At the same time, a shift in values is taking place. According to the DGFP, this is the trend with the second biggest influence on HR work. In his presentation at this year’s conference of the Society for Human Resource Management in Chicago, HR strategist Gary Kushner looked back at how his grandfather once described his life to him as the sum of the achievements he had accomplished for his employer. But those born after 1980 view things very differently indeed, and this Generation Y has been part of the workforce for some years now. “Their philosophy is: live first, and then work. One of the criteria in choosing an employer is lifestyle,” observes Katharina Heuer. According to the Deloitte study, work-life balance is more important to the digital natives of Generation Y than conventional promotion up the hierarchy accompanied by salary increases.