We’ll soon be in the year 2017 and, frankly, I don’t know where the time has gone. It seems to fly by as I inch ever so slightly toward retirement and my 16-year-old son inches closer to college and full-time employment. Well, employment of some kind anyway.
He was born in 2000 and, even though I call him my Millennial baby, in larger circles he’s actually considered to be in Generation Z - that next generation beyond Millennials. There’s already quite a buzz about Millennials in the workforce and how they differ from Gen X and Baby Boomers. There’s a lot of discussion about what their “employment deal” is. Well, hang onto your hats, because there are a whole other set of differences with Gen Z, and their population is larger than any of the others.
A tech-savvy multicultural generation, Gen Z is highly global - both in population and perspective. There are 23 million members in the United States, and some reports claim there are between 1.8 billion and 2 billion worldwide. If that’s true, this multifaceted generation accounts for about 30% of the world’s population.
Born between 1995 and 2010, the majority of Gen Z members reside in under-developed or developing countries, with the largest populations in India China and Nigeria. In much of the reading I’ve done on this cohort, they’re growing up with very different circumstances than their counterparts. Think terrorism on a global basis and the type of recession that hasn’t been seen in nearly 80 years.
Sure, they didn’t live through some of this as adults, but they absorbed enough of what their parents experienced to develop characteristics that will affect the way they will work when they do enter the workforce. Several authors describe this generation as being more educated and more collaborative on the job. And speaking of jobs, they may have as many as 17 jobs in their lifetime and as many as 5 different careers.
Leading Traits of Gen Z
- Tech ingenious
- Diverse and inclusive
- Altruistic/charitable
- Entrepreneurial
- Resilient
- Global
- Confident
- Independent
- Financially practical
- Surprisingly social
Source: Getting to Know Generation Z.
If you want to attract, retain, motivate and engage this generation, pay heed to their traits and how they will affect the practices and policies in your organization. A few things that really stood out to me that may be unique about this generation and should be remembered are:
- They are jaded from the recession and carry heavy student loans.
- They are even more entrepreneurial, loyal, flexible and realistic in their approach to careers than Millennials.
- Even though they are highly connected through technology, their first preference for communicating with their manager is in person.
- 60% want to have an impact on the world with their jobs compared to 39% of Millennials
- 41% want to work for a mid-size organization versus only 38% that want to work for a large organization.
- 62% say they would rather start their own companies rather than work for one.
So take heart HR and Total Reward professionals as you develop your talent management and employee value propositions for this new generation. These are the people who will make up your workforce in the not too distant future and will command a way of working the likes we’ve never seen before. Next up: Generation Alpha!