Make way for Generation Z in the workplace

Never have I ever written a blog...So... I had to do this again. Here’s the gist, I had ‘successfully’ written 600 words on paper before carefully typing it on my Mac but apparently its not ‘mind-blowing’. she (Ms. Jollain) encouraged me and spoke such beautiful sweet words ‘I know you can do better than this’ she says ‘you are going to be proud of yourself’ she says, and I felt so over the moon you know, like someone who could be the president. Yes I was that proud. I left the class still feeling proud walked past Hotel Europe still very much proud and then I started to ascend the hill to Freddie Mercury (my accommodation building) and boom it was gone. You can already guess how I felt by the time I got into my room. Dear pride just incase you’re out there do come in and make yourself at home cos I’m gonna need you for whatever comes next.

Ok lets get this blog started!

With eyes wide open, imagine every single Gen-Z in the world stayed off the internet and all digital devices for 48 hours at the same time. ‘what did you see’ A ca-ta-stro-phe right. Maybe a few zombie looking gen-Zers, Snapchat will not even know what hit it, now for companies that rely on digital marketing in targeting millennials and gen-zers, they’ll experience extremely slow traffic and experience slow trends.

I consider myself a beautiful bridge between the millennials and Gen-Z in the world— perks of being a ’95 huh— bet you’re jealous already. Wipe that smirk off your face I know you are. So, this means that even though I may be excited about downloading snapchat on my new phone, its an app i’d use once a month —oh no thats my aunt— Once a week for me.

Employers need to create value for generation-Z in the workplace to retain them

This is what I think, older generations secretly crave to be in our shoes, to have information at the tip of their fingers, they want to be so technologically inclined, they want to have the will and the power to say no instead of just thinking it. Let me know in the comments below what you think about this. I constantly hear from my mom a baby boomer how stressful work is, how people are getting laid off and workload being handed over to the remaining employees, how much work one person has to do, how much recognition employees get(very little), how employees are either suffering from high blood pressure or literally dropping. Oh I’ll need a 1000 words to write all of the things my mom keeps quiet about. This is almost impossible for any generation-Z in the workplace. You see a generation-Z in the workplace can not yet fathom the reasoning behind suffering in silence due to fear of some boss or of loosing a job that they are not even passionate about. Employers need to create value for generation-Z in the workplace to retain them. Research about gen-z in the world shows that they are more likely to change jobs very often between age18-34.

The author with her mum: two generations of women.

I remember the first time I asked my mom for a phone, she did present me with a beautifully wrapped package. I was so excited and I hurriedly unwrapped I mean unboxed my package, well, the day ended with me receiving a lecture on how I was too young to have a phone. My first real phone —i think I was 15— was a hand me down and I shudder to think of ever having to use one of those open and close phones with keypads that involve me pressing 8 buttons 22 times just to say ‘I love you’, a 9 letter phrase.

My 16 year old brother on the other hand already uses one of the latest iPhones. A few months ago, he came to me and said he wants a new phone. My heart skipped a beat “what do you mean you want a new phone?” he goes on to explain how his iPhone did not have 5G and he wanted a phone that had 5G and so on. So I went on to ask the big question you should never ask a teenager if you wanna keep your pocket “what phone do you want”. He surprised me!. He wanted a Huawei which cost just about the same price as his previous phone, but my first line of thought was how in the world does a teenager swap apple for android (apologies to my android readers). Thinking of this now, it just goes on to show how much significance gen-Z around the world place on purpose, sense of fulfilment, a sense of place. Its not just about them wanting to become the manager before even learning the ropes, its about them striving to be leaders because they already see a lot of issues that need to be changed from the top so yes they want to climb that ladder so fast but with the purpose to create change. They are already living what other generations could only dream of (the future). To have on board the fullest potential of any gen-Z in the world make them feel loved, relevant, respected and valued because trust me they’ve got more to offer than you’re letting them. Subjecting them to coffee bearers and paper shredders does not justify the phrase “they need to start from the bottom” it’s killing their beautiful mind which is capable of greater things.

Thinking of this now, it just goes on to show how much significance gen-Z around the world place on purpose, sense of fulfilment, a sense of place.

I recently spoke to a 19 year old and he was of the opinion that school is much more easier than working. his reason was that he feels like a kid —i think he is— when he’s at school since the only thing he has to do is study and do laundry. —my mom would give anything for this. He preferred when he went to work and had more real life responsibilities and challenges to deal with and bills to settle. This already defeats the notion that this generation is indolent.

Today in class my teacher was telling us a story I think is quite interesting and I want to share with you. Lets call my teacher Mr T. Now, Mr T’s son loves to play football and he intends doing this professionally and of course like every parent Mr T is not too comfortable with his son putting all his eggs in one basket. Mr T was trying to explain to his son that he needs to gauge himself and his son asks what does gauge mean, Mr T replies “to evaluate yourself overtime but, you need to read more to improve your vocabulary” his son goes ‘okay’. A few moments later Mr T was happy when he checked on his son and found him reading. What are you reading he asked. His son gladly replied “I'm reading instagram posts”. What a funny duo. I bet if his football coach says there is this book you have to read to be the best footballer, if you don’t read this book you can never play well, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo read this book, he would not think twice about it. With the help his football coach, maybe he would read a book, or two. Now it might sound crazy and unreasonable that you have to not only give instructions but you have to give your reasoning behind it, the purpose of that reasoning, the impact they could make in performing your instructions and the benefits of the results thereof. I get it, but once they have all this information and get into action, they not stopping.Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts about gen-z in the work place. I did enjoy reading this blog post about assigning tasks for gen-z I think you might enjoy it too.

Do you belong to the generation-Z or are you working with one, I would love to read your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you.

Author: Ms. Olufunke Momoh, Master Student at Hotel Institute Montreux from Nigeria