Gen-Z in Evolving Workplace Dynamics
Rajat Bansal
CFO Office @ OLA ll XLRI'24 II CA ll CFA L2 II Ex-Bain, Deloitte ll Ramjas'18
Gen-Z folks, or people born after 1997, as per Beresford Research; are the latest and greatest addition to the workforce. They are the untapped potential, longing to leave their mark on anything they touch. Millennial managers need to have a slightly differentiated approach to channel their potential. These are the folks more connected than ever. It takes minutes for an internal issue of the company to go global, and the entire reputation of the company is at stake. The same goes for any positive news. No company can now hide behind the veil of doing greater good while practicing the opposite in hindsight. Therefore, it is imperative that the concepts relating to the need for compassion and achieving employee satisfaction come to fruition. This generation values transparency more than ever when it comes to success measures and the business problems they are addressing. Their ability to make a difference via their profession and the satisfaction they gain from it are crucial. The days of setting up office borders and micromanaging employees are over. The new norm is to have faith in their inventiveness and give them the freedom to produce high-quality work wherever they are. Make sure that these people receive regular updates on the significance and effects of their prior efforts, both significant and insignificant.
However, in the current economic scenario, millennialists are operating the rudder of the ship of economic growth. With the rapidly changing idea of the existence and pattern of an institution, millennials wish to carry the upward mobility of the form by adaptability and democracy in the workplace. Millennials have a differentiated approach to making the work environment more social, more upwardly mobile, and more democratic to spend their time utilizing it for maximum productivity. The millennial model, id we call it, empowers more people within an organization to take on new challenges and results centric, which is at the core of an organization's growth strategy. Their approach enables GenZ to assert thought leadership right from the start, rather than going through the grind and doing their time in the hopes that one day they shall achieve seniority. Consequently, in a millennial model, there are a variety of paths to advancement accessible, all of which call for forethought and none of which include nepotism, seniority, tenure, or favoritism, unlike models preferred by GenZ which entails charting a road through business leadership risking the prevalence of it being a relatively scripted and even stilted affair. The Millennial model seeks to connect all stakeholders at the governance level and, in the end, make it simpler for good ideas to rise to the top on merit alone, rather than waiting for traditional company structure and roles to deliver solutions.
While there are many advantages to the millennials model, there are a certain number of cons too. The millennials, or Gen Y, are said to be the most tech-savvy generation. However, their ratings in aspects like teamwork and hard work are deficient, according to a new study published by EY. In the same study, it stated that more than seventy percent of respondents believe that Gen Z is the most effective manager compared to Gen Y and even the Boomers. Furthermore, in the study, it can be seen that the Gen Zers are rated better in adaptability, revenue generator, and collaboration aspects as well as the other generations.
Gen-Z's expectations in the workplace go beyond the alignment of work with their personal growth. They want their workplace to be value driven. Gen-Z grew up in the era of social movements like?#MeToo?and?#BlackLivesMatter. Diversity, inclusion, and equity are highly valued by Gen-Z workers. Gen-Z represents the most ethnically and racially diverse generation in U.S. history. This no doubt contributes to their expectations that their workplace not only reflects their values but also diversity among their peers. Gen-Z is highly motivated for social progress. They want a workplace where they can support nonprofits and take on passion projects that do well for society. Many potential employers allow for this by way of social service days. To Gen-Z, this only serves to draw a line between their "work" and the "positive impact" they want to make. For Gen-Zers, making a positive impact just can't be an add-on; it should be built into the way work gets done. They want the employee's dedication to making the world a better place to be credited and encouraged. After all, the leadership skills employees gain with social impact initiatives make them better leaders in the workplace and raise the profiles of the companies they represent in the community.
There are a lot of opportunities in this growing world. If the Gen-Zers feel that their work is not creating the impact that they deserve and are being fooled by the organization in the name of giving back to society, they don't take time to shift, which we have already observed during the great recession post-pandemic. To win the hearts of GenZ, employers will have to highlight their attitude to be good citizens and work towards relevant problems today like climate change. This will create a great challenge for employers to attract and retain talent in the future. For this, the employers need to match the speed of evolution of the external environment, which means developing training programs to meet them. Thus the times going forward pose a significant challenge to the employers with increasing focus of the Gen-Zers on the company culture and values.????
Gen-Z lies at a unique and unprecedented intersection of the past and the future. The generation is rooted in a marginal experience of the vanishing conventional world and looking forward to an increasingly virtual, data and information-driven future. Diversity of ideas, identities, and ideologies will likely be the cornerstone of Gen-Z-driven transformation. Transcending concrete conventional power hierarchies, stressing the uniqueness of the individual, and implementing a collaborative meritocracy are the three pillars of this transformation. The Gen-Z work culture is motivated and guided by values of justice, thoughtfulness, lived experience, and fairness of opportunities. Accounting for privileges, providing an egalitarian platform for enabling each individual to voice their opinion vocally regardless of their status, background or socioeconomic standing, and open-mindedness and inclusivity toward the unconventional will likely drive future growth. One thing is sure, the future workplace led by Generation Z will be more innovative, sensitive, accommodative, and broader in its scope and integration, with behavioural reform constantly responding to revolutionary technological and environmental changes.
Thus to sum up millennial managers need to take a slightly more nuanced approach to unlocking their potential. Millennials are taking differentiated approaches to making work environments more social, upwardly mobile, and democratic in order to spend their time maximizing productivity. What we call the Millennial Model, empowering more people within an organization to embrace new challenges and focus on results, is central to the organization's growth strategy. Millennials or Generation Y are considered the most tech-savvy generation. However, according to a new EY survey, they are rated poorly on aspects such as teamwork and diligence. Additionally, Gen Z scores higher than other generations in the study on adaptability, revenue generation, and collaboration. Gen Z's expectations of the workplace are not limited to balancing work and personal growth. They want their workplace to be value-based. Gen Z grew up in a time of social movements like?#MeToo?and?#BlackLivesMatter. Gen Z workers value diversity, inclusion and equity. Many potential employers make this possible in the form of Community Service Days. For Gen Z, this is to draw a line between their “job” and the “positive impact” they want to make. Hmm. It should be built into the way work is done. They want their employees' commitment to making the world a better place to be recognized and encouraged. Finally, the leadership skills employees acquire through social initiatives make them better leaders in the workplace and make the company more visible in their communities. Generation Z are slow to change when they feel their work isn't making the impact they deserve and they're being duped by organizations that represent society. recession. To win the hearts and minds of GenZ, employers must emphasize good citizenship and stand by relevant issues such as climate change. So, the coming era poses significant challenges for employers as Gen Z pays more and more attention to company culture and values.
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