Transformation of behavioral attitudes of young people in the labor and employment market: the impact of the pandemic and workers' reassessment of their freedoms

Chaplashkin Nikolay Vladimirovich ORCID: 0009-0004-8282-1909 PhD in Sociology Deputy General Director; FSBI Interobrazovanie 119021, Russia, Moscow, lane Chudov, 8, p.1 kalyan82@rambler.ru

Introduction

The purpose of the work is to identify trends that have formed in the labor market and employment in recent years, and to assess how the labor attitudes of employees have changed using the example of the category of young professionals.

To achieve the goal, the following research objectives are set:

to conduct a brief literature review in terms of research on flexible forms of employment;

to analyze the state and structure of the labor market in the context of remote work using the example of the category of young professionals;

to identify the problems of the issue under study;

to analyze and evaluate how the work attitudes of young workers who entered the labor market during the pandemic and the post-pandemic period have changed;

to reveal the practical significance of the research.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, for almost a hundred years, there has been a traditional employment model, which assumed full-time employment in the organization on a permanent basis. Stable work, guaranteed income and social guarantees were the main requirements for workers of that time.

By the end of the 20th century, the labor market, both Russian and global, became more flexible, but permanent employment still remained the predominant form of employment. The development of information technology has contributed to the emergence of new forms of employment, such as remote work, freelancing and other types of flexible employment. These forms are characterized by a decrease in the employee's dependence on the employer and the ability to independently choose the work schedule and the place where tasks are performed. Attempts to analyze and classify flexible employment have been reflected in many works by both Russian and foreign authors.

In the early 2000s, flexible forms of employment were most often considered in the context of casual employment and non–standard employment ^[1-5]. The flexibility of the forms implied a response to the challenges faced by the labor market related to the consequences of the 90s and unemployment, as well as the financial crises of the early 2000s.

Foreign researchers most often considered flexible forms of employment from the concept of "free work" and came to the conclusion that with the information development, post-industrial society objectively strives to change its work attitudes ^[6-9]. The changes are related to the desire of employees for freedom and self-expression, finding a balance between work and personal life. The conclusions reached by scientists and practitioners are that over time the traditional model of employment and behavior in the labor market will disappear ^[10-14].

A detailed analysis and structuring of forms of employment allowed us to conclude that workers in Russia as a stratum of the economically active population, due to increasingly developing technologies, as well as living standards, also tend to more free and flexible forms of employment ^[15].

However, in recent years, the labor and employment market in Russia has undergone even more drastic changes.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the processes related to the labor market. The transition of many workers in various sectors of the economy to remote work has demonstrated the possibilities and advantages of remote employment, both for employers and employees ^[16].

Many companies and their employees continue to use the approaches developed during the pandemic, even now — after its end.

Some companies have fully switched to remote work and continue to work, in others, some employees can perform their duties remotely.

In some organizations, employees combine the performance of their duties remotely and at a stationary workplace, which is currently allowed and fixed in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation as one of the types of remote employment (Article 312.1).

A number of companies that have experimented with transferring employees to a shorter workweek continue to work within the framework of a four-day workweek, while the performance indicators of both employees and companies as a whole remain at a high level ^[17].

Thus, the pandemic has led to a revolutionary change in the labor market and increased interest in more flexible forms of employment.

Issues related to changes in the labor market and behavioral attitudes of both employees and job seekers, as well as employers, are still the subject of discussion by researchers and practitioners.

Changing the behavior and values of young people in the labor market stands out in a special category of research that has always been relevant, both 10-15 years ago and in recent years, especially after the active introduction of remote employment during the pandemic ^[18-22].

Research methodology. Characteristics of problematic issues.

To identify the main trends that have formed in recent years, after the end of the pandemic and with the beginning of a special military operation, to assess how workers' work attitudes have changed, will allow a secondary analysis of the results of sociological studies conducted by various research centers and recruiting agencies on remote employment, changing employee behavioral attitudes and changes in the labor market and employment.

Although the approaches developed during the pandemic continue to be used, a few years after its end, there is a tendency - more and more workers want to work remotely on a permanent basis, and not only during the period of any quarantine measures, and employers are starting to reduce this format of work.

