Just what are tomorrow's SME employees looking for?

Abstract

Purpose -The paper seeks to determine what tomorrow's employees (i.e. graduates) are seeking from SMEs in terms of organizational satisfaction and value characteristics. Design/methodology/approach -A survey of 55 university students who identified SMEs as their best opportunity for their career goals is shown. The survey utilized tested measures of organizational satisfaction and values. Findings -The paper finds that Generations X and Y are seeking equivalent values and satisfaction outcomes from SMEs. It is seeking very caring, environmentally concerned, and sensitive SMEs. Tangible and intangible benefits, empowerment and respect, workplace involvement, concern for employee welfare and supportive management are critical.Research limitations/implications -The paper shows that when researching one can differentiate between what graduates are looking for from their SMEs as opposed to organizations in general. Future research could analyze SME versus MNC or other organizational forms. Practical implications -The paper implies that in the recruiting process SMEs need to focus on various outcomes that graduates seek in order to attract and retain the best potential employees. There appears to be little need to tailor the workplace for Generations X versus Y. Originality/value -A series of outcome variables has been specifically identified for graduates who want to work in SMEs.

Generation Y as Hospitality Employees: Framing a Research Agenda

“…In another study based in the United Kingdom, Broadbridge et al (2007) surveyed Gen Y students' expectations of retail employment and found that their major expectation was to enjoy their job, combined with concerns for fairness, tolerance and equity in the workplace. Szamosi (2006) found similar results when researching Gen Y students' expectations of employment with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in that they wanted to work for Volume 15 2008 caring and sensitive SMEs that are environmentally concerned. These students also expected tangible and intangible rewards, empowerment, respect, workplace involvement, concern for employee welfare and supportive management.…”

“…In particular, how appealing is the typical hospitality job likely to be to the potential Gen Y candidate? Common themes uncovered in the academic research conducted thus far suggest Gen Y employees expect fairness, tolerance and equity Gursoy et al, 2008), involvement in the workplace (Gursoy et al, 2008;Szamosi, 2006), concern for employee welfare (Gursoy et al, 2008;Szamosi, 2006;Terjesen et al, 2007) and opportunities for training, development and work variety (Gursoy et al, 2008;Terjesen et al, 2007). The results of one of the few hospitality specific studies relating to Gen Y are not very encouraging: Barron et al (2007) found discrepancies between the work-related preferences and expectations of Gen Y hospitality students and the reality of work in the hospitality industry.…”

“…It is argued that as a result of being raised in noncompetitive environments that place importance on participation over finishing first, Gen Y are used to being praised for their efforts rather than their results (Hill, 2002). More involvement in family decisions than previous generations (Eisner, 2005) and living at home for longer after finishing school (Szamosi, 2006) has supposedly made Gen Y used to feeling included and having their opinion listened to. It appears that family time is more important to Gen Y than previous generations, and this is demonstrated by the results of a study in the United States that show that only 12% to 13% of Gen Y are work-centric (placing greater importance on work than family) and 50% are familycentric, compared with 22% of baby boomers being workcentric and only 41% being family-centric (Families & Work Institute, 2002).…”

Turnover intentions of Indian IS professionals

“…Within the OB literature, Organizational Satisfaction has been linked to Turnover Intention (Shore and Tetrick 1991;Kittiruengcharm 1997;Szamosi 2006). For example, Kittiruengcharm (1997) administered a survey to 408 public sector engineers in Thailand and found a significant negative correlation between Organizational Satisfaction and Turnover Intention.…”

The Influence of Intention to Leave Towards Employee Engagement among Young Bankers in Malaysia

“…In the exit interview, most employees disclose the reasons for leaving are due to meeting their demand of frequent changes (Shaw & Fairhurst, 2010) and looking for new excitement (Smola & Sutton, 2002). Menefee and Murphy (2004) found that the main reason for young employees having high level of intention to leave organizations are dissatisfaction with pay, dissatisfaction with management, inadequate opportunity for career-related skill development, dissatisfaction with benefits, uncomfortable work environment and conflicts with manager or co-workers (Szamosi, 2006).…”