Great Place to Work in Sri Lanka conducted a panel discussion on strategies for engaging young talent.

Great Place to Work® in Sri Lanka has unveiled its list of the Best Workplaces^TM for Young Talent for 2024. This year's study marks a significant shift by including sentiments from Gen Z in addition to  Millennials, reflecting their growing influence in the workforce and providing insights into the total perceptions of young employees under the age of 35 regarding workplace culture, aiming to educate the community on how to attract, engage, and retain young talent and provide valuable insights that will help organizations foster a positive workplace culture and contribute to making Sri Lanka an exceptional environment for young talent.

This objective is deemed critical due to the post-pandemic and economic crisis landscape significantly impacting work environments leading to higher levels of skilled talent migration. In 2022, the estimated provisional outward migration figure stood at 311,056 of which 42% were below 35yrs (Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, 2023) highlighting the ongoing challenge for local businesses. Therefore, it is important to positively recognize organizations that create opportunities for young talent to flourish and learn from them.

This year’s list features the 15 Best Workplaces that surpass the rest in engaging their young employees. The study, which collected data from July 2023 to June 2024, involved over 72,740 employee respondents across 164 organizations, with over 38,600 respondents being under 35 years age and representing young talent. The research captured the diverse perspectives of various age groups, with a greater focus on Gen Z (under 25 years) and part of Gen Y (ages 25-34), who are increasingly influencing workplace dynamics.

The localized methodology used for selecting the Best Workplaces^TM included two key components: the Trust Index© employee perception survey, which accounted for over 65% of the total score, and the Culture Audit©, which assessed the practices driving employee experiences, making up the remaining 35%.

The study revealed that the 15 Best Workplaces achieved an impressive average perception of 92% positivity from employees under 35, significantly higher than the average perception of 80% for young talent in the rest of the organizations. The key strength for young talent among the Best 15 was organizational pride. Fair pay was noted as an area for all to improve on, but a significant area of difference, with a 23-point gap between the best (92%) and the rest (69%). These findings will be elaborated on in the report available on the Great Place to Work® Sri Lanka website.

The study article underscored the importance of offering competitive compensation packages, fostering clarity and open communication involving employees in decision making that affects their work, and creating transparent career paths for key talent to allow young employees to visualize themselves within an organization and in Sri Lanka in the long term. It also highlighted the need for nurturing a cooperative and inclusive work environment with a focus on employee wellbeing where employees feel valued and motivated.

An awards ceremony celebrating the Best Workplaces for Young Talent will take place on September 10th at the “Future of Work is Now” CXO Forum, to be held at Hilton, Colombo. This event will also feature discussions on best practices for managing young talent and leveraging the insights from the study.