New research shows that employers are shifting their focus to the newest young members of the workforce – Generation Z.
According to current projections, Generation Z is set to outnumber Millennials by 2019 and organizations are keen to understand the first truly ‘digital generation’ in order to attract, retain, and engage them.
As part of their ongoing research, titled: ‘The Generational Shift in the Workforce’, RainmakerThinking, Inc. conducted a survey of 4,093 Generation Z members, aged 16-23, in order to understand what these new employees value most in a job.
The answer? The human element.
Generation Z is looking for strong leaders and managers and for supportive relationships with co-workers and colleagues: 43% of respondents ranked ‘supportive leadership’ as the most important factor for them in a job, with 42% ranking ‘positive relationships at work’ as their most important job factor.
Comparatively, ‘autonomy and creative freedom,’ something typically seen to be valued by Millennials in the workplace, was the least valued job factor with only 16% of respondents finding it to be valuable to them.
Here’s what Gen Z is saying:
- “I think you should be happy with what you’re doing. If you’re not happy, then what’s the point?”
- “Probably the most important thing that I look for nowadays when I am thinking about new work is am I gonna feel good coming home at night?”
- “I don’t really wanna spend my days at work getting nothing out of it. So, y’know, learning people skills and just how business is run.”
- “Every person needs to be treated and addressed differently, so I think that’s just important to keep in mind.”
- “I would say [making] less money for a more positive, supportive cast around you [is worth it.] Having a negative group around you, even if you’re making money, wears away at your mental health.”
So what does this mean for how schools prepare Generation Z for the future workforce?
Dr Michael McAllum, is an internationally recognised speaker, author and facilitator, said radical technological and social changes mean that work will need to be “fundamentally rethought” as will the capacities and skills required to deliver whatever future work may be.
“Future generations will be forced to deal with both anticipated and unforeseen consequences of the future world,” Dr McAllum told The Educator.
“In the vernacular, we are just kicking the can down the road.”
Dr McAllum says these same consequences indicate that schools must urgently reconceive their offerings and models beyond goals and skills because current offerings “put most humans at work on a collision course with AI”.
Finally, says McAllum, they require a “deeper and more philosophical” conversation about the idea of work as meaning as opposed to the concept of work as “tradeable commodified time”.
“While populist proponents of the status-quo see the invasion of AI as a threat others suggest that the reframing it will require is an opportunity for humans to invest more deeply in social and economic arrangements that reflect a re-thought 21st century humanity,” he said.