I know I will get pushback from some of you on this post. I hear professionals and the interwebs saying how entitled Gen Z, people born between 1997 and 2012, is and how hard it can be to manage them. But what if there is a different explanation and what if this insight gave you the ability to better coach and manage younger workers? Maybe I have your attention now?
Recently, I have had the opportunity to do career transition coaching with younger workers who are not my general client demographic because former clients have referred their adult children to me. Without exception, I have been blown away by how smart and accomplished these young people are. They have excellent technology skills and a commitment to accomplishing big things in their career.
What I have seen in these young people doesn’t seem to match what I hear about Gen Z.
I have watched at least 10 videos by New York Times bestselling author Simon Sinek about Gen Z and their struggles in the workforce, but the video below hit hard for me because it ties into several of the topics I covered in my book, This Isn’t Working! Evolving the Way We Work to Decrease Stress, Anxiety, and Depression.
In my book, I talk about the implied trust between employee and employer being broken. You can get laid off to balance the books or to make the numbers look better for the IPO – and you did nothing wrong! At KPMG, my manager was 120% of quota and he was in the middle of a highly lucrative client engagement. Both of us were laid off, along with hundreds of other employees, because the organization quietly dropped headcount to make the numbers look better for the KPMG Consulting IPO.
Watching a parent or other older person in their life go through the disruption and potentially serious consequences of unexpected job loss will have an impact on a younger person. And you can bet that nearly every younger worker has seen someone go through it. Gen Z will walk into employment situations with their eyes open. They probably will not drink the Kool-Aid.
Managers assume that Gen Z employees will be willing to accept all sorts of promises and carrots in the future, but Gen Z has seen first hand that there might not be a future, so why wouldn’t they push to get whatever they can now? Are they being smart or being entitled?
Gen Z can reasonably assume they might not be there in the future. Sure, they might quit for a new opportunity elsewhere, or they might be let go because the financial numbers that the executive team pulled out of a hat weren’t doable.
As a career coach, I can tell you I hear similar things from Boomers. There isn’t as big a difference between the youngest and oldest workers at this point.
Regarding coaching and managing Gen Z, you will need to address some of this explicitly.
And if you have the ability to make the change, consider recommitting to your workforce so they will be more inclined to commit to your organization. That would benefit all of your employees, not just Gen Z.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com M on Unsplash
