Corporate culture more important for employees, Xing survey finds

7 February 2022

Job changers value leadership, work-life balance and activities - salary less important

Corporate culture is increasingly important for employees in German-speaking countries when applying for a job, a recent Forsa survey, carried out on behalf of the Hamburg-based Xing network in early January 2022, has found. More than 2,500 respondents across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland showed more interest in good leadership, flexible working hours, personal fulfillment, and opportunities for remote work compared to the pre-pandemic era.

Continuing changes on labour market

"More and more employees are questioning their work situation amid the pandemic and are looking very closely at whether their employer is still a good cultural match," said Xenia Meuser, Senior Vice President Attract & Retain, Brand & Marketing of Xing's parent company New Work SE. Despite coronavirus, finding a new job has never been easier in many industries, she added. "The labour market is changing from a supplier's market to a demand market." Many job changers now place more emphasis on management (28 per cent), work-life balance (27 per cent) or the job (24 per cent) than on the salary (19 per cent).

Around 10 per cent of respondents in Germany have changed jobs since the pandemic began, while it has influenced the decision of a quarter of respondents, the survey found. About four out of ten workers are currently thinking about changing jobs. This corresponds to an increase of 12 per cent over 2021.
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