What are some of the stereotypes you’ve heard about Gen Zs in the workplace?
Our attention span is very short.
Gen Z people are lazy.
And we seek answers immediately.
We’re a little bit too carefree.
With their social media habits, slang, and lifestyles, Gen Z seems to have a bad reputation,
especially in the workplace.
But are the complaints true?
They tend to be entitled, they tend to not be loyal.
I don’t think any of us want to work 100 hours a week, to have no piece of the pie,
to work for someone you don’t respect, to do something that you don’t believe in.
And I think for a long time, that’s how we were told the world had to work.
And I think a lot of folks are saying no, maybe the world’s gonna work radically differently.
And I think that’s a good thing.
It can feel like they’re challenging you, or they’re challenging your views.
And it is up to us to really try to define it better for them.
Does it get frustrating for you as a manager?
Sometimes, it does get a little bit frustrating, because it does slow down a bit of efficiency.
Loosely defined as those born between the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2010s,
they're starting to enter the workforce in greater numbers.
And a survey reported that 3 in 4 managers find that
Gen Z is the most challenging generation to work with.
It sounds so extreme, doesn’t it?
This generation got caught in a big change in the workplace.
And on the flip side, companies were not prepared to know how to handle this.
I think the managers possibly who are saying things like this, they’ve forgotten that
they themselves probably cared about similar things when they were younger.
Ziad Ahmed is the 24-year-old founder of JuvConsulting,
a digital marketing agency run fully by Gen Zs.
I am the first to admit that as a Gen Z-er who got up on stage as a 16-year-old
and said we’re not gonna wait our turn, we’re gonna make all the changes we want to make right now.
Being a CEO with Gen Z employees who are asking me to make that change,
I see it from both sides, if you will.
Youth between the ages of 15–24 make up 34% of the global labor force.
What will their transition into the workplace mean for the future of work,
and how can employers adapt?
There are an estimated 1.8 billion adolescents and youth between the ages of 10 and 24,
making it the largest generation of young people in history.
While there are no clear definitions or authority on the different generation cohorts,
Gen Z, also known as Zoomers, is the demographic group
sandwiched between Millennials and the latest demographic cohort, Gen Alpha.
Gen Z’s entry into the workplace has been characterized by multiple challenges,
from the Covid-19 pandemic, to record inflation and a cost of living crisis.
In turn, it’s led to changes in how and where we work,
with the traditional office making way for more remote working.
I try to have a work life balance by going home on time, even if I have work to do.
A deal breaker for me is a place which requires me to go into office every day.
I don't think I could do that. It's just way too tiring.
Folks need to know why they’re at the office every day.
Like, why are they working so hard?
What is it for?
How do they benefit if you get that goal?
Making those things clearer instead of just being like, oh you signed up for this job,
just work your ass off, have no transparency as to what our larger goals are,
and have no purpose that binds us together?
No, give me a why, give me a how, give me a win.
What has happened in the past, Nessa, is that generations were more prepared
for the workforce than they are now.
And really, this group of Gen Zs, they did the COVID, remote work.
So, they didn't even have an opportunity to relate to people at all in a workplace,
were thrown into an environment that people who do have that experience are still struggling with.
Yes, they have technical skills because they grew up holding computers in their hands, right?
But those skills did not apply to the workplace.
Is there a particular demographic of managers who are just impatient?
Are there some? Yes.
Clearly, those managers need help, too.
However, tensions between different generations are nothing new, says Fermin Diez,
a human resources expert with more than 35 years of experience.
When the millennials first joined the workforce, there was the exact same amount of hype about
millennials as there is now about the GenZs.
Gen Zs, there are several things that are interesting about them.
One is they don’t plan to stay in one place for any length of time.
That is already a challenge to HR professionals.
How long have you been in the workforce?
Three years.
How many jobs have you had?
Wait, I have to count.
This is my fourth job since graduating.
The new generation, of course, has access to information
faster than anybody else has ever had in the past.
Especially after Covid, the idea of working from home has become more instituted in how they think.
But the reality is that they really like learning, they like to have new experiences.
They’re really not settled in any one profession, in any one industry.
So that’s what makes them very hard, that they’re motivated in different ways.
How ready is the workplace for different ideas?
Many companies are not there at all.
We’re going to have more gig and more hybrid workers and more part-timers, it’s already here.
I think the mistake is to try to say I’m going to retain you with money.
I think the idea is going to be, I’m going to retain you with training,
with development opportunities, with experiences.
Gone are the days, particularly in advertising, of just having things like a ping pong table,
or having a fun interior.
What Gen Zs really want is more thoughtful experiences in the workplace.
We’ve looked at expanding our health and wellness insurance,
and looking at mental health benefits.
Communication when it comes to difficult conversations is going to be very, very challenging for
the Gen Z's unless they are trained.
According to a recent survey, almost half of Gen Z workers suffer from stress or anxiety arising
from factors such as increasing cost of living, workload and climate change.
In fact, almost 70% of Gen Zs are actively planning to minimize their carbon footprint.
They want to define a better future for themselves and address key issues,
whether that’s environmental, employment, racial, gender.
They’re looking at their future and they want to be drivers of meaningful change.
And I think that is challenging for businesses and brands.
This sounds like it's a time for employers to really realign on what is valuable and
is necessary in the workplace.
As a generation, we focus more on the emotional right now, as opposed to the older generation,
which focuses more on results.
We need to emphasize on how we are able to bring these results and emotional well-being
together so that we can increase productivity as a whole.
Demand for change is a sign of progress.
If we're not seeing changes and new demands come in as employers,
then we're not really progressing as a workplace.
Pooja Chhabria, who leads the editorial team in Asia Pacific at LinkedIn, adds that this
stems from Gen Zs wanting to work for companies that align with their values.
44% of Gen Zs would want to work for roles that are actually positively contributing to the world,
versus millennials, which is a much, much lower number at 37%.
In April 2023, LinkedIn added a feature to allow job seekers to filter companies based on their values.
So think of diversity, sustainability, focus on mental health, career, work-life balance, and so on.
What can workplaces learn from all these values and all these attitudes
that Gen Z is bringing to the workplace?
Investment in learning is extremely important.
Apart from that, creating cultural moments, where you actually bring Gen Zs together as well.
A new employee has no standard of comparison, regardless of generation.
So, almost all of the employers in this video revealed that working with Gen Z employees
can be a good challenge.
However, employers are using new tactics to engage them
and shape the culture for a multi-generational workforce.
I think Gen Zs are asking for a construction of a workforce that allows for more people
to understand why, and allows more people to be able to say no.
When I talk to all these new people joining the workforce, what I tell them is,
pick a boss.
Not a company, not a title, not even a paycheck, because that is what’s going to make the
biggest difference in how you find the work experience.
To bosses, what I tell them is, understand that these people are impatient, understand
that their desire is to grow and to learn, coach them, ask them questions.
They’ll find out the answer, they can Google it.
But challenge them and help them to grow.