Workplace policies, like flex-time, are also highly rated. USC's Viney agrees a flex-time policy is important to him. "It just allows you to do all the important stuff you need to do that normal, very set working hours, stop you from doing," he says. "As long as you make those hours up by the end of the week, you're pulling your weight. If your absence doesn't affect the ongoing operation of the business, then I think it's pretty important to allow staff to be able to go do those things."
There are advantages to offering flexible working hours. "It helps keep employees happier in the workplace," Cooper says, "because there's less stress associated [with] ensuring you get all those other things to do with your home life sorted outside of or around the nine to five schedule."
One reason John left a developer position at Monash University for his current job is that the new one offers him far more flexibility, and not just in work hours. In his new position he will work from home.
Then again, some Baby Boomers are beginning to reach similar conclusions, showing some may have more in common with their youngest employees than they previously imagined.
"I've got two girls, one of 16 and the other just on 20, and in this later stage of my career I look at that and I say, well, I want more time," AGL's Tizi says. "I've got the money, I've got the recognition, got the good job and everything else but now I haven't got the time. And now I begin to realize that if I don't balance my time better, I miss out on an important part of life. The problem is, I realized that late in my career while Gen Y is realizing that early."
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