" Dear Sir or Madam,
(…) I am writing to express my complete disinterest in the Project Manager position available at your company. (…). Attached you will find my resume, where I've fabricated experiences, as well as a sabbatical year which was actually a year spent in sweatpants, because I went through a severe burnout that I have yet to recover from.
The reason I'm applying is simple: I'm about to run out of my benefits and soon won’t have money or an apartment..."
From a Favorable Market to a Precarious Situation
This was how the "demotivation" letter began in the popular track “Best regards,” composed in 2022 by the artist "The Toxic Avenger" (Yes Future – Enchanté Records).
At the time of its release, the unemployment rate among French people under the age of 25, sitting around 17% (Insee), was historically low. These lyrics perfectly illustrated the imbalance of power between employer and employee, favoring the latter.
↳ Understanding Young People's Expectations
A few months later, we conducted a large study with 1000 young French individuals aged 18 to 30 on “the ideal HR policy for French youth.” (Insign/IPSOS) to better understand their motivations and employer criteria.
↳ Key Insights from the Employer Value Pyramid
This allowed us to establish our "employer value pyramid" and notably identify:
A general disinterest among young people in the efforts made by employers in terms of attractiveness
A transactional focus regarding their employment
Despite everything, an interest in meaningful work and management.
The Reversal of the Youth Job Market
The economic crisis ultimately caused the unemployment rate among those under 25 to rise to 19% over the past year; and it's likely to surpass 19.5% during the coming year (Insee). Several major schools are preparing to extend internship opportunities to delay the entry of new graduates into the job market, and, in light of productivity gains by AI on operational tasks, some large companies are already questioning the value of less experienced workers...
↳ Towards an Evolution of Demands?
Will the perceptions and expectations of this demographic change in the face of a situation that may become tangibly more precarious for them? In a less favorable climate for youth employment, would our "expected employer value pyramid" have the same distribution today? Would young people be more inclined to care, at least pretend to care, about what their current and potential employers offer them? Might they revise their expectations on the "base of the pyramid" downward?
Maintaining Focus on Employer Attractiveness
In a climate feeling a rebalancing of forces, it might be tempting for employers to “call it quits” on their efforts of attraction and improving employee experience. However, we should keep several realities in mind that obviously drive maintaining efforts to ensure long-term HR resilience:
1/ The age pyramid is sustainably reversed, leaving us in a reality where key skills will remain scarce, especially in “technical” profiles;
2/ The structural decline in engagement and quiet quitting remain prevalent within companies, even among those currently employed;
3/ A context of workforce reduction and tarnished economic climate has, rather than motivating remaining employees to hold on to their positions, had spectacularly negative effects on their engagement and motivation. A study has measured this, with gaps of over 15% in engagement, linked to loss of confidence in their management or their own future prospects within the company. (“Employee engagement: what to expect after layoffs” - Culture Amp Research – 2023)
Hence, only those who stay focused on their attractiveness and the employee experience they offer will maintain a competitive HR advantage regardless of the economic context.
