Managing Competences of Generation Y and Z in the Opinion of the Employees in the Modern Business Services Sector in Poland in the Post-Pandemic Period

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of changes and competence needs occurring in the work environment related to the increasingly developed Modern Business Services (MBS) sector in Poland. The section “Competencies of Tomorrow and Education of the Future” devotes special attention to showing the specific impact of soft/hard skills on teaching methodologies and, secondly, how soft/hard skills are linked to education for sustainable development. In order to answer the research questions posed, a survey was conducted. The target group covered by the research was people employed in the modern business services industry, representing the youngest generational groups, defined as Y (Millennials—the generation of people born between 1980 and 2000) and Z (the post-2000 generation just entering the workforce). The research was quantitative. Specifically, the results of the research should provide answers to the following research questions: (1) Were the competencies acquired during school education (high school, college) useful in performing professional tasks? (2) Which of the competencies acquired during education are most frequently used when performing professional tasks? (3) Which of the future required competencies (knowledge and skills) necessary/expected when performing professional tasks were not acquired during education? (4) Do employers value and use the competences acquired by employees during their education? (5) In addition to “hard” (technical) competences, do employers also check so-called “soft” (social/personal) competences during the recruitment process? (6) To what extent are the so-called “soft” competences, i.e., social/interpersonal and personal, becoming important in the modern business services sector, according to employees? The research was intended, on the one hand, to show the direction of expected changes in competencies, i.e., the range of knowledge and skills that is becoming necessary today from the point of view of the employer and the requirements for employees, and on the other hand to diagnose whether there is a discrepancy between the current educational systems at the level of secondary and higher education and the needs reported by employers of the sector under study. The research confirmed that the contemporary education system is not sufficient to prepare competent personnel for the modern business services sector.