The lack of live communication and face-to-face contact in the workplace due to COVID constraints could damage the long-term career prospects of young professionals, according to new global research among recently completed master’s programs from 40 different countries.
An international survey conducted by the Global Alliance in Management Education (CEMS) found that 72% of its participants – most in the early 1920s – believed that the inability to communicate physically with colleagues would negatively affect their long-term careers. The organization has 33 members of the world’s leading business schools, 66 corporate partners, and 7 non-governmental organizations that provide a master’s degree in international management.
Of the 310 respondents to the survey, many of whom are potential business leaders and entrepreneurs, two-thirds also believe that the lack of training and face-to-face contacts (68%) and the shrinking corporate training budgets (66%) are significant. will affect their professional progress. On the other hand, despite increased competition for jobs worldwide, 50% of respondents believe that the size of the labor market is a minor threat. The overall acceleration of digitalization (31%) and increased opportunities for flexible working (40%) are also lower on the list of young people’s concerns about their professional development and growth.
Basic human need
“Young professionals are aware that the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the trend towards automation, digitalization, and flexible working, but are concerned about the impact that reduces personal interactions and opportunities for ‘personal’ career development,” said Roland Siegers, executive Director of CEMS. “They recognize that social interaction and cooperation are not only basic human needs, but also a valuable source of innovation, productivity, and growth in times of crisis.”
Use the moment to innovate
Instead of reducing development opportunities, global companies and educators should seize the opportunity to innovate, finding new ways to help the next generation of business leaders collaborate and build meaningful networks, says Prof. Greg Whitwell, President of CEMS Global Alliance and Dean of the University of Sydney Business School.
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have proven that it is possible to create good enough learning opportunities through online platforms that give graduates the desire and ability to change attitudes, think critically and creatively, and accept greater risk and flexibility. In the post-pandemic world, young professionals who can engage employees and stakeholders around experiments and who can continually learn and adapt will be in high demand, he predicted.
“From a business education perspective, one of the lessons of the pandemic is that technological communication provides opportunities for collaboration between schools and their alumni in ways that have not been studied before. “Learning with digital opportunities will have a greater focus on interaction, application, and experiential learning in the future. Although the benefits of the university experience are clear, we need to look for ways to facilitate the extracurricular activities that our students have – which are mostly digital, “added Professor Whitwell.
We will likely see a change in what could be called space agnostic training, where the goal is to provide a truly engaging educational experience, whether the class is real or virtual and no matter where someone is, he predicted.
