Young Employees Seek More Scope for Creativity

For one in three entry-level employees, scope for initiative is essential for innovation

29-Apr-2015 - Germany

Managers and entry-level employees have radically different opinions as to what the most important innovation drivers are. Thirty-four percent of young professionals would like to see more scope for employees. Their bosses do not see this as such a clear top criterion: only five percent of them consider scope for employees to be decisive. These are some of the findings of the cross-sector study Industry Innovation Index 2015. For this study, the specialty chemical company Altana commissioned the Forsa Institute to survey 250 top decision-makers and 250 entry-level employees with between one and five years career experience in German industrial enterprises.

The young professionals consider a good working atmosphere to be the second most important factor for innovation. Fourteen percent of them cite it as a decisive criterion. Only two percent of experienced managers concurred. Third place in the young professionals' ranking, with twelve percent, is the time factor, for instance for sharing insights with colleagues in order to jointly develop new ideas. Only two percent of managers see this as necessary.

Overall, the managers' answers to the open question as to the most important innovation drivers are much more varied and less concrete. The factors they cite most often, with eight percent each, are creating and living an innovation culture, greater motivation or involvement of employees and the right human resources policy and selection.

Promote unconventional ideas, don't obstruct them

"The managers are more focused on the big picture, as they should be," says ALTANA CEO Dr. Matthias L. Wolfgruber. "But when it comes to framing concrete actions to promote innovative strength, they should be open to employees' concrete suggestions." One key factor is the appreciation of unusual proposals. German industrial managers show a great deal of untapped potential here: at present, 30 percent of entry-level professionals say without reservation that they receive appreciation. Forty-one percent say that supervisors never obstruct ideas. "Creative suggestions should always be respected," Wolfgruber says. "These don't always have to be strokes of genius that are implemented immediately. Innovation culture means being willing to knowingly embark on seemingly false paths conceptually."

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/152656/young-employees-seek-more-scope-for-creativity.html