In yesterday’s Advisor, we took a look at some results of a new CareerBuilder survey highlighting intergenerational opinions of the working world. Today, we have more results of the survey, including how the ideal work environment is perceived among high school seniors vs. the current workforce.
The national online survey, conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder by Harris Poll between May 14, 2015, and June 3, 2015, included a representative sample of more than 3,000 full-time U.S. workers across industries and company sizes and more than 200 high school seniors.
For the survey, CareerBuilder asked workers to give their attitudes toward eight commonly debated areas of workforce culture.
- On office attire. High school students and current workers have similar views on workplace wear. The vast majority of both groups (74% of current workers and 70% of high school students) feel one should be able to dress casually at work. Looking at specific age groups, 45- to 54-year-old workers (79%) were more likely to agree with this statement than workers aged18–24 (67%) and 35–44 (72%).
- On promotions. When it comes to earning promotions, high school students display more optimism than working professionals. Eighty-seven percent of high school students agree that one should be promoted every 2 to 3 years if one is doing a good job, compared to 73% of current workers. Workers aged 18–24 were closest to high school students’ level of agreement (81%), and 45- to 54-year-old workers were the farthest (65%).
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- On mobile usage. High school students (66%) are more likely than current workers (52%) to say it is okay to check one’s mobile device for work during a family activity. Workers aged 25–34 (61%) are more likely than workers aged 55 and older (43%) to agree with this statement.
- On job-hopping. Though employers may expect younger workers to job-hop more frequently, only 16% of high school students believe one should only stay in a job for a year or two before moving on to better things (on par with 15% of current workers). Among individual age groups, however, responses were more varied, with 25- to 34-year-old workers (22%) more likely than their older counterparts to say a worker should move on after a year or two.
- On career expectations. Workers across all generations seem to have similar perspectives when it comes to switching companies. Nearly one in three high school students (32%) expects that they will work for 10 or more companies in their career, similar to 28% of workers who say the same.
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- On emoticons and e-mail. Surprisingly, high school students appear to have more conservative views on electronic communication than today’s professionals. More than one in four current workers (28%) believe it’s acceptable to use emoticons in e-mails and other electronic communication at work. Only one in five high school students (20%) say the same.
- On meeting etiquette. It may seem as if they are constantly on their mobile devices, but only 13% of high school students agree that it is it is okay to check one’s mobile device during a work meeting, versus 21% of current workers. Workers aged 25–34 (28%) are more likely than those aged 45–54 (18%) and workers aged 55 and older (16%) to be okay with checking a mobile device during a meeting.
- On flexible hours. It may come as a surprise that high school students (25%) were less likely than current workers (33%) to say it shouldn’t matter what time you arrive to work as long as you get your work done. Workers aged 55 and older were the least likely to say arrival time doesn’t matter (23%).