Photo courtesy of Universum
MANILA – A study by Universum, a global thought leader in employer branding, shows that young Filipino talents would like to work in companies that offer hybrid work arrangement.
In its Universum Talent Survey 2023, which polled 5,000 students from 103 universities from November 2022 to March 2023, 82 percent of the respondents said they are interested in exploring remote work opportunities.
This despite acknowledging that work-from-home arrangement has challenges, such as internet connection, potential impact on work-life balance, and limited social connection with colleagues.
Aside from offering flexible work arrangement, young Filipino talents said they prefer employers that provide professional training and career development programs, offer security of tenure, can serve as a good reference for their future career, and offer opportunities for international trips and relocation.
The study also reveals that 54 percent of the respondents would choose to work in the private sector over government offices.
“The findings of our latest study reveal that the country’s future workforce is attuned to the challenges faced by the Philippine labor market. This means that the future jobseekers will be more selective with their choice of employer, and will look not only at what the company is about but also at how the employer can help them achieve their mid to long-term professional and personal goals,” said Mike Parsons, managing director Asia-Pacific (APAC) for Universum.
The survey also shows that young Filipino talents are looking for firms that upholds ethical standards, promote work-life balance and respects their employees.
Moreover, Universum’s study shows that surveyed Filipino Gen Zs have lower expectations in terms of salary this year.
It said future talent pool’s salary expectation declined by 25 percent in 2023 from 2022 survey.
In the 2023 survey, respondents’ annual salary expectation is at PHP374,403, or PHP31,000 per month. This is lower compared to the 2022 survey which had salary expectation of PHP495,996 annually, or PHP41,000 a month.
For students pursuing business and commerce courses, their top employers are the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Airlines, Google, Ayala Corp. and San Miguel Corp.
For STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students, a big chunk of respondents prefers to work in Google, Microsoft, Intel, Ayala Corp. and Pfizer.
For students of humanities, liberal arts and education, they prefer to work in Google, ABS-CBN Corporation, GMA Network, Philippine Airlines and Microsoft.
“The findings of this study remind us of the importance of understanding the preferences of the country’s future talent pool and how organizations can prepare or address those. The challenge for employers who want to attract the best and brightest is to juggle providing a work environment that presents opportunities but at the same time offers flexibility and work-life balance. Awareness among companies of what future employees seek would be valuable not only in hiring the best candidate but also in retaining them, which is essential for both the individual’s and the company’s growth and success,” Parsons added. (PNA)
