Leyla Yacine

As an academic researcher, I have gained experience in various areas, including HR and technology (such as AI and video recruitment), internal and external employer branding, employee experience and well-being, as well as the study of Gen Y (millennials) and Gen Z in the context of hybrid work environments.

With a curious and open-minded approach, I am fascinated by the subjects related to the “future of work”, encompassing evolving and new ways of working, in addition to workplace, workforce and HR changes.

Before joining Hanken, I worked as a funded Doctoral Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä from August 2021 to June 2023. During this period, I wrote two book chapters:

• Hybrid Work: Gen Z Expectations and Internal Employer Branding Implications (December 2022), Taylor & Francis.

• Video Recruitment: Online Perspectives and Implications for Employer Branding (April 2022), Springer. 

Apart from my academic endeavours and since 2021, I have conducted business research in collaboration with The NextGen Project, a think-tank that aims to bridge the gap between yesterday and tomorrow in organisations. Insofar, I have been involved in four projects:

•  

  The NextGen Work Canvas (Sep-Nov 2022). This project involved the co-design of a canvas for hybrid teamwork, based on the insights gathered from 30 young professionals during the Hybrid Work Lab, organised in collaboration with Fujitsu, ISKU, and Howspace. I helped frame the canvas and wrote the guidebook on how to use it.

• The Purpose Gap (Aug-Dec 2021). A joint research project between The NextGen Project and Cognizant, investigating the purpose of Millennial and Generation Z talent at work across 14 European countries and 16 industries. I was the Qualitative Interview Lead, managing synchronous video interviews from A to Z and coordinating asynchronous video interviews with our marketing expert. The findings were published in a report by Cognizant in January 2022.

• Leading Hybrid Work – Five Lessons for Executives (October 2021). I authored a white paper in collaboration with Microsoft, commissioned by YIT, which was released on November 9, 2021, during the Microsoft Suomi Envision event held in Helsinki.

• Next Generation Work – What Millennials Expect From Working Life (Feb-May 2021). A research endeavour focused on co-creating the future of work for both Generation Y and Generation Z in the Nordic and Baltic countries, specifically conducted for YIT with a distributed team. I prepared and conducted half of the interviews, I participated in the recruitment of a diverse steering group, in the planning of strategic communication, as well as in the writing of the report divulged during a webinar in May 2021.