If you read the popular press, you’ll know that Gen Z (the under 30s) are often singled out for their ‘different’ attitudes to work. We're not talking about the influencers who make millions, but the graduates who join organizations run by people the same age as their parents and grandparents.
According to a recent report from Intelligent.com, six in ten employers have sacked Gen Z workers they hired straight from college. Three-quarters are unhappy with their Gen Z hires and one in six are hesitant to recruit Gen Zs in the first place.
Reasons given include lack of social skills for interacting with clients and colleagues, over-casual workplace behavior and higher career/work expectations than their Gen X and Boomer counterparts.
To address this, some employers are giving graduates extra training to get them up to speed. Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY are offering junior hires soft-skills training, including presentation and leadership skills. It’s a logical move to help a generation of young people more at ease with instant-messaging and remote working than holding lengthy in-person conversations. And without this intervention, the communication gap between the generations may only widen.
But at Insights, we're excited about the positive aspects of this generation. Gen Z brings a refreshingly different set of priorities, skills and styles to the workplace.
It's clear to many organizations that Gen Zs view work differently from their predecessors. Where burnout was accepted as normal for previous generations, it’s firmly rejected by balance-driven, values-led young people. Deloitte talks about Gen Z actively resisting the ‘always on’ culture by calling for more flexible hours and protected mental well-being.
The key is to share knowledge across the generations, and learn from each other's diverse perspectives and experiences.
Global career change experts Careershifters sum this up well: “Our hope is that this is the 'bridge generation' between the old world of careers and something much more creative, considered, and fulfillment-centric.”
Like Millennials before them, Gen Z are instrumental in shifting societal perceptions. Let’s not forget there was a time when flexible working and work-life balance weren't even considered, despite the fact we still had children to raise, elderly parents to care for and busy lives outside work. We have the Millennials to thank for introducing this shift in attitude that forced businesses to quickly adapt.
And now we know that multigenerational integration is vital to healthy workplaces, as we learn to identify, understand and leverage people’s diverse preferences. After all, work isn’t just about tasks, it’s also about bringing people together to form ideas sparked by these new connections.
The positives of working with Gen Z
Tips on how to get the best from your Gen Z employees
At Insights we talk about preferences, communication styles and personal values in terms of color energies (four main energies driven typically by four very different value-sets). This common language, now adopted through the Insights Discovery program across the globe by thousands of employees in hundreds of organizations, helps colleagues of all generations appreciate why and how the people they work with are motivated by different beliefs and values. It explores how this translates into a preference for a particular working style and how this affects behavior and the perceptions of colleagues and clients.
2024 research from LinkedIn found that only one in five people from Gen Z have spoken to someone over the age of 50 at work in the past year, while 44% of over-55s have ‘avoided conversations with the youngest generation’.
Remember that for Gen Z, it’s less about climbing the corporate ladder and more about making a difference and being recognized for their contribution. They will move on quickly if their needs aren’t met, or the job they’ve been ‘progressed’ into suddenly looks nothing like the one they originally applied for. Being promoted into roles where they do less of the work they enjoy, and more people-management, means learning a whole different skill-set, and that isn’t necessarily what all Zoomers want.
Don’t be offended if your Gen Z employee works a second job. This generation is ultra-resourceful when it comes to making money, and their focus on building relationships and gaining knowledge outside work means they bring transferable business skills and connections back into your organization. Invite them to share what they’re learning outside of office hours.
Work-related stress is not something that Gen Zs are willing to put themselves through, so accept that this generation has healthier, more defined boundaries, and reward impact over presenteeism. Offer regular check-ins and encourage in-person meetings to increase connectedness and belonging, and make access to mental health and wellbeing services a normal part of workplace culture.
Finally, you might even consider copying communications firm Edelman. They created a Gen Z lab that advises C-suites trying to get to grips with the perceptions and motivations of those aged 14-26. Their research shows that this values-led generation tend to be heavily involved in social and political causes and believe that companies should be doing more to solve societal problems and act as respectful global citizens.
Insights Discovery is an L&D training system that creates high-performing teams by enhancing awareness and workplace relationships. Using a memorable four-color model to illustrate different behavioral styles, it creates a common language that connects colleagues across geographical and cultural boundaries, fostering collaboration, driving productivity and transforming workplaces.