Have their private air conditioner with a remote? A brand-new MacBook Pro for everyone? A room to sleep anytime they want? Liberty to bring their puppies to work? Increased salary every 3 months, plus bonuses?
Fruit salads for lunch? More offdays than workdays? Staff retreat on a yacht? Greater freedom to decide which hours they work and report to their supervisors? What does the Gen Z really want?
Gen Z is expected to produce roughly 60 million job seekers in the next decade. They constitute 27 percent of the global population, making them the largest segment of digital natives in history. (Source: World Economic Forum).
According to the United Nations, over 60 percent of the African population is under 25 years. In Uganda, 75 percent of the population is below age 30.
While Gen Z currently makes up 30 percent of the world’s population, Gen Alpha will eventually become the largest generation ever, with a new member born every 9 seconds globally, 2.5 million every week, and 2.5 billion by 2025 (25 percent of the entire population). Soonest, the workplace will be dominated by both Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Why is Gen Z important to companies? How should companies adapt to this reality? How can companies better appeal to and engage with Gen Z employees?
- Prioritize productivity over activity
Gen Z prefers to be labelled as Chief Vibes Officers in the workplace because they provide all the jokes, banters, slangs, and playfulness needed to “set the vibes.”
While these “nice-to-haves” may not be entirely bad in a workplace as it were, these activities should not blur the focus or decrease the productivity level and prompt deliverables in the workplace.
Business owners should help Gen Z understand that as much as lightening the mood and being the life of the office is not a bad thing to do, it must not compromise job productivity.
2. Set boundaries between work and personal life
The Gen Z is a multiscreen generation. 98 percent of Gen Z own a smartphone, while 72 percent use more than one device at a time (Source: Pew Research Center).
WhatsApp started in November 2009. Twitter started in March 2006. Instagram started in October 2010. TikTok started in September 2016. Snapchat started in September 2011. This makes the Gen Z a social media generation.
Gen Z has an extreme online presence, with social media usage reaching four or more hours a day and an average of 10 hours per day consuming digital content.
Business owners should continually emphasize to Gen Z that everything is not content. They don’t have to vlog about every activity in the workplace with no respect for boundaries and privacy.
It is great for Gen Z to be enthusiastic about work, but they should remember to maintain professionalism. Sharing sensitive company information on social media can have serious consequences.
There should be a balance between personal expression and our professional responsibilities. Knowing where to draw the line is very important. The Gen Z baddies in the workplace should be properly guided concerning internal communications protocol, social media usage and the company’s culture and ethics.
3. Emphasize interpersonal skills
A Gen Z may lack soft skills. This is because the Covid-19 pandemic affected their education and compelled them to remote learning.
Therefore, they were unable to interact physically with people as they should. Generally, a person’s interpersonal skills may suffer when they are isolated. The Gen Z is more tech-oriented and less human-oriented.
To manage Gen Z effectively, founders should emphasize interpersonal skills, organize exercises and build a structure or system that will facilitate more interpersonal relationships in the workplace.
4. Communicate in bit size
The Gen Z don’t like too many long meetings. The eight-second attention span syndrome of Gen Z could be a challenge and hurt their outputs (although not all Gen Z are victims).
When different generations team up for work or to discuss an issue properly, there is a likelihood that Gen Z will lose interest after eight seconds. This may result in conflict between the groups.
Business owners can assist in solving Gen Z’s “eight-second attention span” with improved communication that is customized around this period. Gen Z shows a quest for learning, with 76 percent stating they prefer to learn via YouTube videos, demonstrating the importance of incorporating visual learning into corporate training (Source: Pearson).
Therefore, businesses should encourage integrated training centred on piecemeal interactivity and learning.
5. Learn to manage remotely and give instant feedback
The Gen Z is not the suit-wearing, office worker. They love the work-from-home or hybrid model (this may not always be possible depending on the industry).
TalentLMs 2022 study reveals that almost 75 percent of Gen Zs would choose a job based on whether they can work from home. Hence, business owners should learn how to manage them remotely and make necessary provision for this.
The Gen Z do not like the traditional yearly appraisal. They crave ongoing and instant dialogue with their supervisors about performance, constructive feedback, and recognition.
According to a survey by the Workforce Institute, 75 percent of Gen Z prefer to receive feedback from their employers in real time.
6. Give self-affiliation projects and align their job roles with a greater purpose
Oftentimes, it is almost impossible to lead Gen Z effectively using the manipulative “command and control” managerial approach. Gen Z love to be given “self-affiliation” tasks, where they decide the tasks in which they want to participate.
Gen Z love to participate in projects that support causes they are passionate and make a positive impact on the world. Deloitte and NEW research reports that 77 percent of Gen Z stated that it was vital to work for a company whose values aligned with their own.
They care about finding their purpose in and out of the office. Gen Z loves projects that match their values and give them a sense of purpose.
7. Pay them well and support their financial goals
A popular narrative about Gen Z is that they have no loyalty. BBC Worklife predicted that Gen Z will switch jobs at least 10 times before they clock age 35. If Gen Z workers are unhappy at their workplaces, they quit or quiet-quit.
According to a survey from Bankrate, 78 percent of Gen Z employees say they will search for a new job in the coming year. The average time at a job for a Gen Z is 27 months (CareerBuilder 2021 Study).
The Gen Z workers are seeking opportunities to grow and advance their careers because of their competitive spirit and their need for financial security.
A Bank of America report found that 25 percent of Gen Z workers have switched jobs in the last six months – and more are on the move every day.
© Kingsley Ndimele
Your Reliable Consultant