I hear PricewaterhouseCoopers are soon to publish some FANTASTIC findings as part of their Managing Tomorrow’s People project www.pwc.com/managingpeople2020

Thousands of recent graduates from around the world have been asked about the corporate benefits they most value. Choosing from a selection of benefits (which included cash bonuses, pension contributions, interest free financial assistance, maternity leave and a host of others), training and development came out as the most popular……………….by miles.

In fact, almost three times as many graduates named it as the benefit they would most value over the next five years than chose cash bonuses as their number one choice.

My first reaction to this breaking news is to jump for joy. Obviously as someone who has dedicated most of his working life to learning and development in one way or another, it is great to have some sort of validation (and if it bodes well for fighting the crunch – all the better). As a project trainer I can maybe make a more straight forward case for the direct benefits of learning a few new skills. I recently received an email from a former course delegate informing me he had managed to reduce his project timeline by 10 MONTHS just by applying some of the tools we had shared on the course.

However, as project management has also taught me, I am wary of leaping at an optimistic assumption without considering the variables. I’d like to think a bit about some of the influencers of this conclusion, and also clarify that at this stage the data is yet to be published and thus proven. I would like others reading this to add their thoughts.

What else, other than my biased belief that continuous development is a reason for us all to get out of bed, could be influencing this result because let’s face it, this is BIG news. Grads going into consultancy want education above cash handouts – how can this be?

Well, maybe it was the timing of the survey – was the cohort consulted before the current financial iceberg was assessed below its immediately visible surface? If we asked them right now what would attract and retain, would lower-order motivators (cash and security) kick in?

Or maybe the sample cohort is biased – are grads still sufficiently idealistic to think that self-betterment (is that a word?) buys greater fulfillment than 3 good holidays a year and will really enable them to deal with their daughter’s first deposit on a house?

Or is it a gen Z / millennial thing? Has ubiquitous global travel, a flatter world and a non-stop, interactive, coms rich, socially networked existence prompted a deeper belief in the need for intellectual and emotional enrichment?

Frankly I’d love to know and am hoping the PWC report will shed light. These are always valuable bulletins for us all to get a more informed perspective. I suppose for now I am going to have to take the news I have as an untested endorsement of what I know to be one of the most basic of human needs – to learn, to problem-solve, to grow. The simple fact that “training” departments have morphed into “learning and development” reflects an understanding, to one extent or another, of this trend. However, I am mightily encouraged by the numbers I have glanced and look forward to seeing how companies genuinely respond to what tomorrow’s leaders find important.

Sheep dip’s definitely out..

I would, as always love to know what you all think.