NewGen

STEM young professionals are a key success factor for innovation- and knowledge-based companies. The challenge is to win them over, manage them successfully and retain them in the long term.

Factsheet

  • Lead school Business School
  • Institute(s) Institute for New Work
  • Research unit(s) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Funding organisation Innosuisse
  • Duration 01.12.2013 - 28.02.2017
  • Project management Prof. Dr. Andrea Gurtner
  • Head of project Prof. Dr. Andrea Gurtner
  • Project staff Miriam Dominique Wettstein
    Prof. Dr. Alexander Hunziker
  • Partner Comet AG
    Avenir Consulting AG
    Die Schweizerische Post AG
    Eidgenössischen Departement für Umwelt,
    Hochschule Luzern - Wirtschaft
  • Keywords Skills shortage, STEM professions, generation Y, psychological contract

Situation

Identify what motivates young STEM professionals and what potential they can bring to their work. Develop approaches to generation-sensitive employer branding, recruitment and leadership.

Course of action

Based on the central values, expectations, potentials and competences of the young generation in STEM professions, empirically founded, practicable approaches for the design of both target group-oriented personnel marketing and the design of psychological contracts between knowledge/innovation-based companies and young STEM professionals were developed in close cooperation with application partners.

Result

The research project "Employing the New Generation" analysed the central expectations of STEM professionals of generations Y and X towards employers and, based on this, developed approaches for target group-related recruitment, management and retention. For this purpose, 34 interviews, 13 focus groups and an online survey (N=600) with STEM professionals from German-speaking Switzerland were conducted and evaluated.

Looking ahead

Based on the results of the study, a guideline was developed that shows success factors and implementation possibilities for an innovative and target group-oriented design of employer branding and recruiting in the STEM sector.