Attracting Generation Z By Becoming a Corporate Explorer

According to a new ResumeBuilder.com survey , nearly 75% of managers and business leaders find it more difficult to work with Generation Z team members than employees from any other generation. Not long ago, most respondents viewed Millennials as the most difficult to work with, but that was before these “new kids on the block” showed up.

Although Gen Z grew up in an age of smartphones, managers surveyed claimed these workers lacked technological skills and said Gen Z-ers are more “easily distracted” and “easily offended.” One in five managers admitted to firing a Gen Z employee within a week of their start date. It’s enough to frustrate any manager.

Allow me to remind you, however, of one important?reality:

Generation Z represents our future.

By 2030, three-quarters of the workforce will be made up of Millennials and Generation Z teammates, like it or not. Most Baby Boomers will be gone, and Generation X will be retiring by the thousands every day. I say: don’t get mad, get?busy.

Becoming a Corporate?Explorer

I have benefited from a shift in my mindset. I’ve chosen to turn my frustration into fascination with this emerging generation at work. While their different mindset means they’ll need to adapt to collaborate with older teammates, they also bring traits with them that our workplace desperately needs. Some years ago, a nationwide survey revealed that 70 percent of high school students plan to be an entrepreneur. In short, they want to start something more than join something. They’ve come of age during COVID-19 and longed for a job that’s “pandemic proof.” Many began driving for Uber, learned to code, or created a YouTube channel and monetized their ingenuity. Millions in the workforce are working gigs to satisfy their startup yearnings. Some are making big money. I believe organizations like yours and mine will be more attractive and engaging to them if we take a step in a new direction.

Create an internal “gig economy.”

One secret we began to employ at our organization, Growing Leaders, was to create internal teams, within the larger team that felt like “startups.” In a word, we started an intra-prenuership which occurs when organizations create an entrepreneurship culture. They have agile teams study and launch innovative products or services, (or even internal programs) and give them budget and authority to make something happen. Leaders of these new growth businesses within a larger company are commonly called “corporate explorers.” The intra-preneurship culture is not only attractive to Gen Z recruits, but it helps you retain them as well.

• Young team members get the experience of a startup company.
• Young team members enjoy the security of an established organization.

?The intra-preneurship culture is not only attractive to Gen Z recruits, but it helps you retain them as well.?

Why is this important?

In a survey from Handshake, an employment site for Generation Z, researchers asked 1,800 new graduates what they wanted most from their future employers. The overwhelming majority—85%—answered “stability.” High pay and benefits also ranked high, but both of them feel like second cousins to stability. On the other hand, the desire for “a fast-growing company” garnered only 29% of the vote.

They hesitate in a post-Covid pre-recession job market that awaits them. A mega-trends report by Accenture recently dubbed this the era of “permacrisis.” On the heels of a pandemic in a shaky economy, they realize how vital secure financial income is to their peace of mind. This special entrepreneurial zone enables this. Teammates get a startup experience with the security of an established organization.

Eleven Madison Park

Will Guidera did just this with his restaurant in New York City. He wrote a book, Unreasonable Hospitality , which is all about offering the kind of service that sets them apart from other eating places. His most famous restaurant is called Eleven Madison Park . Including his young team members, he began to encourage creativity and invite ideas from young waiters and staff. He was unreasonably hospitable to his team as well as his guests. Here are a few of their ideas:

1. Wanting customers to feel they were walking into a home, not an establishment, they removed the podium up front. The host memorizes the names of every guest who dines each night and greets them by name as they’re shown to their table to enjoy a meal.
2. One evening, four guests from out of town talked about all they did while in New York, but one noted they never had the chance to grab a hot dog from a street vendor. So, a team member left, bought a hot dog and a chef sliced it up and served it to them. They raved the rest of the night about the waiter’s creative hospitality.
3. Based on young team members’ observations, the restaurant decided to give food, drinks and desserts away based on what they overheard customers talk about. At check time, a waiter arrives with a free bottle of wine and glasses and offers it with the check.
4. The restaurant team committed they don’t want any customer to leave the restaurant unhappy. Sometimes this is a tough challenge, but this commitment has drawn out the creativity from everyone. Each night something different happens that they celebrate.

The best part of this story? Eleven Madison Park was recently voted the best restaurant in the world. Sure, the food and the chef are elite, but Will Guidera believes it’s about empowering his team, especially the young creatives, to act like entrepreneurs each and every day.