Gen-Z are the future of the workforce. This early talent cohort made up 20% of the workforce in 2020 and according to a study by Adobe, by 2025 they will make up nearly 30% of the total workforce.
This generation are the most particular when accepting new jobs, and are the most willing to leave their job if it fails to meet their expectations. A survey from Lattice found 37% of their Gen-Z respondents had quit their jobs during the pandemic, a percentage far higher than older generations with just 15% of Gen-X doing the same. They were even willing to leave if they didn’t have a new role in the pipeline. What we can learn from this is that failure to address the needs of Gen-Z talent will result in a severe talent shortage.
Gen-Z employees add great value to the workforce (confident and diverse tech experts, who are driven by social causes). These benefits, combined with their laissez-faire attitude to leaving roles, the high costs of turnover and the war on talent makes retaining top Gen-Z talent a top priority for People teams.
There are three key things employers can implement in order to retain Gen-Z talent.
PROVIDE HYBRID WORK OPPORTUNITIES
Gen-Z are more adjusted to remote working than any generation before them, with many starting their working careers during the pandemic when working from home was mandatory. Having spent a large chunk of their careers working remotely, they know that working from home enables productivity, and provides them with better work-life balance. Equally, they still want face-to-face time with their team to connect and work collaboratively. 47% of Gen-Z would seek a new role if their workplace didn’t offer a flexible hybrid approach. To make sure you are attracting and keeping this future talent in your business, showing them you are flexible is essential.
LEVEL UP YOUR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Learning opportunities and career development is high on the agenda for Gen-Z. In order to attract exceptional early talent into your organisation in 2022 you need to be speaking their language – providing great development and growth opportunities. A recent Wiser Academy survey found that 70% of respondents rated a structured training programme as important or extremely important in their first role, with 22% of them stating they wouldn’t accept a role that didn’t offer one. So, structured early career development programmes supporting your early career employees through their first year or two years in the organisation, and setting them up for future success are the most important things to be thinking about in order to retain this talent and to future proof your company.
GIVE MORE FEEDBACK THAN EVER BEFORE
Providing plenty of feedback is super important for the youngest members in your workforce for two key reasons. Firstly, they value continuous feedback with 65% of Gen-Z employees saying they need frequent (at least once a week) feedback. This links into their drive for learning and development opportunities. They want to be continuously developing and progressing – and feedback helps them to do this.
Secondly, this generation is motivated by approval of their work. Research into intrinsic motivation by Deci and Ryan shows a clear link between human motivation and feelings of competence. Feelings of competence are enhanced by regular positive feedback (even more so for this generation who have grown up receiving regular positive feedback from the digital games that they play).
Keeping this generation engaged and happy at work is linked directly to recognising and appreciating their efforts as well as providing them with the constructive feedback they need to develop. Managers of these early talent employees need to be ready to provide them with meaningful positive feedback and useful constructive feedback. As an employer then, making sure your managers have the skills they need to deliver this powerful feedback and manage these employees effectively is essential. Providing line managers support to develop their Early Talent management skills can make a huge difference to the retention of Gen-Z in your business.
Making sure you are securing and keeping great future talent in your organisation starts with making sure they have the opportunity to work flexibly. Not only that, you need to give them options to develop, by providing them with plenty of learning opportunities and by equipping your managers with the skills to provide regular detailed feedback and effectively support their career development. These three steps will put you in the best position possible to attract and retain this next generation.
