What are known facts of Gen Zs?

Gen Z employees have begun increasing in numbers. They are currently one of the most controversial topics in the corporate world as many organisations have faced numerous challenges in handling and retaining Gen Z staff. But are we looking at this equation from the right angle?. Are Gen Z difficult to handle or are they just DIFFERENT? 

The two ruling generations in the corporate world are Millennials who are born between 1981 to 1996 and Gen z’s who are born between 1997 to 2012. Gen Z has been recorded as the most diversified generation in the history of US (Kaplan, Z. and Skowronski, J. 2023) and they will make up 27% of the workforce by the end of 2025 (Ghosal, 2023). Although it is still the beginning of their era, Gen Zs have started creating a global scale noise which has brought all organisations to their toes. 

I’ve been in the travel field for more than 12 years and the last couple of years have been the most challenging as it was important to accept and understand the differences that Gen Z employees have brought into my team and how the workplace should  be made a comfortable environment for all generations to work in. Good pay and job security was always #1 priority for job satisfaction in millennials whereas Gen Z has different demands from organisations. Let’s first look at what makes Gen Z different as a whole and challenging than other generations.

Tech-Savvy

They are the very first generation that has no recollection of a world where the internet did not exist. Paper maps, CD players, analog camera film are considered ‘old school’. Purchasing a train ticket from the railway station, playing physical games such as Ludo, Uno or as simple as writing a love letter were not a part of their life journey. 

Millennials learnt the basics in using a computer and a phone when they reached secondary school, while Gen Zs sought for technological devices from the very early stages. Based on multiple surveys conducted on Gen Zs, Andrew Meola (2023) mentioned that an average of; 

“95% own a smartphone, 83% own a laptop, 78% own an advanced gaming console, and 57% have a desktop computer. 29% use their smartphone past midnight on a nightly basis”. 

Figure 1 : US Gen Z Digital Buyers and Penetration 2020-2025 (Meola, A. 2023)

This is how confident and dependent Gen Zs are on technology which proves to be making a positive influence on majority of the organisations already. What we mainly need to understand is that while majority of our staff is composed of Gen Zs, similarly our clientele, consumers will also soon be composed of Gen Zs. Therefore the chance of them seeking technology based services is increasing on a daily basis. Following are few of the daily activities where technology is heavily used 

• Online shopping
• Sharing daily updates on social media,  
• Gathering communities for fundraising and charities via social media 
• Many universities are moving from written exams to online assignment submissions since the pandemic attack. 

Socially connected but lonely?

Gen z being the most socially connected generation, they are also known to feel lonely more than any other generation. 73% of employees have reported to be lonely who are between the age of 18-22 (Coombs, 2020). And as the CEO of Cigna has mentioned, there is a notable increase in disconnection which has now led to multiple mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and stress. Studies also have shown a significant correlation between usage of social media and loneliness in Gen Zs although it cannot be concluded that social media is the sole reason for loneliness in gen z (Coombs, 2020).  Some believe that the pandemic had a massive impact on the above correlation as it has lessened social connections in school leavers and university students mainly which is an important aspect in anyone’s life prior moving to the corporate world. 

This I believe is a major concern that all of us need to pay attention to when building and taking care of a team of Gen z. It is important to explore & learn better ways of handling such situations if we want to make the best out of Gen Zs in the workplace (Wittebrood, 2021). 

Job Hoppers

Why have Gen z been stigmatised as job hoppers? Job hopping also known as the 'hobo syndrome' in HR concepts is an indisputable issue in the current era. But what causes this? 

Unlike any other generations, Gen zs are aware of their requirements at a workplace. while they are confident of what they can offer to the organisation, similarly they also have their own demands which they are not afraid to ask. If a team or a company fails to meet these demands, Gen Z employees are unafraid to seek better opportunities that satisfy their needs. They are ambitious, but will not stop looking for better career paths if they feel unhappy with their current role. they do not agree with millennials on being loyal to one job role, one organisation throughout their life, unless they feel 100% satisfied. According to a survey, nearly 48%  millennials are unhappy and willing to change their current job if the opportunity arises (www.reeditionmagazine.com, n.d.). Gen Z employees on the other hand prefer to be unemployed than engage in a job role that they dislike. 

The above differences are bringing out challenging behaviours in the current corporate world and the existence of a strong HR management is key to ensuring that Gen Z and Millennials are equally satisfied in a work environment while bringing out the best from all employees despite the generational differences. As per Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, any individual has levels of needs that they require to be met prior moving up the ladder of life (McLeod, 2023). Although it was initially suggested that every human being follows a similar hierarchy, it is now evident that the levels can be skipped or multiple levels can be prioritised simultaneously depending on the personality. 

Figure 2 : Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Cherry, 2022)

Therefore it is important to understand how the hierarchical differences take place based on the generation prior applying any HR methodologies to resolve the conflicts. The need for looking at above challenges from new lenses is a massive responsibility that has fallen on team managers and especially on Human Resource departments which will further be discussed here.

References

• Coombs, B. (2020). Loneliness is on the rise and younger workers and social media users feel it most, Cigna survey finds. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/23/loneliness-is-rising-younger-workers-and-social-media-users-feel-it-most.html (Accessed: 17th November 2023).
• Cherry, K. (2022). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. [online] Verywellmind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4136760.
• Ghosal, P. (2023). Understanding Gen Z in the Workplace. [online] FDM Group. Available at: https://www.fdmgroup.com/blog/understanding-gen-z-in-the-workplace/#:~:text=Gen%20Z%20is%20the%20most [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].
• Kaplan, Z. and Skowronski, J. (2023) 'Generation Z Workplace Statistics', Forage, (), pp. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theforage.com/blog/basics/generation-z-statistics (Accessed: 15th November 2023).
• Meola, A. (2023) 'Generation Z News: Latest characteristics, research, and facts', Insider Intelligence, (), pp. [Online]. Available at: https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/generation-z-facts/ (Accessed: 17th November 2023).
• Meola, A., (2023) US Gen Z Digital Buyers and Penetration, 2020 - 2025. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/generation-z-facts/ [Accessed 16 November 2023].
• McLeod, S. (2023). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. [online] Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
• Wittebrood, J. (2021). Differences between Gen Z and Millennials. [online] blackbear.global. Available at: https://blackbear.global/blog/differences-between-gen-z-and-millennials/ (Accessed: 15th November 2023).
• www.reeditionmagazine.com. (n.d.). Why More Young People Feel Trapped In Jobs They Hate. [online] Available at: https://www.reeditionmagazine.com/to-the-minute/why-more-young-people-feel-trapped-in-jobs-they-hate [Accessed 21 Nov. 2023].