This morning, in partnership with our good pals at globalbridge, we hosted a panel discussion: The Attraction and Retention of Gen Z. Our panel included;
Before we delve in to the key insights from today’s session, let’s set the scene. Who are Gen Z?
Introducing the ‘5G Workforce’ – Matching the varying expectations of workers across the five generations now in employment is essential for successful recruitment and retention.
Gen Z was the focus of today’s event – those born between 1995 – 2010.
The digitally connected generation
While millennials watched innovation begin, Gen Z was immersed in it from day one. Most children and teens within Gen Z have access to iPads, smartphones, endless Wi-Fi, or streaming services that put our prized DVD players to shame. Many members of this generation might have also grown up in households with early smart home technology.
Gen Zers are three times more likely to describe themselves as introverts than extroverts. Perhaps this is because there’s more of an opportunity to thrive as an introvert thanks to powerful communication tools – an opportunity previous generations hadn’t grown up with.
This comes with downsides too… Gen Z deals with far more body image, mental health, and cyberbullying issues than any other age group has in the past. Experts have also called Gen Z the loneliest generation despite all of their digital connectivity options.
They’re socially conscious
This is a proactive group of young people empowered to stand up for beliefs, causes and campaigns. The language of activism for this audience is interesting as they don’t associate activism as a behaviour, more just a natural way of being.
72% of Gen Zers say they’ve become more interested in activism and social causes since the pandemic began. This passion for sustainability was highlighted pretty spectacularly recently when David Attenborough’s debut on Instagram saw him smash the record for the fastest time to reach 1m followers. It took the broadcaster and naturalist just four hours and 44 minutes to obliterate the record.
And when it comes to activism, representation and diversity plays a really important role. Gen Zers embrace their individuality and complexity, seeing their diversity as an asset that the media surrounding them needs to reflect. They see shopping as an expression of their values. They care about whether they’re buying from a brand they can be proud of. But they also prize efficiency and convenience. In fact, they expect brands to show up where they are, and they like the right products to find them.
Most of all, they’re our future workforce, customers and clients.
Gen Z brings characteristics and expectations you may not have anticipated in the workplace. Do you know what their needs are and how to manage an inclusive culture from this generation right through to ‘baby boomers’ and ‘traditionalists’?
Businesses who ignore these changes may isolate large numbers of potential customers and employees, in addition to existing customers and employees.
Get your workplace prepared. If you want to attract and retain top talent from Gen Z, hear what they want directly from our panelists and find out how organisations can open doors and be more inclusive to the post-millennial generation.
Here’s some of the key insights we took away from this morning’s session:
Provide opportunities for growth, development and lattice career paths (movement vertically, horizontally and diagonally)
‘You can change jobs within an organisation. Moving up, moving to another department. Making sure not to become stagnant at any point to keep up to date with emerging trends and technologies is really important’ – Naseem
‘They didn’t just tell me about my job role, they told me about all the services they provide. No matter what I was interested in, there’d be something there to suit me.’ – Natalia.
‘Placements are a great way for students to find out what they want to do and also what they don’t want to do – which is equally as valuable’ – Josh
Offer continuous feedback and let gen z work autonomously
Live and breathe your purpose and values and take action based on them
‘Assessing the online presence to make sure they’re investing in their employees growth. Having common objectives and goals is really important to me. Having a good social presence is always nice – knowing that it’s not just lining someone’s pockets and generally doing good work for a wide range of people’ – Naseem.
Embrace less traditional ways of working (remotely and outside office hours)
Shine a spotlight on your diversity and inclusion efforts
‘My team understand and accommodate me and I know how much of a big deal that is so I wouldn’t want to move’ – Natalia
Think outside the box when it comes to getting your company in front of young people.
‘One thing we’ve introduced which has worked quite nicely is video job adverts, particularly those apprenticeship roles or those for the very beginning of someone’s career. Bringing roles to life for students and getting across the key points. That’s been valuable particularly for those roles for where from the job titles you might not necessarily know what it is’ – Josh
‘Work experience provides a taster of what working at the company will actually look like’ – Natalia
‘The Uni’s careers board. It’s reassuring to know they have the University’s approval and suggests that it would be a good place where I could learn and grow as well as being able to contribute to a valuable organisation’ – Naseem
Josh spoke about the importance of communication and keeping in touch with new employees during the period of accepting the position and starting the role. Sometimes this can be up to 9 months. GSK will send out branded merch, invite them to the office to look around (when we were allowed to do that type of thing!) Networking, webinar sessions and graduate networks that we have.
Finally, Natalia highlighted the recent exam issues and how covid has impacted results last year and will do so again this year. Globalbridge is a fantastic way of showcasing the real person behind those grades. It’s a unique digital platform that allows young people the opportunity to showcase their talents and connect with opportunities in education, training and industry. Find out more about them here: https://www.myglobalbridge.com/
A big thank you to globalbridge and all of our panellists for taking part in today’s event.