VALUES AND STANDARDS ARE A PRIORITY

How do young employees view their careers? What do they think is important in a job?

Mirrors and windows

Valentina Vicencio left the HR and temporary employment sector last year. She is now studying to become a nurse. “I had enough of the sector. After finishing secondary school at 18, I started working in the sector. But the longer I was working, the less right it felt. After 10 years, I was exhausted.”

Valentina went back to school in September. “A four-year VDAB training course. Three more to go,” she laughs. “I didn’t like school when I was younger. I was a bad student. But it feels much better now. I’m interested in what I’m studying. And I have matured a bit, which helps.” She combines her education with an allowance. “Fortunately, that is an option. Because I wouldn’t be able to do this otherwise, as a single mother.”

She isn’t convinced that she will earn less as a nurse than as an employment agency worker. “It will probably be around the same amount,” she thinks. “I might no longer have a company car, but there won’t be too much difference otherwise. When I worked as an employment agency worker, it was mainly the bonuses that made a difference. But you don’t always get them. And I won’t miss the pressure to meet those targets.”

As a woman with foreign roots, she thinks diversity is extremely important. At work, too. “That is something I care a lot about. I want mirrors and windows in a job. I want to see myself and our society represented in my job. That was also a problem at my previous job. Women were already a minority, and women of colour even more so. Sometimes, I was even taken off cases because I refused to respond to discriminatory demands from clients. No, that was not in line with my values and standards.”

Valuable work

Five years ago, Kevin Flynn moved from Ireland to Brussels, where he works for the international trade union Eurocadres. Because of his job, he views the labour market from both a personal and a professional perspective.

“Employers have become extremely demanding.  Speaking four languages and having two master’s degrees is the norm nowadays. But young people are, in turn, also increasingly making their own demands.” That includes Kevin. “I want flexibility. Working from 9 to 5 or at a fixed location belongs to the past. I want to be given the confidence to organise my own work. This also benefits the employer. Employees are more productive when they are given flexibility and confidence.”

“Working for a trade union is line with who I am and what I believe in. I want to perform valuable work and make progress.” On mental health, for example. Our work should not have a negative impact on our health. It’s important to me that an employer is aware of that.”

Choosing to work for Eurocadres meant he had to leave his home country Ireland. “I’m from a small town in Ireland. So for my higher education and job, I had to move to Dublin or abroad. I chose the latter because I like to get to know different people and cultures. It was no easy decision, but I don’t regret it. I really like what I do here and the opportunities that are given to me. I could have had a higher salary in Ireland, but that is not my main motivation. Besides, I would have less of my income left in Ireland because everything is more expensive and all public services have been privatised. I prefer working in Belgium, where I still have enough of my income left to do fun things.”

Looking for a challenge

Two years ago, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, Stijn Boodts started working as a analytical chemist at a water company. He says it’s his first ‘real’ job. It’s taken him a few years to find it, but now he really feels at home.

“I think it’s really important to be challenged in a job,” he explains. And he doesn’t just mean intellectually challenged. “Hierarchically, I am not a manager, but in practice I do coach a number of employees. I find that very interesting. I put a lot of time in it, but it is also very rewarding.”

“What I do must also be relevant. The water company that I work for is a non-profit company. The quality of the drinking water is more important to us than making a profit. It’s more important to me than a hefty salary. It is of course a luxury to be able to say that. But I’m definitely not an exception. Many young people I know feel the same way.”

Although Stijn is not looking for another job, he does call himself ambitious. “I want to grow and constantly be challenged. If, at some point, I see more of a challenge elsewhere, I would switch. That would be better for everyone. If the challenge disappears, so does my motivation. And nobody wants an unmotivated employee, right?”

He has a wide range of interests. “I never really knew what I wanted to study or be. Even now, that is still the case. Being a baker, working in construction or in a restaurant, etc. It all seems interesting. I could be doing something completely different in five years’ time. As long as the job presents enough of a challenge.”

Never Work Alone 2022 | Author: Jan Deceunynck | Image: Daniël Rys