Interesting how things can change — and how fast. Only last year people were complaining about Generation Y at work. No attention span, unrealistic expectations and so on. I was even talking to a partner of a major accountancy firm four months ago who told me that during annual appraisals one of the main Gen Y criticisms of the firm was the quality of their muffins. Not anymore. All of a sudden Gen Y have changed. They aren’t moving around as much and comments like “what’s with the physical presence thing?” have disappeared.

Moreover, the skills shortage has temporarily evaporated. Senior and middle —ranking employees are now staying put and this means that annual employee turnover rates of 10-20% are slowing to 5-10%. This means less graduates are being taken on. It also means that average employees are being let go as employers up-skill their skill base.