Episode #15: Understanding Gen Z: Pioneering Multi-Generational Workplace Harmony
Jun 26, 2024
Transforming Culture Consultants
What if understanding the unique perspectives of Gen Z could completely transform your workplace culture? Join us as we explore the fascinating world of Generation Z with Cindy and Sharon. This episode promises to uncover how major historical events like 9/11, the 2008 recession, and the rise of social media have deeply shaped the values, norms, and behaviors of this emerging workforce cohort.
In this episode of Transformation Talks, we want to help you navigate the multi-generational workforce landscape. You'll discover how understanding generational diversity can boost employee retention, increase productivity and innovation, and help resolve potential workplace conflicts. Listen in to gain new insights on how to create a harmonious, thriving work environment by embracing the unique perspectives of Gen Z, who are set to make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to build a stronger, more inclusive workplace culture.
What if understanding the unique perspectives of Gen Z could completely transform your workplace culture? Join us as we explore the fascinating world of Generation Z with Cindy and Sharon. This episode promises to uncover how major historical events like 9/11, the 2008 recession, and the rise of social media have deeply shaped the values, norms, and behaviors of this emerging workforce cohort.
In this episode of Transformation Talks, we want to help you navigate the multi-generational workforce landscape. You'll discover how understanding generational diversity can boost employee retention, increase productivity and innovation, and help resolve potential workplace conflicts. Listen in to gain new insights on how to create a harmonious, thriving work environment by embracing the unique perspectives of Gen Z, who are set to make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to build a stronger, more inclusive workplace culture.
Welcome everyone to Transformation Talks. The intention of our podcast is to provide tips, strategies and inspiration to transform workplaces, communities and lives. I'm Sharon Wilson and I'm the co-founder and chief mindset and growth officer at Transforming Culture Consultants, and I have with me today our other co-founder, cindy Lecombe, our chief impacts and inclusion officer. Today we want to explore Gen Z Generation Z and kick off a series of podcast episodes to support you in creating, sustaining and navigating a more effective multi-generational workforce and I am really excited about this podcast series.
Speaker 2:
I think it's going to be interesting and I know that you and I have thought a lot about it. But for those who may be new to it, we want to begin by defining an age cohort, and this describes a group of people who are born during approximately the same period in a nation's history and who therefore tend to experience significant events in similar life stages.
Speaker 1:
Exactly, and let's talk about the generational cohort theory is the idea that individuals born within a particular date range and who share the same social, cultural, economic, educational and political events in the early stages of their lives will tend to have a similar set of values, norms, beliefs, behaviors and attitudes. Now, one way to get at this is to think about which national events in the last hundred years might have had a large impact on people who were youth or young adults at the time the event occurred. Examples might be major wars at different times, instances of maybe international and domestic terrorism, perhaps economic depressions and recessions, or the election of our first Black president and the women's and civil rights movements, just to name a few.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, those are really great examples. As I was listening, I thought about the different ways in which each might have shaped the youth who lived further, and we're really interested in youth because this is when, obviously, our most profound values tend to be shaped. So what's key here just to kind of ground this in an example is that a 15-year-old typically understands and responds to national events let's just say the January 6th insurrection or Black Lives Matter protests to say the January 6th insurrection or Black Lives Matter protests differently than a 65-year-old does. The different experiences of the birth aid cohort can really be vast. After all, I never experienced the Depression or World War II or even life before television.
Speaker 2:
All are events that profoundly affected my grandparents and, to a lesser extent, my parents. This is why an understanding of generational diversity is so important in terms of a strong workplace culture. Now we go into more detail on this in future episodes, but for now we want to offer some examples of how an effective multi-generational workforce can improve your workplace culture and your bottom line. Successful multi-generational workforces can do a number of things. They can boost employee retention, increase productivity and innovation, they can help you address communication snafus before they ever start, and they can resolve potential conflict that might occur if generational tension and potential biases are not addressed.
Speaker 1:
Exactly and, as you said, Cindy, when we think about generational diversity, it's important to understand what makes different age cohorts tick. In this episode, we're going to focus on Gen Z, those who were born between 1995 and 2012, and who are now between the ages of 12 and 29. They make up about 30% of our nation's workforce by 2030. So it behooves us to better understand them. Let's think about some of the events that have impacted Gen Z. One that we can all certainly relate to, but they relate to in different ways, is 9-11.