Thus, according to a survey conducted by the SuperJob research center in 2021, more than half of the respondents (52%) would like to work remotely at all times. Only 1/3 of the employees (30%) agreed to return to the office to work ^[23].

Every year, the number of such workers who want to work remotely is growing — this is shown by the results of many studies ^[24].

At the same time, employer survey data shows the opposite picture. In 2020-21, during the pandemic, more than 60% of employers used remote work, in the 1st half of 2024, 32% remained so, of which 70% have less than 10% of employees working remotely (programmers, sales managers, etc.) ^[25].

At the same time, the labor market still remains very flexible, and it needs to be rebuilt depending on the socio-political situation in order to ensure the functioning of the economy as soon as possible.

In this regard, the personnel shortage, which has engulfed almost all industries in the country, led to an increase in the number of companies using remote employment in the 3rd quarter of 2024.

Companies that use remote employment are now 1/3 more (44% versus 32% (see above) than was recorded in a similar study based on the results of the 1st half of 2024 ^[26].

Employers and job seekers are facing new challenges related to the transition to remote work, and not everyone is ready to adapt to the changes.

On the part of employers, first of all, the desire for stricter control over employees and the result affects. Despite this, employees believe that their efficiency does not decrease when working remotely.

A similar situation is observed with employees who have switched to a four-day work week.

According to the results of experiments with a four-day period (with a 32-hour working week), most of both the companies participating in the experiments and their employees do not want to return to a five-day working week (40-hour working week).

Thus, according to the results of the experiments of the 4 Day Week Global project (the introduction of a four-day working week with an 8-hour working day), conducted in a number of countries in Western Europe and America, every third employee in almost every country demanded a salary increase of up to 1.5 times if he decided to return to a five-day working week after switching to a four-day working week And one in ten employees stated that they would not like to return to the traditional five-day working week, regardless of the amount of money offered ^[27].

Russian experiments with 4 days in the post-pandemic period also confirm these figures and conclusions. For example, according to the results of Sovcombank's experiment with a four-day week in coworking in Turkey for IT employees, the results showed positive dynamics — 96% of employees fulfilled and even exceeded (20%) the five-day work norm. This eventually led to the scaling of the experiment to 4 coworking spaces and a 3-fold increase in the number of employees transferred to this format ^[17].

The result of all this is that many employees are not ready to give up all the new benefits.

Analysis and research of the problem

The development of remote work has opened up more opportunities for residents of the regions. You can get a job in the desired company and in the desired specialty, regardless of your place of residence. At the same time, residents of large cities have the opportunity to move to other areas/regions and even countries with favorable ecology, comfortable geography and location, while continuing to cooperate with large companies.

Yes, some employees prefer to work in the office, and research results confirm this. The negative aspects noted by experts earlier when studying freelancing, such as procrastination, distraction, lack of structuring of their activities and inability to organize their working day ^{[15, 16]}, are also relevant for distance employment. Self-control, self-discipline and planning are traits that are not inherent in many people, and they choose to work in the office full-time, since all this will be organized by the management there ^[28].

The reluctance to return to previous conditions (office work, full-time work from 9.00 to 18.00, etc.), which, in the opinion of most employees themselves, do not have a generally positive effect while maintaining the result, applies to almost all employees who expressed such a desire, regardless of gender, age and seniority.

However, remote employment opens up not only new opportunities for workers — it has formed a generation of young professionals who started working remotely during the pandemic and are unfamiliar with the traditional work format.

In addition, many students who managed to evaluate the distance learning format during the pandemic appreciated the advantages of this format in their work as well.

This generation not only entered the labor market during the pandemic period, but also grew up in the era of the Internet and digital technologies.

Meanwhile, it is not only the pandemic that has had an impact on young people. A deeper analysis of the problem indicates the existence of other factors influencing the formation of such expectations.

Young people under the age of 25 belong to the generation born in the 2000s. They did not find the period of the 90s, when problems with unpaid wages and unemployment were widespread. This generation grew up in conditions of well—being - they are the children of parents who mostly had stable jobs and observed the economic growth of the country in the 2000s and 2010s.

