Top 2023 employers for young Victorians, who embrace work-life balance, provide ‘meaningful’ work and share their social values

Young Victorians fixated with work-life balance are returning to the office more happily than their older colleagues — but not for selfless reasons.

Qantas has topped a hot list of best youth employers, thanks to its strong position on social issues like gay rights and The Voice, and generous provision of travel perks.

Also included on the 2023 Hatch Hot List for young workers are Airtasker, Eucalyptus, Amazon and AWS, and Carma.

Co-founder and chief executive of the youth-orientated Hatch job matching site, Adam Jacobs, said young people were looking for perks and policies that supported their work-life balance and mental and physical health needs.

The Hatch Hot List was designed to help young people find companies looking for workers, that most closely aligned with their values, he said.

“The companies on the Hatch Hot List are offering more than ping-pong tables and free snacks – those perks just don’t cut it anymore with young people who care about working in a company that aligns to their values,” Mr Jacobs said.

“These companies are giving young people opportunities to make an impact early in their careers and have fun doing it. They have shown they see the value of having young people in their company. They are mission led — which means the people they hire have something real to get behind and bring to life the kind of world they want to see.”

Qantas has seen an extraordinary 161,00 applicants vie for 7,500 jobs in the last 12 months.

Outgoing boss Alan Joyce said the airline was a big, early supporter of marriage equality when the issue divided the country, “and got a lot of criticism in Australia for doing it” but stuck to its guns.

Qantas, which tops the Hatch Hot List, has been a strong supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights and now advocates for The Voice. Picture: Getty

“And we’re a big supporter of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and, as a result, of The Voice. And so I think we do get criticism from the sides of politics because we get involved in our social causes,” Mr Joyce said.

“But it does really help your employee value proposition for people that want to work for a company that they believe is a bit more than just making money all the time, and that has a real difference in society.”

Qantas staff were also entitled to major discounts on flights and hotels - a major incentive for young people who liked to travel and holiday.

“We give a 25 per cent ‘always off’ (on) any airfare. So you pick the lowest Jetstar airfare and an employee will get 25 per cent off that, just for working with us,” Mr Joyce said.

It comes as workplace experts reveal young Australians value work-life balance – with plenty of time for socialising, exercise, travel, hobbies and relaxation – above all else.

Research director at The Demographics Group Simon Kuestenmacher said young workers were also “obsessed” with finding careers with “meaning” and seeking employers that shared their progressive social values — workplaces where they felt they could make a genuine difference and do good — even if it meant being paid less.

This desire was potentially “a recipe for disaster” given there were millions of young workers and not necessarily millions of “meaningful” corporate or not-for profit jobs, he said.

Part-time property manager Natalie Padjan estimates she has made more than $3000 in recent months through her Airtasker side hustle. Picture: Jane Dempster

“Some jobs make this happen but we have about 14m jobs in Australia and how likely is it that they all perfectly align with 14m individual passions and desires? It can’t work,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.

“But they’re (under 35s) being inundated with messages that you don’t just work to make a living … that young people should have a meaningful job. But most importantly they want a meaningful life … be it yoga, spending time with friends, going to music events — whatever it is for that individual human. Work takes a back seat … they want to live life to the fullest and bring their full self to work but they also recognise they are much more than their work persona.”

The adult children of pragmatic Generation X was the first generation so focused on work-life balance, he said.

“They saw their parents work really long hours, forgoing family time in order to increase family income, and they figured there must be a better way … that there is more to life than work,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.

Why young workers return to office as Boomers resist

With home ownership now out of reach for many young people, that goal was no longer a reason for working overtime and trying to get ahead.

“(Young people are saying to themselves) ‘why should I bust my arse for an employer that doesn’t pay me enough, so that I can afford a good house?’ The whole social contract essentially between worker and employer, meaning ‘I work for you, and therefore I get a really good life’ doesn’t work that well anymore. (Younger workers feel) ‘I’m doing enough, I’m actually working to my requirements, I’m not doing anything illegal, I’m not sleeping on the job or anything but I am only going to do as much as I’m being paid for — not a centimetre more’. That’s a trend.”

Director of Melbourne’s Swinburne University Centre for the New Workforce, Dr Sean Gallagher, said research revealed younger workers wanted “more agency over when and where they work and more time for themselves”.

They put a premium on free time for physical activity and sought employers who also valued and encouraged work-life balance.

“They were by far and away the leading expectations that younger generation workers wanted,” he said.

However, contrary to popular belief, it was not young workers but Baby Boomers who most wanted to work from home, Dr Gallagher said.

Rising energy costs and crowded shared housing often meant it was both cheaper and more efficient for young people to work from an office, where equipment was provided, it was quieter and most importantly, heating, cooling and electricity and other bills were covered, he said.

“Gen Z had the highest preference for working in the office out of all generations. Much higher than Millennials, Gen X and much higher than Baby Boomers,” Dr Gallagher said.

Airtasker chief executive officer Tim Fung. His company is high on Hatch’s Hot List. Picture: Supplied

Mr Jacobs said Hatch was replacing old, impersonal job boards with a place where young people could find the right work for them.

“Candidates create a profile – a little like a dating app – and then Hatch matches them to roles based not just on their experience, but also their transferable skills, their values, and cultural preferences,” he said.