Youth in the workplace have no business acumen: survey
Young people may bring fresh ideas to the workplace but it's text book knowledge with no real-world experience, according to a survey of 1,782 employees by Australia's leading online career network, LinkMe.com.au.
Less than one per cent of respondents think that people under 27 have strong business skills and only two per cent consider them to have any market knowledge at all.
Discrimination based purely on youth is clearly no longer an issue. Exactly two thirds of respondents said that they thought younger workers were paid adequate attention and treated well at work and over half (55.4%) said they would have 'no problem whatsoever' in working for someone younger than themselves.
Eighty per cent of those that had worked for a boss younger than themselves said that their superior was obviously the boss for good reason.
However, the workforce in general does not have a high level of confidence in the ability of our younger employees to bring any commercial savvy to the workplace. There is clearly a perceived lack of applied knowledge
"Most industries and business sectors today have a high level of commerciality and require a good understanding of the business development process, client relationship management and account management," says Campbell Sallabank, CEO of LinkMe.com.au. "It is this relationship-building skillset, coupled with market awareness, that respondents see as lacking in our younger workers."
"Many employers are not investing in staff training, which is an element young people crave," says Sallabank. "The supportive culture of training development in the workplace keeps them motivated and loyal and can serve to bridge this gap in real-world experience."
