Тема: «EMPLOYER BRAND AS A FACTOR OF ATTRACTIVENESS IN THE EMPLOYMENT EXPECTATIONS OF GENERATION Z»

An incredibly large number of enterprises worldwide are encountering a common challenge - a shortage of skilled workforce. This issue significantly impacts aspects such as the economic growth of the country, challenges in competitiveness, leads to social conflicts and instability. In our contemporary business environment, primary focus is directed towards attracting the best and qualified professionals to the company to enhance the quality and speed of productivity, market competitiveness, risk minimization, and maintenance of high-quality standards. Primarily, companies are oriented towards seeking professionals with a high level of professional training and work experience, encompassing communicative and leadership skills to achieve goals and ensure productive operations. The importance of competent workforce stands as a key component of any company's successful business, positioning it as a leading player in the labor market. Nowadays, many organizations require talent attraction and retention, individuals who will serve as valuable assets for the company's further development. Recent studies indicate that workforce shortage percentages exceed the norm, and this issue is actual worldwide, negatively impacting companies. According to a recent report by Manpower Group, labor shortage rates are critically high at 75% for 2024 and 77% for the previous year 2023 (Manpower Group, 2024). In comparison with the last decade, the difference is colossal. According to the Global Talent Shortage report for 2014, the percentage was only 36%, which is more than twice as low as for the years 2023-2024 (Manpower Group, 2024). Despite the active automation of business processes in many companies to accelerate workflow and minimize the involvement of additional staff, enterprises still have a need for workforce replenishment. The value of employees lies in their flexible and adaptive approach to work, unique skills, and experience that are difficult to replace and fully automate. This fact poses a challenge for many companies regarding not only how to find qualified professionals but also how to retain them in conditions of high competition.
Within the context of the reviewed issue, the concept of employer brand emerges as a pivotal concept aimed at crafting an appealing image of the company as an employer to attract potential employees and retain current ones (Martindale, 2010; Ambler and Barrow, 1996). This concept encompasses aspects such as company values, its reputation, among others. Employer brand is an intersection of HR and marketing, collectively shaping an attractive image of the company in the eyes of potential employees (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004).
Elements constituting the employer brand encompass both: marketing aspects, such as company positioning in the industry segment, product image, and its recognizability, as well as HR management components, including corporate culture, compensation systems, bonuses, and benefits. A LinkedIn study revealed that businesses with strong employer brand can reduce their hiring costs up to 50% and enhance employee retention rates by 28% (Gredeson.M, 2023). This fact demonstrates that having a strong employer brand is essential for companies aiming to achieve growth and success.
Generation Z nowadays represents about 30% of the world's population and is expected to be 27% of the workforce by 2025 (Torska.N, 2024). This generation currently represents the youngest segment of the workforce and consumers, hence understanding its characteristics, preferences, and traits is crucial for organizations. Considering the Russian labor market, over the past two years it has been subject to numerous socio-economic factors, including demographic aging, emigration, and political-economic shifts, which have adversely affected the employment trends among young professionals (The Moscow Times, 2023). From the beginning of December 2021 to the end of December 2022, the number of young workers in Russia decreased by 1.33 million (RBC, 2023). As of December 2022, the number of young talents in the labor market was 21.5 million, this low percentage of figures is the lowest in the entire period of available statistics (since 2006), indicating a serious labor shortage in this age category (RBC, 2023). Over the past year, there has been a significant decline in the number of workers in the 25-29 age category, resulting in a decrease of 724 thousand people. This group represents a significant category of young professionals for the economy, who already have work experience but still have high labor mobility (RBC, 2023). There was also a decline in employment in 2022 among young professionals aged 20 to 24, who are recent graduates and students. Their number decreased by 87 thousand people (FinExpertiza 2023). This negative demographic trend is having a strong impact on the supply and demand for skilled young professionals in the labor market. Thus, it is highly important to study this demographic group of Generation Z to further understand how companies can use a well-built employer brand to attract and retain highly skilled workers, many of whom are recent graduates in search of permanent employment. This is becoming a necessary task for companies and requires careful analysis of the needs and expectations of Generation Z, their preferences for certain employer brand attributes and an understanding of how important they are to potential employees.
Research goal, questions, and objectives of the study
The goal of this final thesis is to identify employer brand importance, its attributes and communication channels that influence the employment attractiveness and expectations of Generation Z.
After the goal will be achieved, it is necessary to provide managerial implications for companies on how to attract and retain Generation Z, based on their expectations within employer brand during employment process.
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In conclusion, this study makes notable theoretical contribution to the topic of employer brand. First, it extends existing knowledge by empirically identifying unique preferences for employer brand attributes for Generation Z. The theoretical framework was observed, and main employer brand attributes were identified: instrumental and symbolic attributes (Lievens and Highhouse, 2003). Also, there were identified job-searching communication channels that Generation Z suggests the most important. Thus, this thesis provides a significant insight into the perception of the employer brand by Generation Z, which was successfully confirmed by a contrasting survey with the previous generation (Generation Y). The study confirms that employer brand is more important for Generation Z during employment process. The main results show that Generation Z, within the framework of the instrumental attributes of employer brand, consider career development opportunities, health and wellness programs and work-life balance significantly more important than other instrumental attributes. In addition, within symbolic attributes, innovation, robustness, and prestige were considered as more important for Generation Z. As for the identified job-searching communication channels, career weeks and online job­searching platforms are more important for Generation Z, emphasizing that Generation Z prefers both: internet presence of a company and direct interaction with real-time feedback during job­search. However, the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the importance of the employer brand for the Russian and Foreign Generation Z has not been definitively confirmed, which indicates the need for further research in this area with a larger sample of respondents. The main goal of this final thesis was achieved: to identify employer brand importance, its attributes and communication channels that influence the employment attractiveness and expectations of Generation Z.
Overall, these results highlight the importance of contributing to the strengthening of the employer brand for companies, considering the specific preferences and expectations of Generation Z. By understanding and focusing on the unique values and priorities of this emerging workforce, organizations can increase their attractiveness and effectively interact with talented Generation Z potential and current employees. These findings of the final thesis lay the foundation for the development of managerial implications that will provide recommendations on how to improve the employer brand of the companies and attract Generation Z as a workforce.
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