The young generation in the world of work: Lazy? Working on holiday through remote work? Working from home? Clear separation or fluid, flexible organisation of work and private life? Burning questions about the shortage of skilled workers and the current challenges on the labour market were addressed and discussed at this year's "Academic Discourse" on 22 November 2023 in the CAMPUS 02 auditorium under the title "Generation Work-Life Integration - Brave New Working World?

More than 300 interested people accepted the invitation from the students of the 2021 Bachelor's degree programme of the Department of Financial Accounting and experienced an interesting and insightful evening on hot topics of tomorrow's working world.

The event evening was opened by students of the year with an exaggerated discussion on the work ethic of the younger generation.

After a welcome from the programme director, HR consultant Matthias Schulmeister gave an overview of the new reality on the labour market with his keynote speech "NEW WORK".

This was followed by the presentation of the results of the study "Challenges and opportunities of the new world of work: A study on the wishes and perceptions of employees using the example of the professional field of tax consulting and auditing", which was carried out by students as part of a project in cooperation with the Chamber of Tax Consultants and Auditors.

The visitors were given insights into what students and aspiring professionals expect from their future careers as tax consultants or auditors. "How would you like to live and work in the future?" was the central theme of the questionnaire and covered key topics ranging from modern workplace design using digital tools to varied activities and work-life balance. Both studies came to the conclusion that the next generation places particularly high value on a good working atmosphere in companies and that this is a prerequisite for retaining employees in the long term. It also emerged that young people demand work-life separation - a clear division between work and leisure time.

During the highlight of the event evening - the panel discussion - invited experts from the business world were asked about their views on the working world of tomorrow. The wave of illness did not stop at the Academic Discourse: despite two cancellations, the students demonstrated flexibility and spontaneity and were able to welcome a full panel to the stimulating discussion:

• Klaus Gaedke, Vice President of the Chamber of Tax Consultants and Auditors
• Claudia Heuberger, HR Business Partner at Knapp AG
• Matthias Schulmeister, Schulmeister Management Consulting
• Andrea Knaus, Professor at CAMPUS 02 University of Applied Sciences

The panel guests provided exciting insights into their activities and discussed their own companies' approaches and solutions to the challenges on the labour market.

The topic of working from home was also addressed. Andrea Knaus referred to the results of the KSW study, which show a desire for employees to work from home, but whether this benefit is ultimately utilised is another question. Knapp AG, on the other hand, conducts all meetings in hybrid mode: According to Claudia Heuberger, there is never a meeting where at least one person is not connected from home. On the other hand, Klaus Gaedke's tax consultancy holds weekly meetings in person, as face-to-face communication has several advantages:

The discussions are more open, more personal and the participants are focussed. Working from home is offered and utilised in his law firm, and he has not yet noticed a drop in performance due to working from home.

Claudia Heuberger showed how the corporate culture at Knapp AG is lived in reality: In addition to the "Courage Weeks", in which unusual surprise menus await employees* in the canteen, there are also buddy programmes and several feedback meetings with employees during the year to find out about satisfaction and suggestions for improvement.

There was unanimous agreement in the discussion about the work ethic of young people: all the panellists refuted the prejudice that the next generation is "lazy". Matthias Schulmeister emphasised that there are many young, ambitious people on the labour market who are striving for a steep career path and are prepared to work hard for it. As the supervisor of the project group that carried out the KSW study, Andrea Knaus emphasised the high level of motivation and commitment of the students in her project group.

At the end of an informative panel discussion, a wish list was written to Father Christmas: The panellists were allowed to choose from four predefined characteristics the ones they would most like to see in future employees. They could choose from the qualities of ambition and perseverance, loyalty to the company, initiative and expertise.

To round off the evening, the guests took the opportunity to discuss the topics presented at the delicious buffet, build new networks and enjoy the cosy sounds of the band "Julie & Flo".

A further eleven practical projects could also be viewed at the exhibition stands during a tour of the auditorium before the official part of the event began and afterwards.