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Teenagers and young adults - the so-called Generation Y - have watched with horror as their parents worked punishing hours in their scramble for money and status. Now, as this group go in search of jobs, they have different priorities. They care less about salaries, and more about flexible working, time to travel and a better work-life balance. And employers are having to meet their demands.

New research has found that a similar attitude to work is burgeoning among the group of people known as Generation Y - usually defined as those between the ages of 11 and 25. A study of more than 2,500 people born after the early Eighties found that they were rebelling against their parents' values and were determined not to lead lives that revolved so heavily around the world of work.

Instead, they were ready to resign if their jobs were not fulfilling and fun, with decent holidays and the opportunity to take long stretches off for charity work or travel. Salary and status were not high on the priority list, according to the study by Talentsmoothie, a firm that consults companies in banking, professional services and the law on the changing workforce.

Here is a group that has never known, or even witnessed, hardship, recession or mass unemployment and does not fear redundancy or repossession, according to researchers. The result is a generation that believes it can have it all and is not embarrassed to ask for it; a generation that will constitute the majority of the workforce within a decade.

That is why major companies, embroiled in the battle to attract the very best graduates, are doing whatever they can to lure them in. 'The previous generation saw work as a primary part of life,' said Madalyn Brooks, HR director at Procter and Gamble. 'When they left education, work was a dominant part of what they did and they were not looking for time out. Now we are seeing the growth of a different profile of candidate. They have grown up in relatively affluent families. They want to be sure that they can strike a balance between work and their personal life, and so the opportunity to take time off, to travel, to work for a company with a strong social responsibility record, these are all concerns that we increasingly hear when recruiting talent.'

The fact that young people changed jobs more frequently, argued Chinn, meant they were less willing to put up with long hours or poor holidays. Officials in the US have estimated that a typical member of Generation Y will have 10 jobs by the age of 38. 'People think, why stay in a job you do not enjoy?' he said. They want their lives to be different - and this shows. If they are dissatisfied, they resign.' guardian.co.uk