If employees of the older generation have already established attitudes towards the employer, including subordination or even fear, then many young employees do not have such barriers due to a calmer, prosperous life and greater freedom in their actions.

The previous generation still has vivid memories of the difficulties associated with lack of money, total savings and part-time jobs to help the family, including shift work and leaving their native region. They associate the risk of losing their job with the fear of not finding a similar job and the prospect of returning home, where there is no job and uncompetitive salaries.

Young people, knowing about the possibility of returning home to their parents at any time and a stable life at their expense, do not experience such fears. At the same time, it is currently possible to find a remote job or part-time job.

Not only do young people themselves not want to grow up, this is a generally accepted policy in many countries.

Thus, in 2020, the federal law "On Youth Policy in the Russian Federation" was adopted, according to which youth, young citizens are a socio-demographic group of people aged 14 to 35 years inclusive, and before the adoption of the law, persons under 30 years old were recognized as youth. Currently, Russia is already planning to raise the age of young people to 38, and even 40 years ^[29].

At the same time, according to the WHO classification, people from 18 to 44 years old belong to the category of "Young people" ^[30].

These age limits are designed to provide more young people with state support measures provided for young people, but such age shifts also lead to the fact that young people form the opinion that at 20-21 they are still children who should be taken care of by an older generation.

In general, according to the results of surveys by various research centers, the generation that grew up in times of stability is not ready for hard work to achieve career goals, preferring flexible schedules and comfort, the opportunity to engage in their own business or socially significant activities.

When choosing criteria that would force young workers not to change jobs often, many chose the absence of stress, the ability to freely manage their time and a convenient schedule, a comfortable and friendly team of professionals, as well as career prospects, although financial conditions that fully satisfy them were still preferable ^[31].

This generation does not attach much importance to status and material well-being, striving to maintain a balance between work and personal life and avoiding excessive overworking.

Of course, not all young people are like that, but this applies to most urban residents, especially large metropolitan areas.

Yes, young people differ from previous generations in their greater freedom and desire for self-expression, but at the same time they value personal space too much and do not like when their personal boundaries are violated ^[32].

They do not respect hierarchy and do not show subordination, can easily change jobs and business profiles, and have a small planning horizon, which complicates the creation and management of long-term relationships. Many of them lack authority in the face of employers, as a projection of behavior with their parents.

All these factors contributed to the formation of a specific feature of behavior in the labor market among young graduates and specialists — a sharp break in labor relations, including on the first working day.

On the Internet, so far this concept has been assigned the currently existing term "hosting" — "ghosting".

The term originated from the English word "ghost" — a ghost, and was first fixed in terms of romantic relationships — this is the abrupt termination of any relationship without warning and explanation ^[33].

Labor hosting is the termination of an employment relationship, which often occurs on the first day of going to work and also without explanation.

Hosting can be from both an employee and an employer. But in the context of this work, the hosting of employees is of interest.

There are not so many reasons for labor hosting on the part of an employee:

• changing the decision to enter a specific job (making a decision to enter another one);
• dissatisfaction with the place of work, due to simultaneous excessive workload,
• lack of adaptation measures (familiarization with corporate requirements, with other employees, etc.), inhospitality;
• conflict situations at work, including interpersonal ones,
• dissatisfaction with the proposed salary: at the interview, they voiced a different amount, %, bonuses, allowances.

Skeptics of new concepts and terms argue that the phenomenon of hosting is not new. Employees have previously terminated employment relationships with employers without warning or explanation. However, the reasons for this behavior of adult employees may differ from the reasons why the younger generation uses hosting.

Older employees most often leave their jobs due to unwillingness to work two weeks on dismissal, protracted conflicts or unwillingness to communicate with management.

The hosting of the younger generation is most often associated with a number of interdependent factors listed above, such as insufficient communication skills, rejection of corporate rules, a superficial attitude to the legal aspects of employment (registration, maintenance of workbooks, etc.), the inconvenience of working in an office compared to remote work and study.

The signs of the younger generation — independence and freedom during the pandemic and the heyday of remote employment received only additional reinforcement: for example, employment often took place remotely.

