Generation Z at the workplace

Generation Z will cause whole industries and businesses to rise and fall. Yet few industries or organisations appear to be ready for them.

But what exactly should they be prepared for? What is different about Generation Z's expectations of a job compared to previous generations? What kind of work environment does a Generation Z worker feel comfortable in?

Today's organisations are subject to a lot of change on a daily basis, driven primarily by workforce diversity, continuous innovations and technological advances. The diversity of the workforce can be the result of differences between nationalities and generations. According to Prossack (2019), one of the main reasons for the behaviour of Generation Z is the unique desire to make changes and not be satisfied with the status quo.

Although salary is one of the most important factors when choosing a job, Generation Z values it less than other generations. If a group of Generation Z could choose to accept a better paying but boring job or a more interesting but less well-paid job, the group's choices would be almost equally divided (Deloitte).

To win the heart of Generation Z, employers need to highlight their efforts to be socially responsible. Action speaks louder than words: companies need to demonstrate their commitment to a wider range of social challenges such as sustainability, climate change and famine. Moreover, young employees should also be involved in the projects, as "Employers and employees should find each other along the values" - emphasized Dr. Dániel Gergő Pintér, Head of Corporate Communications, PR and CSR of BioTechUSA Group, at the conference held in 2023. Overall, the attitudes of Generation Z workers towards work, according to an article published in 2021, are described as dynamic, transparent, creative, innovative, engaged, tolerant, socially responsible, emotional, informed and individualistic.

Some opinions argue that the attitude of Generation Z in the workplace is inconsistent, arguing that Generation Z workers need a long adaptation period to adopt the values, organisational culture and work style adopted by the company (Racolţa-Paina, and Irini). It is important to emphasise, however, that in such a case, when designing an integration process, "you should not design for the average, because then you lose the individuals" (Czagler, 2023), which is perhaps the biggest challenge for the employer of all those mentioned so far. For Generation Z, you need to think in terms of individuals, as young employees want to feel that they are important to the company. They are motivated by the feeling that they can “be part of the team", creating and adding value while retaining a certain degree of freedom.

However, it should also be considered that, in addition to Generation Z, other generations such as Y, X and Baby Boomers are still present. Not only the needs of the Z's need to be taken into account, but employers need to be conscious of cross-generational communication, with education, dialogue, understanding and acceptance being important elements. Employers should even lay down rules to ensure that negative stereotypes of each other between generations are avoided in the workplace (Guld, 2023).

Generation Z will soon be the most active age group in the labour market, and in this respect, managing all the changes in the professional environment will depend on the attitudes, skills and actions that employers and HR professionals take to ensure a productive and smooth transition of the generational change in the workplace.

Source:

Prossack, A. (2019). Struggling To Retain Millennials and Gen Z? Here Are 4 Reasons Why, Forbes.

Deloitte: Understanding Generation Z in the workplace https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/understanding-generation-z-in-the-workplace.html

Dr. Pintér Dániel Gergő (2023) - A Z-generációs munkavállalók elkötelezésének egyik eszköze: nagyvállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás, Hello Főnök! Avagy ZÉ-k a munkaerőpiacon konferencia előadás

Racolţa-Paina, N. D., & Irini, R. D. (2021). Generation Z in the workplace through the lenses of human resource professionals–A qualitative study. Calitatea, 22(183), 78-85.

Czagler Zsuzsa (2023) - Ha értjük a belső motiváció forrásait, akkor értjük az újabb generációk motivációit, Hello Főnök! Avagy ZÉ-k a munkaerőpiacon konferencia előadás

Dr. Guld Ádám (2023) - Négy generáció, egy munkahely – eltérő kommunikációs kultúrák, Hello Főnök! Avagy ZÉ-k a munkaerőpiacon konferencia előadás