BRIEFING New notions about ideal employees, energy enhancements for disaster‑monitoring drones and the impact of age on career optimism all feature in this round-up of news and research from BGA schools. Tim Banerjee Dhoul , Ellen Buchan and Colette Doyle report THE LATEST NEWS FROM ACROSS BGA’S NETWORK Business
STUDY ELUCIDATES EVOLUTION IN EMPLOYER EXPECTATIONS
“Our findings show that employers are revising their attitudes about who they consider an ‘ideal worker’. This has real implications for pay, wellbeing and inclusion,” remarked Heejung Chung, study co-author and director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School. The evolving picture of preferences was gleaned from an analysis of job advertisements in Switzerland, covering 47 occupations between 2001 and 2023. Machine learning was used to scan for terms and phrases about employer expectations, such as those related to long hours or work-life balance. The results suggest the need to reassess a notion of the ideal worker long perceived as being “masculine- coded” and a contributing factor
towards gender inequality, burnout and limited access to flexible working arrangements. “Understanding that workers have diverse demands in their lives and supporting them to meet those demands rather than forcing them to solely devote to their jobs is not only good for workers, but also good for productivity,” Chung continued. The study, co-authored with the University of Zurich and published in Gender, Work & Organisation , proposes a new concept, termed the “inclusive worker norm”, to reflect this emerging shift. While there is an awareness that job ads may not fully reflect workplace realities, Chung underlined the need for “organisations to reflect on how their job adverts and cultural signals might reinforce outdated expectations”. TBD
SCHOOL King’s Business School King’s College London COUNTRY UK
mployer expectations around the archetypal recruit no longer centre solely on a candidate’s
E
willingness to put in long hours and prioritise work above all other aspects of life, according to a new study involving King’s Business School. Instead, employers frequently refer to flexibility, gender equity and work-life balance when placing ads for new roles and opportunities.
6 Business Impact • ISSUE 5 • 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online