Yes, the younger generation of the 2000s attaches less importance to money, and the desire to be more free in terms of self-realization at work, and to work in more comfortable conditions for the same or even less money, as echoes of the post-pandemic situation in the labor market, sometimes prevails over the amount of wages.

But, with all of the above, young people tend to have inflated salary expectations, which yesterday's students always had.

For example, the data from a study conducted several years before the pandemic show the average salary expectations of graduates of Russian universities: in 2017 — 56 thousand rubles. The actual salaries of young professionals in 2017 were 15-50% lower ^[34]. At the same time, the average salary in the country, i.e., taking into account all salaries even of experienced specialists, amounted to 39.2 thousand rubles in 2017 ^[35].

Similar figures can be seen now. In 2024, young people aged 18 to 24 would like to earn 96.4 thousand rubles ^[36], and the average accrued salary for 2023, according to Rosstat, was 74.8 thousand rubles ^[35]. In 2024, the average accrued salary grew: so in the first quarter of 2024, it amounted to 80,582 rubles, at the end of the 2nd quarter — 86,495 rubles, however, even taking into account this growth, the average actual salary is lower than desired by young people who enter the labor market with virtually no work experience ^[35].

At the same time, the emphasis has shifted in the context of salary expectations. Previously (in the 1990s-2000s), inflated salary expectations were most often associated with overestimation of their capabilities by young specialists. However, at present, young people take into account not only their competencies and the proposed level of remuneration from the employer, but also the standard of living, as well as standards that they consider acceptable to themselves.

Relative well—being and a higher standard of living have created another phenomenon within the framework of the employee-employer interaction process. If earlier the job interview was mostly an interview with the employer of an employee — whether he is suitable for the company, now the interview is a mutual process. The employer evaluates the employee, and at the same time, the employee evaluates the employer already at the interview stage.

With an increase in the standard of living, employees began to value themselves, their skills and experience, and their time more. This applies not only to office workers, but also to those who are employed in other industries.

Young people are more flexible and adapt more easily to changes, while it is more difficult for the older generation to adapt to new conditions and "leave the comfort zone". In this regard, it is more difficult for the older generation to quit and look for a new job, as they experience difficulties, including with passing interviews.

At the same time, the unemployment rate is steadily falling, and there is a shortage of personnel in almost all areas ^[37]. Consequently, there are more offers on the job market for an adequate choice, which only pushes applicants to more carefully select an employer.

A comprehensive restructuring of employers' thinking for the younger generation has not yet been observed — only a request for young workers is visible from employers ^[38].

Perhaps this is due to the fact that there is a high turnover among young people, including due to small salaries, in particular in unskilled jobs, which in turn reduces the financial costs of employers.

The duration of work in one place in the segment of low-skilled working professions, such as loaders, packers, rarely crosses the threshold of 1 year, and most often ranges from three to six months, due to the fact that such work is considered temporary. This is different from the situation in the USSR, where people often worked in one place for 20-25 years, immediately after the army, even in such a low-skilled job.

If 10-15 years ago, frequent job changes were associated with social instability and a low level of material and non-material incentives, now the reasons lie in excessive independence and the desire for freedom, taking into account the possible return to parental care at any time.

Conclusion

Nevertheless, every day more and more large companies are starting to change their approach to working with young people, taking into account these features: they train adult employees how to interact with the new generation, allow young people to try themselves in different projects.

However, the main solution to this problem lies on the surface: in order to interest young people in long-term employment relationships, it is necessary to pay for work according to current realities and improve their attitude towards employees.

The transition to hybrid work formats (alternating remote employment with being in the office, free schedule, reduced work schedule), which allow you to find a middle ground between the desires of employees and employers, shows an increase in employee motivation, an improvement in the microclimate in the team and an increase in productivity.

The hybrid work format is already preferred by a larger number of employers, switching to its use from a completely remote mode, although it still loses out to the traditional format with full-time office work ^[38]

In 2023, the opportunity to work from home became the most significant factor of non-material motivation for job seekers and employees, despite the fact that 5 years ago this factor was only in 9th place in importance. The second place in importance is occupied by the use of other flexible work formats (flexible hours, part-time work, etc.) ^[40].

