparting our perspective too? How can we work together to ensure productive, harmonious, and effective teams?

While much has been written about the challenges of remote working, little research has focused on the distinct challenges faced by early-career employees as it is still a very new topic.

One research project is by Dr Helen Hughes and Dr Matthew Davis from Leeds University Business School -“Starting your career during a pandemic: The experience of remote and hybrid working”.

To find out about this research and hear more about how this is being experienced in the workplace join us at the ISE Student Development Conference As well as being a supporting sponsor of the even, we’ll be running an interactive session with Dr Hughes - Early Career Networks: What are they, how are they changing and why should you care?

Read a bit about our session and our speakers and sign up to receive our valuable output document and Early Careers information - we’ll love to stay connected with you!