What's keeping you up at night right now?

Hi, I think the main thing that concerns me at the moment is the work readiness and resilience/mental health  of young people entering the workplace.  

Many of the young people wanting to start work now are those who had their early secondary education hugely affected by lockdown and the pandemic and whilst the media will say that the number of young people out of work is because there aren't any jobs, it is much more complex than that (at the risk of sounding very old, unemployment was over double the current rate when I left school).

There seems to be much higher levels of anxiety with this group and I can understand why as they missed out on the time when they would start to learn how to navigate the complexities of interpersonal relationships. On top of this, parents often seem reluctant to try to support their children to act independently. I don't have children that age so don't know why this may be but there are far more parents approaching employers and posting on social media trying to find work for their children, rather than encouraging them to do that themselves.

The second concern is really that businesses still don't really understand the role of HR. This does cause stress as the employer often think that we are there to sort out people problems for them, rather than providing advice and guidance to the manager.to be able to manage those situation. This leads to frustration on the part of the manager and HR being made to feel as though they are letting people down. This does come across strongly in the posts made on this forum. Often there will be a very complex and challenging situation and the person who has been left to hold that particular 'baby' is the HR Professional

You know, I have to say that my experience has been rather the opposite. The last few years of new workers entering the workforce that I have seen, both at work and through my own children and their circle of friends, has been that they seem better prepared, more independent and less anxious than previous generations.

COVID certainly did a number on them in some respects, but I have found them to be well informed of their rights, prepared to articulate their boundaries, but also ready to work hard and go the extra mile without the same expectations of effusive gratitude or generous compensation that their parents more frequently display.

That's only one perspective, but even the kids I work with at our local PRU to help them prepare for employment and find jobs - damaged and narrow as their aspirations and horizons inevitably are - seem less willing to just follow their parents into welfare dependency and the grey economy than they were just five years ago.

You know, I have to say that my experience has been rather the opposite. The last few years of new workers entering the workforce that I have seen, both at work and through my own children and their circle of friends, has been that they seem better prepared, more independent and less anxious than previous generations.

COVID certainly did a number on them in some respects, but I have found them to be well informed of their rights, prepared to articulate their boundaries, but also ready to work hard and go the extra mile without the same expectations of effusive gratitude or generous compensation that their parents more frequently display.

That's only one perspective, but even the kids I work with at our local PRU to help them prepare for employment and find jobs - damaged and narrow as their aspirations and horizons inevitably are - seem less willing to just follow their parents into welfare dependency and the grey economy than they were just five years ago.

I'd say my experience is mixed. I know lots of people prepared for work and well informed of their rights and knowing what they want at the start of their careers. I also know those who aren't and across the piece. It really is varied but I do worry about this key transition phase as I think it relies heavily on the educational setting, parents being informed and workplaces taking their roles seriously. That's a lot of potential key dependencies or points of failure if you want to view it in project management speak. 

Covid has impacted everyone in different ways so I can't make a generalisation.

I love these comments because I see so much about the "covid generation" and young people in general being so unprepared for work, lacking resilience and emotional management. And I have experienced that.

I've also experienced the polar opposite that Robey refers to. Would love to understand more about why and how that happens (especially as parent myself, how do I influence in the right way!) - but of course, that is the million dollar question and the answer is very likely multi-faceted and unpredictable