The s.Oliver founder Bernd Freier is alienated by the demands of young employees. They lack “bite,” he complains – and remembers his own youth.
The younger generation often has different ideas about work than their predecessors: they are looking for meaning in working life, time is more important to them than money, and life is not there to work – rather the other way around. For older semesters, these settings are sometimes not entirely understandable. s.Oliver founder Bernd Freier also sometimes alienates his younger employees.
“Many are doing too well. Dad pays the rent and far too much is inherited,” said Freier in an interview with “Spiegel”. He himself grew up in difficult circumstances: “Growing up in a bunker without windows, ten people, one toilet, no bathtub, no heating.” “The biggest aspiration is to get you out of this shit,” said the clothing company’s founder, who was born in 1946. He was already delivering newspapers with his sister at the age of six.
s.Oliver founder Bernd Freier doesn’t think much of the home office
Freier founded s.Oliver at the age of 23 and built it up into a large company. In 2019 he retired from management. The younger generation “often lacks bite,” complained the 76-year-old, and questioned whether the youngsters had enough ambition.
Freier doesn’t think much of mobile working either, he reports: “I once had a top manager who only wanted to work in the company three days a week, the rest of the time from home and still collect big bucks for it. Yes, how is that supposed to work ?” As a manager in particular, you have to “be with the employees”: “Be at the front, always!”
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According to studies conducted by the survey institute Forsa on behalf of the online network Xing, employees under the age of 30 have significantly less loyalty to their employers than older people. At the same time, they value flexibility and better working conditions – such as a four-day week or mobile working. Opportunities for advancement, on the other hand, are less in demand than in previous generations.
Sources: / DPA
Watch the video: Germany is threatened by a massive shortage of skilled workers. In an interview with stern, journalist and author Ronja Ebeling reveals what companies and training companies can do to retain the younger generation.
Source: Stern
