7 Tips For Effectively Managing Gen Z Employees
With all the time and money invested in recruiting talented early career candidates, getting a signed offer letter is only half the battle. Retention is important too – especially to ensure that new graduates develop into future leaders at the company. So how can you effectively manage young employees and help them develop as rising professionals?
Although management isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, there are some tips for managing this generation based on data we’ve gathered about Gen Z’s overarching personality traits, how they prefer to communicate with employers, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted workplace dynamics. Here’s a starting point for managing your new entry-level talent, based on recent research from RippleMatch and other resources.
1. Make their learning a priority
Professional development is big for Gen Z. According to our report The Gen Z Job Seeker, professional development opportunities rank highest among college juniors’ priorities in evaluating a job or internship offer, even more than factors like compensation or company culture. Professional development is also important for graduating seniors, with 61% noting that it is among the most important factors.
Make sure your management style provides avenues that help Gen Z employees grow and learn. This could be through strong mentorship programs, tuition reimbursement, or a subscription to an online learning platform like LinkedIn Learning. Ongoing professional development is mutually beneficial for employers and employees, since employees will be able to put their newfound skills into practice in their current position.
2. Provide feedback often, especially in the beginning
Recent graduates are accustomed to getting frequent feedback in the form of grades. To help ease the transition from college to the workforce – and to ensure that employees are doing the best they can for your company – make feedback and ongoing managerial support a critical component of their first several months. According to staffing firm Robert Half, Gen Z is highly attuned to supportive leadership, since that 23% of Gen Z employees wouldn’t accept a role without it and an additional 55% would “love to have it.” More specifically, Robert Half defines frequent, real-time feedback as a component of “supportive leadership,” further underscoring its importance to Gen Z. Feedback can be given informally, such as in weekly one-on-one meetings between an employee and supervisor, or at more regular reviews, such as a monthly or bimonthly review.
3. Be open to feedback and ideas from your employees
At the same time that Gen Z wants to receive feedback, they are also eager to provide feedback to their employers. RippleMatch data shows that Gen Z is interested in questioning and challenging those in charge. More specifically, a RippleMatch survey – which all candidates on the platform take upon signing up– asked respondents to rate from 1-5 how much they disagreed (1) or strongly agreed (5) with the following statements:
I am team-oriented: 3.8
I am likely to challenge the status quo: 3.78
I am competitive: 3.69
I am more extroverted than introverted: 3.56
As shown above, challenging the status quo is the No. 2 most strongly agreed-with statement. As long as they’re respectful, being open to their thoughts can help you form a good relationship with this new crop of employees. In a virtual workplace, you may consider offering anonymous feedback forms that employees can fill out at any time. You could also encourage them to share feedback during their performance reviews, or set up dedicated virtual meetings to talk about changes they’d like to see in the workplace.
4. Emphasize personalized communication and community-building.
Just because Gen Z are digital natives, don’t underestimate the value they place on ‘face-to-face’ communication – even if it will be virtual for the foreseeable future. Research from Robert Half and Rise People indicates that Gen Z believes that face-to-face communication, rather than written communication, can better bridge generational divides and facilitate better collaboration. While email and instant messaging will always have their role in the workplace, incorporating one-on-one sessions with Gen Z employees over video call might be even more effective in management.
Our Gen Z Job Seeker report also shows that this generation especially craves personalized, face-to-face connections in the wake of COVID-19. For example, only 44% of summer interns in 2020 thought that community-building with peers was a highlight of their program. Offering opportunities to connect remotely -- via virtual happy hours, game nights, or icebreakers -- can go a long way toward facilitating those real-time connections and building rapport.
5. Adapt management styles for both remote and in-person work
Many employers have been forced to adapt to a remote work environment because of the pandemic. If you will be managing Gen Z virtually, set clear expectations about what tasks need to be completed and in what time frame. However, it’s important to keep in mind that Gen Z is used to being able to have some flexibility in how and when they work, especially during COVID-19. In order to accommodate preferred remote working styles, you may wish to be open to a modified schedule outside of a 9-to-5.
Interestingly, most Gen Z candidates aren’t looking for remote-only positions in the long run. In fact, our Gen Z Job Seeker report found that only 5% of students are exclusively seeking remote jobs, while 86% expressed interest in relocating to a large city for work. Even if Gen Z employees start their tenure with your company remotely, they will likely desire a return to the office in the future. In this case, it helps early on to establish expectations for how management might differ in an office setting -- dress codes, frequency of meetings, “open door” policies, working hours, etc. You may also wish to adapt your management style so that new employees have the flexibility of working on-site or remotely, as needed.
6. Emphasize mission-driven work, especially with individual tasks
Gen Z employees want to feel as if their work matters. With their emphasis on wanting to make a clear, actionable difference, entry-level employees can struggle with “grunt work” or individual tasks that they don’t perceive as being important or having a clear positive effect on the company and its mission. Communicate to Gen Z employees how all the work they are doing contributes to the company’s overall goals and its mission, and also provide opportunities for them to engage in projects that show a more immediate impact.
Furthermore, research from our Gen Z Job Seeker report found that a company’s social impact and mission have become even more important to candidates today compared to two years ago. At a more granular level, the share of women who value social impact when searching for a job is about double the share of men. This suggests that providing opportunities for Gen Z employees to engage in mission-focused work is especially important for not only recruiting, but also retaining diverse talent.
7. Focus on work-life balance, especially as it relates to mental health
Work-life balance is another priority for Gen Z, especially for maintaining good mental health. Research from the American Psychological Association has found that Gen Z is more likely than other generations to struggle with fair or poor mental health, and a 2019 survey from Mind Share Partners found that 75% of Gen Z respondents have left a job for mental health reasons. Additionally, in 2019, the World Health Organization officially listed “burnout” as a medical diagnosis, specifically as an “occupational phenomenon.”
Gen Z is looking for balance in their personal and professional lives, and will seek jobs that enable them to achieve this balance. A 2019 survey from Deloitte further underscores this point, with roughly 1 in 5 Gen Z respondents listing poor work-life balance as a main reason for wanting to leave their current job.
Furthermore, our Gen Z Job Seeker report found that 70% of students in the Class of 2021 value work-life balance, placing it only below compensation in terms of important career values. Our report also shows that women are more likely than men to prioritize work-life balance. Employers should be attuned to work-life balance and also provide an outlet for employees to express concerns about overworking.
Despite some of the negative stereotypes about Gen Z, these employees have a lot of fresh talent and perspective to bring to employers. As with every generation before Gen Z, employers should take their new employees’ experiences and expectations into consideration in their management styles in order to best develop their talent and maximize individual and company success.