Speaker 1:
That happened in 2001. You know, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a heightened sense of national vulnerability and of terrorism, really. Another is the recession of 2008 and a diminished economic stability and prosperity. A third is social media and Internet later debuted in 1991. The election of Barack Obama. Another is gun violence and school shootings, which has really become a major reality. Smartphones and online connectivity. And who could not be impacted by COVID-19 that started in 2020? Also another one, Cindy, is legalization of same-sex marriages, and that was in 2020. Also another one, Cindy, is legalization of same-sex marriages, and that was in 2013.
Speaker 2:
Yes, these are really great examples. I think that they resonate for a lot of us. They're incredibly influential, too in terms of how they shape people who experience them, as I said before, as children and youth. I actually want to add a little bit to what you've shared, sharon, to kind of provide a bit more information to our listeners so that all of us can better understand what impact the values, perceptions and beliefs of Gen Z. So just to add a little bit, gen Z is more diverse. Nearly 50% of Gen Z are racial and ethnic minorities and one in four identifies as Hispanic.
Speaker 2:
Gen Z tends to be more accepting of LGBTQAI plus issues and people, and also of racial diversity, and we thought that's in their participation numbers in the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements.
Speaker 2:
They are experiencing political polarization and global crises, and this has fostered in a lot of Gen Z a sense of an uncertainty and possibly a dangerous future, one that they really can't count on. They're more accepting of gender bending, whether that's being gender, non-binary, trans, genderqueer and, as you pointed out during the experience, the normalization of mass shootings. There were over 630 mass shootings in our country in 2023, according to Gun Violence Archive data. They're less likely than preceding generations to grow up and live in rural areas. They're experiencing globalization and, as you said, covid-19 had a huge impact on our youth in particular, but they've also been impacted by the great resignation that started in 2023. And that's had really profound impact in terms of how they think, their work, how they experience mental health and how they experience community, which is increasingly online mental health and how they experience community, which is increasingly online, you know, when I hear it listed like you're doing there, it really is powerful, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
And if these national events have shaped the values and beliefs of Gen Z, changes and shifts have also influenced how they communicate and how they define and understand communication. Gen Z prefer to work on their own devices. They expect communication to be almost instantaneous and tech-enabled. They're very comfortable with social media apps like Instagram, snapchat, imessage, discord, google Hangout, slack, on and on and on TikTok. Talking on the phone is often anxiety-inducing and for meetings, many prefer Zoom to face-to-face communications.
Speaker 2:
And those are so important when we think about how to best support a multi-generational workforce. So I want us to consider a scenario. Let's imagine a working team that's generationally diverse, with one long-term and outspoken bromer. So an older employee, a Gen Xer, a millennial and two relatively new employees who are Gen Z. Now we'll kind of go into each age cohort in future episodes, but for now we just want you to consider this specific scenario.
Speaker 2:
During a face-to-face meeting, one of the Gen Z opens up their phone and begins typing. The boomer looks angry but continues talking, in fact starts talking more loudly. However, after a few minutes the millennial says Excuse me, we're in a meeting, no phones. Clearly irritated, the meeting suddenly falters and tensions seem high. In this case, how might it be useful for you to be able to interpret this in generational terms? What might be going on? As we noted, we'll be sharing in later episodes what steps you might take to address the tension. But for now, we'll be sharing in later episodes what steps you might take to address the tension, but for now, we really want you to think about the implications of these very diverse and different values, beliefs and communication patterns that exist in our workplaces and in this scenario and to think about why it's important to include generational diversity when we imagine inclusive, equitable and respectful workplace cultures.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, and I'd love for you to feel free to email us. You can email me directly at Sharon at transformingcultureconsultantscom. We're putting together a free Zoom workshop on creating a successful multi-generational workforce and we'd love to hear your thoughts. We can put you on a waiting list to get more info when that free workshop is available. Our intention is to be a support and resource for you to help navigate these unprecedented challenges in our workplace cultures and create thriving cultures that have a ripple effect that impact us all in a positive way.
Speaker 1:
We'd love for you to join our community of HR professionals, executive directors, managers, supervisors that are wanting to create and grow more empowered workplaces and organizations, and you can get free tips, resources and opportunity to attend free virtual gatherings where you can engage with industry leaders and innovators, exchange ideas, strategies and best practices. You can go to transformingcultureconsultantscom slash HR to get informed about those things and we're also able to provide you with a free virtual consultation to explore any challenges or opportunities in your workplace culture. You can apply for that at transformingcultureconsultantscom slash free application. You can connect with us on LinkedIn at transformingcultureconsultants. Our vision is a world where employees feel happy, respected, valued and safe. Thank you for being a part of this vision.
