Strategies for managing GEN Z to optimize digital age workforce

Gen Z is participating in the labour market and will play a critical role in the success of organizations in the future. However, many businesses are struggling to manage this emerging workforce. This article will introduce the characteristics and behaviors of Gen Z and 7 strategies to help businesses manage this generation effectively to optimize their workforce for the digital age.

Why should businesses attract and recruit Gen Z?

Deloitte’s research revealed that the future of work will change in the way that employees will need multi-talents, interests, and knowledge. Accordingly, the skills they need will be around the four following skills: 1. Technological and digital skills 2. Analytic and data skills 3. Business management skills 4. Design and creative skills Meanwhile, Gen Z is the generation born from 1995 to 2010 and currently accounts for one-third of the global population. They are the first tech native generation who are strongly impacted by the Technological Revolution. They had opportunities to access the Internet, smartphones, mobile networks, and social media from a very early age. This scenario has created a generation that is dependent on technology, interested in technology, and comfortable with using technology. They have familiarized themselves with social media, freely shared content, online communication, online training, and online purchases with only some clicks. Therefore, in the context of a shrinking workforce from senior generations, leading to the labour shortage in many countries, Gen Z will be a workforce generation suitable for the digital age that many companies aim for. Besides, according to McKinsey, Gen Z is a pragmatic generation with good critical thinking, always aiming to solve conflicts through dialogue and finding ways to improve the world. They are also people with open mindsets who are always willing to receive new things, accept differences, and smart, flexible, and quick in responding to change.

Why is recruiting and managing Gen Z difficult?

Gen Z characteristics and strategies to manage

Although Gen Z is a promising generation that is suitable for the digital age and will play a critical role in the success of organizations in the future, many businesses are struggling to recruit and manage them. This is because Gen Z is the generation with many different characteristics from their seniors. Therefore, experience in managing other generations can not help firms in managing Gen Z.

1. Generation Z has a strong personality and values freedom

Specifically, Gen Z is believed to be a generation with a strong personality. They highly appreciate personal value, are less attached to a brand or organization, and therefore will not stay for long at an organization. Gallup’s study revealed that the engagement of Gen Z with organizations is always less than that of their senior generations, at only 31%. Meanwhile, 54% of respondents revealed that they were not engaged, and 15% were actively disengaged. They do not like to be restricted and imposed with strict regulations either. Instead, they prefer independence, freedom, and exploring new experiences.

2. Generation Z is easier to be stressed and burnt out.

Besides, according to Gallup, Gen Zers feel stress and burnout more easily due to work than their seniors. 68% of Gen Z respondents in Gallup’s research showed that they were under stress a lot of the time. This will have a negative impact on their work result and performance as well as their long-term career development. Stress and burnout will result in a higher chance of quitting their job than their seniors. As a result, flexible working arrangements to maintain their work-life balance and personal well-being are always their top priority when considering job opportunities.

3. Generation Z is very picky with working environments

They are also very picky with working environments. They not only require a good salary but also other benefits, a suitable career development path, and an attractive and suitable job. However, Deloitte’s research found that if comparing a high-paid job and an attractive job, they will choose the latter. Besides, they highly value the reputation, ethics, and social impact of the firm. If the firm does not engage in solving challenging issues such as sustainability, climate change, or poverty, it will not be able to attract and retain Gen Z.

How to recruit and manage Gen Z effectively?

With the above characteristics of Gen Z, to attract and manage this generation effectively, firms should implement all 7 following strategies:

1. Build and promote the firm’s Employer Brand

Since Gen Z highly appreciate the firm’s value when selecting their ideal workplace, firms should develop a plan to build and promote their Employer brand. To do that, firms should apply Marketing and Branding knowledge and theories in recruitment to implement suitable Marketing and Branding strategies for their recruitment activities.

2. Actively attract and recruit talent

Companies need to change their mindset from recruitment to talent acquisition and management. Specifically, they can use social media platforms to access and find talents and combine online and offline recruitment to suit this tech-native generation.

3. Diversify employment types with a total workforce strategy

They should expand their recruitment to more diverse employment types, from traditional full-time employment to part-time employment, outsourcing services, freelance and gig worker hiring, etc., to increase the flexibility in working hours and work arrangements for Gen Z employees. By diversifying employment types, firms can also broaden their opportunities to access a wider talent pool.

4. Personalize jobs, training, and career development paths

Since Gen Zers refuse to fit into a neat little box called “job”, but require personalization and highly value personal experience, to attract Gen Z, firms should change their mindset from finding people suitable for the job to designing and tailoring jobs to suit employees’ talents. Besides, they should also personalize training and career development paths for each employee.

5. Develop a workplace with flexible working hours and grant autonomy to employees

Gen Z has the tendency to like independence, freedom, and flexibility to ensure their work-life balance and overall well-being. Therefore, firms should develop a workplace with flexitime, remote and hybrid arrangements and grant their employees autonomy in making decisions on which option to choose. When employees realize how they are trusted and given more autonomy, they will feel more comfortable, then more interested in the organization, and become more loyal to it.

6. Develop a total reward system

As mentioned above, Gen Z not only requires salary but also other benefits. Therefore, firms need to build a total reward system to attract and retain Gen Z employees.

7. Develop programs to improve Gen Zers’ engagement with the organization

Less engaged employees have a higher chance of leaving the organization. That’s the rule in people management that any HR practitioners already know. Hence, increasing employee engagement is necessary. However, the current forms and programs to increase employee engagement should not be identical to those in the past. This is because of the new workplace arrangements with remote and hybrid working. So, when developing programs for enhancing employee engagement for Gen Z, firms should pay attention to the programs that suit their employees’ work arrangements. Some examples are virtual team building activities, virtual meetings, virtual town halls, virtual chat and café time with CEO. However, despite the fact that Gen Zers prefer individual tasks over team-based activities, they still value physical connection. Therefore, these virtual programs should be combined with offline and face-to-face ones (e.g. new year meetings, kickoff meetings, etc.) to increase engagement and interaction among employees. These programs not only improve the engagement of Gen Zers with the organization but also reduce their loneliness and isolation for being born in the boom of the Internet and mobile networks, where people connect online perhaps more frequently than meeting offline.

Summary

Generation Z has different characteristics from their seniors. Therefore, to manage them effectively, firms need to apply different approaches and strategies in managing people to optimize the digital age workforce. If you are struggling with managing Gen Z, let Kounselly experts help you.