Millennials and Gen X – Myths, Habits, and Perceptions
Organizations today are grappling with a critical challenge – How to manage the changing organization – employee relationship with the rise of the Gen Z and Millennials in the workforce.
Gen-Z are expected to make Up 24 Percent of the Global Workforce in 2020. And together with millennial, they are expected to make well over half of the US workforce. ( source: ManpowerGroup).
Every generation is defined by a shared set of beliefs and interests which are influenced by experiences when they came of age. The GenZ & Millennial generational cohorts are disrupting existing business models and workplace cultures. Having been brought up in a world where significant themes such as globalization, technology, climate crises and connectivity had already become common-place, they have fresh, unique perspectives and expectations towards their career, workplace, and work habits. That is not to say that they have had it easy going for them. Millennials, often accused of being lazy and entitled by the Baby Boomers & Gen X, have taken startups to the valuation of over 1 BN USD and disrupted or closed down 100-year-old powerhouses.
As millennials and Gen Z become the majority of the workforce, managers and leaders are asking how to motivate and engage them creating a higher employee lifetime value?
In this blog, we are going to take a closer look at how to understand, motivate and lead the Millennials and Gen Zers for your organization’s success
Important Differences Exist Between These Two Groups
At the first outset, it is essential to understand that GenZers should not be seen as Millenials 2.0 as they have unique experiences, beliefs, and behaviours, which affects their job attitudes, motivations and workplace preferences differently. In fact, according to the results of a survey by Gartner, Gen Z shares many beliefs and attitudes that make them more Like Gen Xers and Baby Boomers Than Millennials.
Gen Zers were raised during times of global unrest and pressing global issues such as financial crises of 2008, climate crises, refugee crises, global terrorism and wars. This had quite an impact on their outlook and perspectives compared to the Millenials.
While millennials highly value their experiences and are unwilling to stay at a job longer than two years, Gen Z-ers are more keen to remain at a job long term, because they value stability more.
As a result of an influx of social and economic disaster witnessed from birth by GenZers, they desire meaningful work and stability.
Below are some crucial ways in which they slightly differ:-
- Gen Z, value financial and job security more when compared to millennials. Millennials, on the other hand, prioritize their experiences highly, hence are more job hoppers. 60% of Generation Z say money is a determinant of success. (source: Builtin) With the rising costs of student debt (one in two Gen Z-ers are expected to be college-educated, but the figure for Millenials stand at 1 in 4 Millennials). Pushed on by this rising cost, Gen Z-ers look forward to great financial rewards in their careers. While millennials report as caring more about experiences. Hence, higher compensation offers will likely lead to increased retention and employee engagement among Gen Z that they would affect millennials.
- GenZers are true digital natives because they have been raised in a time when mobile technology, social media and 3G/ 4G became very common-place. Multitasking comes more naturally to Gen Z-ers. Hence, if you have a job that requires divided attention, these multitaskers will be an asset to your organization. Gen Zers can work efficiently across multiple devices whether desktop, mobile phone, or tablet. This is contributing to the rise of remote workplaces because Gen Z employees can and prefer to work from anywhere, and at any time
- Millennials mostly prefer Facebook as their number one social media platform, followed by Instagram and YouTube. Gen Z prefers Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube. Even though Gen Z is very technology savvy, they prefer to have more face to face communication with the management.
Common Things Which Motivate Both These Groups
Baby boomers who generally preside over these workgroups within enterprises are workaholic, enticed by position, prestige and they frown typically upon the Millenials and Gen Z for their perceived lack of focus, entitlements; and expect them to conform to the culture of overwork. However, this attitude is misplaced and can be harmful. Certain essential characteristics are common to these cohorts, and which the managers must understand, and develop the necessary empathy to understand their unique motivations & attitudes.
- What is common between the two of them is that you need to make them feel passionate about coming to work every day. Both Millennials & GenZers expect work practices to adapt to them and can be pretty vocal about it.
- Both these cohorts are focussed on constant learning on the job-driven by the rise of MOOC and the rising tuition fees
- It’s critical to optimize workplace apps for mobile devices. Gen Zers are even more addicted to their smartphones, spending the most time on their smartphones and clocking in at more than 15 hours each week
- Both Gen Z & Millenials value honest leadership. More than three-fourths of Gen Zers prefer millennial managers over those from older generations.
- You need to provide people with the avenue to work with autonomy and to accomplish meaningful goals for themselves. Both are more entrepreneurial-minded and demand higher levels of autonomy and trust to operate effectively.
How To Lead Them
Managers and leaders have to figure out what inspires both these cohorts to perform at high levels.
By understanding their motivation, you will be able to communicate honestly and frequently with each employee, get to know them (and letting them get to know you) and infuse your team with your optimism and vision. Motivated employees will be more productive, more engaged and this will, in turn, lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction.
To effectively lead these dynamic and multi-faceted cohorts, the need of the hour is multi-directional leadership.
There are many dynamics, such as remote work and technologies such as AI that are shaping the work preferences today.
- Schedule more one on one meetings to hear them out and get their feedback. A face to face interaction with the intended beneficiaries elicits emotion and empathy, and both these cohorts welcome an honest and face to face discussion. Give the GenZ more financial and career prospects and give them a vision of stability & growth. They like to have a clear direction and form and desire feedback regularly. Although they’re sometimes criticized for it, Gen Zers are accustomed to receiving praise and rewards for even small achievements.
- Since they are looking to upskill and learn new things continually, they will be motivated to stick with the workplace if it gives them such opportunities to learn and grow.
- A great way to motivate decisive action and intrinsically motivate these cohorts is to show them that their work is meaningful and purposeful. Both Millenials and GenZers are very active in advocating for brands & causes that they care about, and this also applies to the workplace. They will promote and remain motivated if the organization’s culture, vision is aligned with them
- They expect workplaces to be more relaxed, flexible and more home-like and expect more work-life balance than their predecessors.
- Investing in an employee advocacy program can be a fantastic way to reach a wider group of talents, and attract them. However, such a program must be both planned as well as managed carefully.
Wrapping Up
Nothing is more powerful than a group of contributing, motivated employees. However, care must be taken to understand that there are significant differences within each group, and therefore, you should not create stereotypes which can lead to avoidance or conflict behaviour.
