At Wirtschaftssommer, Bernd Patzke and Santiago Mugni reported on their collaboration, while Steffi Burkhart unraveled the “Millennials” generation. Anja Plesser (VHS) hosted the evening. WMS boss Carolin Brautlecht and Mayor Eckhard Ruthemeyer were happy about the many impulses (from left).
© Peter Dahm
Inconvenient truths, massive problems and how they can possibly be solved: It was not easy thematic fare that was served at the Wirtschaftssommer in the Stadthalle when it came to the increasingly serious shortage of skilled workers. But the situation is not hopeless.
Soest – There are clear words that Dr. Steffi Burkhart pronounces. They describe a serious crisis, a situation that the economy has never experienced before: the lack of the crucial resource: people. Business and politics, Burkhart is blunt, have long – too long – ignored the looming crisis. And in the face of the catastrophe, an appropriate response is too often lacking.
Steffi Burkhart is considered an expert for generations Y (born 1981 to 1994) and Z (1995 to 2010), also known as “Millennials”. She knows how young employees tick – and what that has to do with the shortage of skilled workers.
At first glance, the profile that Burkhart gives the youngsters is not very flattering: they are undereducated when the education system releases them into the market, their demands on the “work-life” balance clearly point in the direction of “life ” page off. And they are disloyal, especially compared to the baby boomer generation, who statistically remain particularly loyal to their employers and often work for the same company for decades. However, it is also the millennials who drive and promote cultural change in companies and organizations.
Possibly at a breathtaking pace, as Burkhart illustrated: “Job profiles will disappear and new ones will emerge. We don’t even know most of the jobs that Generation Z will work in today.”
The Big Gap
2,500 “baby boomers” are already retiring in Germany – every day. In view of the ever-decreasing birth rates in the following cohorts and generations, this alone will result in a gap of more than eight million workers by 2030, as Steffi Burkhart described on Wednesday evening. A fight has long since broken out for those who stay and especially for the talents among them – and not only in this country, but worldwide. In handicrafts, there is also the fact that more and more young people are aiming for a high school diploma and university studies.
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The “VUCA” reality (the abbreviation stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambivalence) acts as an accelerator for far-reaching changes in the world of work, fueled by digitization and modern technologies. Burkhart: “Just think of Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a metaverse.”
Hostess Carolin Brautlecht hit the bull’s eye with the choice of speaker for the second Business Summer of Business and Marketing Soest (WMS). The impulses that Steffi Burkhart gave to the 80 or so entrepreneurs, politicians and representatives of administration who were present also provided a lot of material for discussion after the official part, during the “snack work” in the garden of the town hall.
Burkhart had also called on local companies and those responsible and urged them to look for creative solutions in order to be able to play a role at all in the “war for talent” in the future. “Why should young people decide to stay in Soest? Why should you work in your company in particular?”
Berndt Patzke provided an answer. He has been running his engineering office in Soest together with his wife Britta for twelve years. Specialists now come to “IGP” from all over the world, three were there on Wednesday evening in the town hall. One of them, the engineer Santiago Mugni from Argentina, himself reported how he came to Germany and emphasized how comfortable he feels in Soest. The trio was a good example of how qualified employees can find their way into a medium-sized company from all over the world in comparatively classic ways, via job portals or on personal recommendation, for example.
And Bernd Patzke, for his part, provided clear examples that make his company a “Caring Company” (caring company) – which can still be a decisive reason for the “human resource” to remain loyal to the employer.
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