Date: 18 Jan 2022
Generation Z (or Gen Z for short), colloquially also known as Zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. It is a new cohort of young, digitally savvy, hypercognitive individuals. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary describes Gen Z as “the group of people who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s”.
Gen Z will revolutionise the workplaces. They are very different from other generations in how they learn, how they work. They are used to of living in digital world, dominated by social networks, mobile apps, tech gizmos, gadgets, spending time online, etc.
In order that other generations work in harmony with Gen Z, it is important to understand their characteristics, preferences, and habits. They have been impacted hardest by Covid19 — yet they are the ones stepping up to lead the change.
Let us see certain characteristics, traits, and preferences of Gen Z or Zoomers:
- They are highly connected
- They are driven by Brand values, they are brand conscious
- They are careful with their finances
- They seek meaningful work
- They value creativity, personalization, self-expression, they like more visibility
- Compared to earlier generations, they are more tolerant
- Their views are rather liberal (according to McKinsey)
- Growing up in a participative economy, they want to earn money at young age itself. Some of them are already earning money either by freelancing or through part-time
- They want to work in companies which share their powerful belief in inclusive purpose.
- They are fast thinkers, innovative, risk takers, and more assertive and direct in communication
- Salary is very important factor, but also, they need interesting projects, good experience and great enjoyment
- They prefer flexible work, independence at work or freedom and has an entrepreneurial spirit.
- If anybody micromanages them, they run away from this way of leadership style. They like laissez-faire type of leadership and is averse to an autocratic or dictatorship one.
- It is wise to include Gen Z in middle management roles. They are smart and curious enough to find the ‘how’ easily.
- When they focus on some work at hand, that time nothing can stop them. They are “go-getters”.
- They like new challenges. They lose patience if they find the thoughts are unstructured and messy. They will jump into this puddle to either solve them or bring a new dimension.
- Since this generation is quite technology savvy, remote working suits them.
- In terms of how Gen Z wants to learn, they prefer asynchronous learning. Byte-sized videos, podcasts, and gamified training content are becoming more and more popular with Gen Z employees.
- Gen Z loves exploring different facets, be it in their life or in their jobs
- Empowerment in real terms like choosing one’s career path, choosing one’s work model and work timings, choosing one’s benefits, and choosing to be one’s own self and express it in their work-life is what a Gen Z professional would love to have in their organization.
Organisations must leverage the vibrant potential of this generation.
Organisations should reimagine work models beyond contractors, freelancers, and gig workers. This will accommodate multiple generations working together and exude passion for community involvement and creative projects. Diversity and Inclusion will help in multi-generations, multi-cultural workforce to work cohesively as a team and build a sustainable organisation.
Organisations may build evolving work models by: (according to Randstad Research)
· Giving them ownership and responsibility of their work, so that they can drive success amidst sweeping changes
· Providing them avenues for learning and mentorship with leaders, so that it fuels their curiosity to be true innovators
· Letting them know about how their work contributes to the company’s goals.
This will be generation that will live to tell the tale of Covid-19. It may be their story, but we can be their inspiration in building the future.
