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July 14, 2021
Employee Benefits
How to attract gen z employees
July 13, 2021
Generation Z workers are quickly becoming the largest group of new entrants to the labour market. They are also a generation that is very different from their millennial predecessors in many ways, including how they prefer to work and what they want out of their employers.
If you're not sure how to attract this important demographic into your workplace or how to retain them, then read on.
This blog post will answer all your questions about how to attract and retain Generation Z employees so that you can find success with this untapped workforce.
The 3 biggest challenges of attracting and retaining Gen Z workers
Challenge #1: Understanding Gen Zers expectations
While most people may think that Gen Zers are lazy, entitled, and think they know it all, they’re actually more than just what meets the eye.
Once you understand what they really need, your perception of them may change for the better.
And that starts with understanding their top considerations. The Global Talent Trends 2020 report by LinkedIn showed that the following are the top 3 factors when Gen Z are considering a new job:
- Inspirational colleagues and culture (42%)
- Investment in employee training (36%)
- Company with a purposeful mission (18%)
Challenge #2: Giving Gen Zers a purpose and meaning at work
The second challenge is giving them a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Gen Z is not as impressed by employers that offer the latest gadgets or cool offices, but rather want an employer who can give them flexibility and a meaningful purpose in their work.
They expect their employers to tell them the purpose of every responsibility they assume. Instead of just telling them “do this, do that”, they want to believe that their contributions matter and want to have the autonomy to choose how to complete the task.
Challenge #3: Gen Z employees demand fast career progression, otherwise they’ll leave
Due to how fast-paced life has become for this generation, Gen Z workers are more likely to quit if they don’t see their career progress as much as they'd like it to be. This is especially true when they are stuck in positions that don’t align with their skills or passions.
Why Should You Hire Gen Z Employees?
Despite all the challenges, companies are still looking for the best ways to attract Gen Zers because of the immense values they bring to the workforce.
- It's much easier to train and onboard Gen Zers with the technology your organisation uses.
- A diverse workforce increases creativity and innovation. Gen Zers energise your workforce with fresh opinions, humour and unique life experiences that no other generations can provide.
- Gen Zers are committed to causes larger than themselves. They're confident that they can create meaningful change in the company. Meaning, they're showing up in your workplace ready to make an impactful change for the greater good.
- They demand and thrive in independence. They'll look for solutions on the internet themselves. Your managers don't have to micromanage them. In fact, they dislike being micromanaged.
What do Gen Z workers look for when job-hunting?
For the reasons above, it’s wise to include Gen Zers into your workforce, but how do you recruit the right Gen Z talents?
The smartest and the most effortless way to do this is by understanding what they look for when seeking new jobs and putting those as bait.
It’s similar to fishing. Each fish reacts differently to different types of baits. If you want to fish Gen Zers, you need to use the right bait.
So, what exactly do Gen Z employees look for?
- A stable work-life balance. 38% of Gen Zers consider work-life balance as their No. 1 factor in choosing an employer.
- A company that cares about the employee experience as much as they care for customer experience.
- Interactions with colleagues. Despite being digital natives, Gen Zers crave the human connection in their workplace. They want to feel connected and a sense of belonging.
- Transparency. Due to social media and the internet, they’re exposed to corruption, dishonesty, and negativity much more than other generations. Because of this, they’re more sceptical in nature and don’t want to be taken advantage of in the company.
- Investment in professional and personal development. They’re motivated by learning new things that they’re interested in.
- Clear and fast career progression. Due to their instant gratification nature, they want to get things fast, including promotions.
- Attractive benefits and salary such as flexible work, paid volunteering opportunities, student loan assistance, and many more.
- Strong management. They prefer leadership and managers who are open, transparent, and trustworthy.
- Covid-19 safe work environment that maintains safe social distancing and cleanliness within the work premises.
“Yes, I know Gen Zers want to have flexible work arrangements but it’s difficult to make sure they are doing their work.” If this is what’s troubling you, we have 3 simple ways for you to manage remote employees without sacrificing productivity.
10 Innovative Ways To Attract and Retain Gen Z Talents
At this point, you probably have gained a deeper understanding of how Gen Zers think and what they look for when considering a new job.
Next, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and use innovative “baits” to fish the right Gen Z employees. The following are 10 creative ways to attract and retain them:
- Give them next-level work flexibility. Not only you let them set their own schedule and pick where to work, but you also give them the freedom to choose how to complete the task. Don’t worry, they’re very resourceful.
- Show the results of their contributions. Share customer testimonials, manager recognition, company improvement, and any positive changes resulted from their work.
- Provide personalised one-to-one mentorship. Even better, create apprenticeship programmes for Gen Z talents to shadow C-level executives.
- Offer competitive employee benefits tailored to satisfy their immediate concerns such as student loan assistance, transportation allowance, and healthcare insurance.
- And don’t forget the standard employee benefits like paid leave, vision, dental, maternity, and even well-being benefits.
- Update all of your company’s social media profiles with company outings, virtual coffee breaks, virtual team building, and other fun activities to show Gen Zers that you value fun and relationships in your company.
- Give them opportunities to interact with other colleagues outside of working hours online. You can open up a Facebook group for different interests or host a session to play multiplayer online games after working hours.
- Be transparent while you’re hiring. List down everything the candidate needs to know including salary range, flexible work opportunities, employee benefits, company culture, and your expectations.
- Get them involved in volunteering activities through local NGOs.
- Offer company-sponsored training courses, workshops, and virtual conferences and allow them to choose what they want to learn. The key is here not to force and threaten, but to encourage them to pursue their interests.
Ending note: Working with Gen Zers
Gen Zers may get a bad rep for being arrogant, lazy, or entitled but once you put them in the right environment and give them the autonomy to do the things they want, you’ll see them truly shine.
To conclude, the key to working with Gen Zers is by creating a workplace that offers flexibility, transparency, and opportunities for growth. Do these well and they'll most likely stay loyal to you for a long time.
Want to retain not only Gen Zers but also other generations in your workplace? Find out 5 reasons why employees stay and practical tips to retain them. (Hint: No. 3 is the most underrated yet easiest to implement without costing a dollar).
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