The Randstad Workmonitor survey took place online from 21 February to 13 March 2022, covering 34 countries in the world, with participants aged between 18 and 67 years old. With an average of 800 interviews per country, the study only interviewed those with at least 24 hours of paid work a week. Participants were asked about different aspects of their professional life, such as the attitude, values, empowerment, flexibility and self-improvement in the work place.

Luxembourg employees place more importance on private life, less on company values

As it appears, the grand duchy doesn’t seem to follow the global trends identified by Randstad. Only 16% of participants would rather be unemployed than unhappy in a job, against 33% globally. However, if earning money was not a necessity, 40% of Luxembourg workers would choose not to work at all. For half of the participants, their personal life was more important than their work, though the numbers changed across categories; millennials tend to put their private well-being first, with 56% of those aged 25-34 agreeing with that statement.

One in four workers in Luxembourg would also not accept a job if their potential employer wasn’t making a proactive effort towards sustainability, whereas 38% needed their values to align with their employer’s, which was more the case for Gen Z’s (aged 18-24). 28% agreed that they would be willing to make less money if they were working towards a good cause too. However, according to this survey, 70% in the grand duchy felt that their values aligned with their company’s.

The impact of the pandemic on job search criteria

The pandemic, however, has caused a shift in the criteria for a satisfied employee, it appears. Flexibility in terms of working hours (76%) and working location (57%) were crucial to employees. For nearly half of the participants (43%), they would consider not taking a job if the employer did not permit employees to choose their work time and place. Compared to a global level, less Luxembourg workers felt that they were given flexibility in terms of work hours (56%) and location (40%) than the global average of 60% and 47% respectively did.

However, the country seems to not be affected by the “Great Resignation” that has rolled over the world since the start of the sanitary crisis: 77% of those surveyed were not planning on leaving their current company (compared to 60% globally), in part due to the fact that 80% of them--according to Randstad--had seen their benefits enhanced (22% globally).

Interestingly, according to Randstad, only 17% of employees were on the lookout for a new job, whereas the grand duchy’s chamber of employees had found that one quarter of employees had wanted to change jobs in 2021.