How to help early career employees thrive in a hybrid workplace
No matter where you are in your career, you’ll remember those early days in your first job when you might have nervously asked a more experienced colleague for help when you got stuck.
If you were lucky, you had a good mentor or boss who gave you the space to try new things while giving you the right kind of advice and support along the way.
All of this may technically be available to career-starters working from home but they face a number of barriers. It can take more courage to pick up a phone or arrange a video conference to ask that potentially ‘silly’ question than it does to pop around to someone’s desk for a chat.
This has been the reality for tens of thousands of graduates and young people in the UK – first in lockdown and now in the era of hybrid working.
Nervous beginnings, uncertain futures
Without this vital early career development phase, there is a danger that young people’s working lives have got off to a bad start, knocking their confidence and maybe even derailing their ambitions.
Some will already have spent their university years in lockdown – now they’re entering the world of work without the same in-person support and interactions their older colleagues had. As well as feeling unable to ask questions freely, they may miss out on those informal learning opportunities that come from watching or listening to senior staff while they work.
We observed in our study with the University of Nottingham that the under-30s in hybrid settings are less engaged than other groups. Under-20s in particular suffer noticeably lower levels of engagement, wellbeing and a lower perception of performance.
Although our interviews included a range of ages, some of the comments were particularly applicable to early-career employees. One said they felt that in a hybrid working environment, there are fewer “opportunities for spontaneous extra tasks” – the kind that “contribute to someone getting a promotion”.
New inequalities
It’s just one small example of how younger people might feel, understandably, that they’ve got a raw deal with the working-from-home experiment that came with the pandemic.
Those who were already further along their career paths when the lockdown began had to make adjustments – but they had the benefit of experience, existing relationships with colleagues and, in many cases, more comfortable working conditions at home.
Given these challenges, The Access Group’s Julia Harvie-Liddel, Global Head of Recruitment, believes it’s critical that young people aren’t left behind. She said:
“It’s been a tough time for young people. They’re going out into the big wide world of work and have so many choices ahead of them, often with the added pressure of having to work either entirely from home or in a hybrid working environment.
“These early years are crucial. They have so much potential but might struggle because they don’t feel they can reach out to people for advice or have an easy way to do so.
“That’s why it’s so important that employers first recognise and understand the extra strain on their junior colleagues and then take extra steps to invest in career development initiatives. This doesn’t only benefit the individual but the organisation too.”
How to support employees working from home at every stage of their career
Hybrid working is clearly here to stay – so how exactly can employers support their teams?
There is now a wide range of technologies available to support hybrid working and specifically, people management.
1. Career development software for the hybrid working environment
Access career development software provides a framework for employees to develop the strengths and confidence they need to fulfil their personal career goals by providing a wide range of online learning. It includes a career assessment tool to help identify their strengths and weaknesses, followed by a tailored learning program of e-learning resources. Managers can track skills and competencies against career plans and flag any concerns.
2. Set realistic objectives
Technology like this gives employees a route to the next stage with realistic objectives without it feeling overwhelming. As a result, younger people in particular don’t feel like they’re treading water with no direction. With regular check-ins and a culture that promotes communication, it doesn’t matter whether someone is at home or in the office – they feel confident asking questions and sharing concerns.
3. Invest in training opportunities
At Access, we understand how important investment in early career training and opportunities is. Our workforce is hybrid, so we use our software to bring people together and provide all the resources needed to plan their next steps. Offering academies for employees looking to pursue careers in different areas enables them to build their skills before choosing a specialism.
4. Cultivate collaboration
Finally, hybrid working might mean teams don’t see each other in person every day – which is all the more reason to create opportunities for them to collaborate productively when they get together and, of course, socialise.
You might be interested in reading:
Why we need to understand Gen Z Learning Styles
Why is staff development important? 4 reasons why to invest in employee development
