So much has been said over the years about the generations in the workplace, and it’s been quite interesting hearing diverse perspectives about the differences and similarities between them. Permit me to add my voice to the conversation, considering I work in an organization with employees across all four generations – Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (popularly known as Millennials) and Gen Z. The Alpha Generation are still some distance from the workplace yet.
Just as organizations were beginning to get a grasp of millennials – the good, the bad and the ugly, in came Gen Z with attributes, behaviours and idiosyncrasies of their own!
So we are all on the same page, Gen Z is generally believed to have been born between the mid to late nineties and the early 2010s (there’s no consensus on the exact years). I’m not one to make sweeping generalizations, but I believe most people will agree with the descriptors being bandied around for Gen Z – digital natives, activist generation, organizers, risk takers, hard workers, entitled, and so on. Love them or hate them, their impact on the workplace is unarguable.
Let me tell you a true story. In 2019, I was privileged to welcome a young lady to my team (call her Ms X). She started as a youth corps member and later became a full-term employee. Fresh out of school, she had arguably the perfect background as a graduate in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management but had a lot of learning to do on the job. As I would soon find out, I also had some learning to do.
Ms X was a joy to work with. For the most part, all she needed was a little information on a given task, and her ability to interpret and produce was nothing short of impressive. Where I had a challenge, however, was with her communication style, which became the source of our “fights”. Not that her style was wrong, I was just not used to it. She preferred to communicate via instant messaging, and sometimes if she had a question or wanted to ask for an extension of the timeline for the task, she would do so via text! So, while I thought she was “ghosting” me, she had reached out, but I was expecting a face-to-face conversation. Interestingly, even after talking to her about this several times, it didn’t change, so it was instructive to look inward for the change I sought! I understood very quickly that Gen Z, most and generally, tends to rely heavily on social media and devices for communication and to form and maintain relationships, so I formed the habit of reading my messages a lot more frequently. Problem solved.
Another fascinating thing about Gen Z is their view on job security. They are more demanding than previous generations and keep employers on their toes by continuously challenging the status quo. Their expectations are not outlandish but reasonable, I might add. For instance, why do workers have to go to the office when they can achieve the same results working remotely? Recently, while speaking with some Gen Z candidates, they see this issue as a deal breaker and don’t mind leaving a job or turning down a job offer if it doesn’t afford them a flexible work schedule. A lot of them also have other “hustles” and need the flexibility to give the other gigs some attention. The earlier generations, particularly Baby Boomers and some Gen X, on the other hand, are generally more docile and accepting of pretty much everything their employer hands to them for fear of losing their livelihood.
I could go on and on about this fascinating generation, but I’ll summarize by saying the workplace would not be the same without them. Every employer looking to provide a positive employee experience must have a healthy dose of Gen Z to help shake things up a little from time to time and bring onboard different perspectives. After all, the future of work belongs to them.
Victor Daudu
Head, Human Resources
Viathan Group