Low wages, which are currently present everywhere in all industries, especially for entry-level workers and young professionals, will soon have to be increased in order to reduce the wage gap, which may happen in the near future.

According to experts from the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short—term Forecasting, the share of Russians earning more than 100,000 rubles per month has almost doubled: in 2021 — 5.7% of the total population, and in 2023 - 10% ^[41]. Most of this increase was given by people who are in the zone of their own and receive payments from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

People currently employed in the military sphere (mobilized, contract employees), returning to the economy after graduation, will presumably dictate new terms of payment, taking into account the amount of payments to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

At the same time, even the return of a large number of people to the economy will not allow filling the gaps in personnel that have formed as a result of demographic problems, until wages adequate to the market situation and inflation are offered, including to young people.

However, thoughtless salary increases can only provoke an increase in inflation, so the problem of staff shortages must be addressed comprehensively, including improving working conditions.

All this will lead to the fact that employers will have to adapt to the new generation and to new conditions. At the same time, employers' forecasts only show an increase in interest in young applicants ^[42].

As long as a modern employer does not realize this, the information space will continue to discuss the problem of staff shortages and employment in low-paying jobs for those who do not feel an extreme need for work. There are fewer and fewer desperate people among the younger generation, so they require a special approach to management and motivation, but at the same time they can also teach the older generation new values and views on life.

Research results and scientific novelty

Scientific novelty: The article reveals some characteristic changes in the structure of the labor market and employment due to the transition to remote employment as part of quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the generational change of workers associated with the arrival of a new young generation who entered the labor market during the heyday of remote employment, as well as the reassessment of their rights and freedoms employees of organizations.

The growing interest in remote employment among young people under the age of 25 is associated with a number of interdependent reasons: the entry of young people who grew up in the era of the Internet and information technology into the labor market in conditions of remote employment, stability in life and great dependence on parents, a growing standard of living and the associated increase in self-esteem.

The solution of the tasks set made it possible to identify the following main results.

1. Previously, flexible forms of employment were considered by researchers most often as a response to the challenges associated with crises and unemployment, but now they are increasingly being considered in the context of increasing workers' freedom, reducing their dependence on employers and finding a balance between work and personal life.
2. The approaches developed during the pandemic, although they continue to be used, but there is a tendency - more and more workers want to work remotely on a permanent basis, and not only during the period of any quarantine measures, and employers are beginning to reduce this format of work.
3. Distance employment has shaped a whole generation of young professionals who started working remotely during the pandemic and are unfamiliar with the traditional work format. At the same time, a new young generation of workers not only entered the labor market during the pandemic period, but also grew up in the era of the Internet and digital technologies, which only increased their desire for remote work.
4. All these factors contributed to the formation of a specific feature of behavior in the labor market among young graduates and specialists — a sharp break in labor relations, including on the first working day, the so-called "labor hosting".
5. With an increase in the standard of living, employees began to value themselves, their skills and experience, and their time more. Relative well—being and a higher standard of living have created another phenomenon within the framework of the employee-employer interaction process. If earlier the job interview was mostly an interview with the employer of an employee — whether he is suitable for the company, now the interview is a mutual process. The employer evaluates the employee, and at the same time, the employee evaluates the employer already at the interview stage.
6. Demographic problems and, as a result, a shortage of labor, partly related to the withdrawal of a huge proportion of the able-bodied population to the defense sector, the lack of competitive salaries leads to the fact that employers will have to adapt to new realities and rebuild their thinking, including for the younger generation, in order to fill the personnel deficit. The transition to hybrid work formats using remote employment allows us to solve both the problems of personnel shortage and to interest young workers who prefer remote employment and free working hours to other methods of non-material incentives.

The results of the study will be useful for the following groups:

for employers: to better understand the needs of the labor market and optimize their HR management strategies, offering flexible working conditions and opportunities for professional development of employees;

for students and graduates: to study and prepare for the specific requirements of employers and to develop the skills necessary for a successful career;

to state bodies: it will allow to develop effective programs to support young professionals, stimulate job creation and entrepreneurship development;

to researchers and scientists: it will contribute to the development of science, the increment of new knowledge in terms of flexible forms of employment and remote employment, the formation of new approaches to human resource management.