Vodafone’s Working Nation report, now in its sixth year revealed the mid-career slump that accompanies the pressures of the family-stage part of your life.

Entitled “The Nature of Work“, the sixth volume of the report aimed to explore the key meaning of work in 2008. It concluded that of all the age ranges, the 31-35 year old age bracket topped every poll of topics involving negative feelings towards work. In the 31-35 year old category,

• 59% felt undervalued
• 49% felt unfulfilled
• 43% were de-motivated

The survey clearly revealed the “shifting landscape of employee expectations and motivations” which saw a scope for disillusionment in the traditionally optimistic “Generation Y” (those born between 1980 and 1990). Speaking of the group, Nick Rand of Opinion Leader, one of the companies behind the research revealed that “this young cohort is indeed highly ambitious and wants to succeed in a shorter time span than ever. But with these new, higher expectations comes the risk of greater disappointment.”

Suprisingly, the findings of the survey of 3,800 people, and the inter-generational focus groups that followed showed that employee satisfaction and motivation was highest in the older generations.

• 7 in 10 workers aged 50 or over said they were fulfilled compared to just 5 in 10 25-31 year olds.
• Employee Satisfaction was highest at 90% in the older age group of 65 and over.

With new generations come new technologies, new cultures and attitudes. What the survey succinctly showed was that with these generational variances, come variations of attitudes and variations of these attitudes when applied to the world of work.

To hit the moving targets of expectations and motivations, any reward solution must be flexible, adaptable and forward-thinking in its design.

Peoplevalue’s Excellence Awards are an innovative reward solution for the modern business. Their flexible design embraces technology to provide a bespoke, branded reward solution suitable for the vast variations of attitude and motivation in the modern workforce.

To find out more about Excellence Awards, please click here.