If you are tired of sitting in never-ending meetings in which no decisions are made or of giving “attaboy” back- pats to millennials every time they do something right, there’s relief on the way. A new generation is coming into the workplace that won’t stand for those kinds of things. Call them the Class of 2018, Gen Z, iGen, Plurals, or whatever other term suits your fancy, experts say that they are bringing a different set of behaviors, values and demands to the office than the generations — millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, or baby boomers — that came before them.
That may not be a bad thing according to Tauseef Rahman, principal consultant at Mercer. "Other generations may want some of the same things (more flexibility, diverse career tracks, broader suites of benefits) too, but have not felt they were in the position to ask," he said.
Better Benefits for All
Take unlimited vacation, for example, who doesn't want that? While older generations might have seen it as an extraordinary benefit, many in the post-millennial workforce see it as an entitlement. “Gen Z job candidates come right out and ask why we don't offer it," said Umberto Malesci, CEO of Fluidmesh, a New York and Milan-based wireless communications systems vendor. He added that Gen Z does not hesitate to tell their managers what the companies who are competing for their talent have to offer. As a result, "we were forced to improve our benefits for everyone," said Malesci, pointing out that, in the past, workers were not so bold or so insistent.
Such straight-forwardness and comparison-making is not to be unexpected, according to Marcie Merriman, an executive director at EY. "Prepare to be transparent," she tells her corporate customers, explaining that Gen Z grew up with internet connected phones and a world full of information always at their fingertips. Between their social networks and sites like Glassdoor and Linkedin, Gen Z knows what an employer's actual brand is all about; they don't rely solely on the marketing messages that are passed their way during job interviews. "Gen Z is skeptical by nature," said Merriman.
Money Is Not All That Matters
This year's entry level workers are more independent too. "Gen Z wants you to give them a goal and to then go away," explained Merriman. Paul Szyarto, CEO of Delcon Construction, a web-based construction management software platform based on Microsoft technologies, said that Gen Z mentality is that of "mini CEOs" and that they expect their bosses to be more like mentors than supervisors. To make his newest employees happy, Szyarto assigns projects to them and then lets them set delivery dates and pricing based on hourly rates. "The more efficient they are the more money they make," he said.
And money matters to Gen Z, but not as much as work-life balance, according to a survey conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of Canvas Blue, a marketing and advertising firm based in Los Angeles and New York City. Other generations, such as Gen X, Gen Y, and baby boomers have rated pay as number one on the list, while a study conducted by Fidelity Investments revealed that millennials would even take as much as a $7600.00 pay cut for a better quality of work life (career development, purposeful work, work/life balance, company culture.)
While telecommuting, or the ability to work from home, might be selling points to millennials and the generations that came before them, for Gen Z “work” (as in "going to work") is not a place," but something that they do anywhere with their technology," according to Rahman. Gen Z is not typically wowed by the technology that their companies provide either. While baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y's might have seen getting a new company iPhone or a speedy personal computer as a perk, the newer generation does not. "Gen Z does not see technology as being expensive or elusive the way previous generations did," he added.