A good salary is no longer enough? What makes an employer desirable?

But first, back to Spotify, where the product manager and engineers worked Discover Weekly working on the idea practically in secret. They had a fair amount of freedom to try new things and believed that the feature could be a bigger hit than the management thought. They used existing data analytics tools and technology to build an algorithm that created a personal playlist for each user at the beginning of each week based on their listening habits and the preferences of similar listeners.

When the feature reached the test phase and was introduced to select users, it turned out to be a huge hit, quickly winning the hearts of listeners. After that, the team convinced Daniel Ek of the value of the feature, and in July 2015, Discover Weekly was officially launched to all users, gaining over 40 million monthly listeners and playing more than 5 billion songs in its first year. Users spent an average of 70 minutes a week listening to their personal playlist, discovering a total of over 8 billion new songs through it.

This success story is an example of life itself, which would not have happened if employees did not have the freedom and confidence to implement their ideas – even if the management did not initially support them.

In the last ten years, both the attitude of employers towards management and the expectations of employees have undergone a significant change. If ten years ago, the workplace was simply a place where you went to work, but today employees expect much more from their employer – to be involved in decision-making, to have the freedom to realize themselves, but also humanity, flexibility in terms of both the location and time of work, and well-thought-out value-based management.

Kai Realo, chairman of the board of Ragn-Sells and chairwoman of the council of the Central Union of Estonian Employers according to him, authoritarian and autocratic management is no longer an issue – people want to participate in work, have a say and feel that their voice counts.

• Kai Realo, chairman of the board of Ragn-Sells and chairwoman of the board of the Estonian Employers’ Union: “These days are over and will never come back, where the employee is told that here is your desk and here you have to work and we are not interested in anything else.” Photo: Cretan Tarkmeel

Humanity as the new standard

CVKeskus.ee’s annual survey “Estonia’s Most Desirable Employer”, which has been investigating the popularity of employers since 2012, confirms that employee expectations have changed significantly in recent years. If in the past the main criteria were a good salary and a secure job, now flexibility in work organization is considered even more important than a good salary.

“Employees are willing to give up a salary increase and job title if they have a proper culture in the company,” confirms a recent study Toomas Tamsar, experienced top manager and coachwho has worked with more than 400 managers and conducted Estonia’s largest management conference for over 20 years.

Kai Realo states that consideration of the specific needs of the employee has become important in Estonia during the last six years. “Of course, it is important that a person has a balance between work and rest, but it is even more important that the employer takes into account my needs as an employee,” he notes.

Large corporations, where hierarchical management was the norm, have begun to invest more in promoting people’s mental health and well-being. “These days are over and will never come back, where an employee is told that here is your desk and here you have to work and we don’t care about anything else,” says Realo.

It is not enough to set values ​​and hang them on the wall

Kai Realo believes that by meeting the head of the company, it is possible to quickly assess the atmosphere in the organization and how the employees are treated. “I have been the chairwoman of the Council of the Central Union of Employers for almost six years, and this has given me the opportunity to meet many different leaders. On this journey, I have repeatedly seen how a change of manager can bring a completely new breath to the company and change the organizational culture in a positive direction, which confirms how big a role a good manager plays,” says Realo.

Toomas Tamsar emphasizes that a lot of money and time is often spent on developing values, but they do not become a truly guiding part of the company’s culture. “The company’s values ​​are developed, and then they are put on the wall, but in the end they mean nothing, because everyday is not based on these values, but according to what the managers think is better,” explained Tamsar. According to him, it is critical that leaders not only define values, but also live by them, because it is their daily behavior that determines which values ​​actually work in the organization.

Today, it is increasingly common to have someone in management who is responsible for human relations and the well-being of staff, be it the head of HR or support services. Those companies where taking care of the well-being of employees is consciously assigned to someone stand out because the work environment there is healthier and employee satisfaction is higher. Enlightened leaders understand that employee well-being and human relations are not just “soft topics,” but cornerstones of organizational success and development.

A manager must be able to adapt his management style to the expectations of his employees

CVKeskus.ee’s research shows that younger employees value flexible work organization and work-life balance more highly than previous generations, which explains why it is easy for conflicts to arise in the management of different generations.

Kai Realo explains that the difference between generations is also clearly perceptible in management culture. “People of the older generation come to the development interview with the aim of finding out what the manager offers and what will happen to his career. However, the Y and Z generations come with the fact that they have already planned something for themselves and set goals in front of their eyes, and the manager must help them achieve them.

Today, it is important for a manager to be able to adapt his management style according to the age and personality of the employees, because not everyone can be managed in the same way. A good leader must be flexible and sensitive to the different needs of people.

Human leadership determines employee loyalty

For today’s employees, in addition to flexibility, ethical values ​​and mental freedom have become important. CVKeskus.ee recruitment manager Grete Adler according to him, the leader can no longer proceed from an authoritarian approach, but must listen and give people the opportunity to make mistakes and make decisions. “Spiritual freedom is important — a person has the freedom to decide, to do, but also to make a mistake and learn from it,” he emphasizes.

Ethical values ​​are no longer just “soft topics”, but they often determine how loyal employees are to their employer and how motivated they are to do their work. “In addition to the fact that employees expect flexibility and a human approach, they want to feel that their work is meaningful and has a greater mission. As the survey shows, people today consider it important that the employer values ​​the employee’s mental health and supports their personal development,” Adler explains the new norms.