What do leaders need to know about the upcoming workforce?

Get prepared to be interviewed by the candidate and answer why they should work for you/your organization.
As the candidate needs to proof itself to keep his job, the organization needs to proof itself to keep a worthy candidate, otherwise they will just move on

They’re driven to succeed…but they aren’t afraid to leave if they’re unhappy.

My friends on the recruitment side have shared the typical length of employment they see in the tech world these days is 2 years…even less, if someone is dissatisfied.

Benefits matter, management matters, company culture matters, career growth matters, compensation matters. And organizations can’t afford to ignore that anymore. We’re seeing a huge increase in the benefits companies are offering —from coffee stipends to gym memberships to pet insurance—and your employees know that. For example, don’t expect to be able to hire (or keep) top talent if your benefits package boasts 10 PTO days, when the majority of other companies hiring (in tech) offer unlimited PTO, often with enforced minimums.

Staying tuned into your employee satisfaction rates is the only way to retain top talent…ignore it, and you’ll be faced with a revolving door of talent.

Be ready to get questioned on long-held assumptions. They are used to change and breaking things when they don't work.

The upcoming workforce is valuing different leadership traits. The new alpha leadership traits that they look to are things like kindness, empathy and even love. At the end of the day, they are looking for managers who will be the bigger person. And that’s not often the skillset of the traditional leaders we see in organizations. The pandemic has exposed a lot of these managers, execs and CEOs, and I think that’s a good thing. As a CEO you shouldn’t outsource the human or people part of your role to HR.

I wonder if the realization that capitalism and empathy don't necessarily play well together is part of the great resignation. Because there's an economic reality to that. There's an expectation forming that employers make some attempt to reconcile that conflict, and in a better way than what has been done before. I don't think we'll ever fully reconcile it because that's just not how the construct of capitalism works, but you can attempt to make it better.

The upcoming workforce is good at distinguishing between what's real and what's just being said but not followed through on. That's where it becomes important how these things are rolled out. It doesn't need to be dramatic, because it's often about being transparent and accountable.