In Focus

Al Ain In Focus

Al Ain In Focus

Aaditya Tangri, Co-Founder & CEO of Kalebr Americas Six ways Generation Z differs from other generations in the workplace

Generation Z is the demographic cohort following the Millennials born between 1996 and 2015, meaning they are no longer the ‘future’ workforce - they are the present and among us. There are various ways in which Generation Z differ from Millenials and the generations who have come before them, not least with regards to their attitude and traits in the workplace. The workplace is still coming to grips with and adapting to Millennials, and now there is a new Generation on the rise, aptly named Z. People still poke fun at the millennial generation with idiosyncratic jokes, but the Generation Z will be at the workplace in about a decade’s time.

With that said, the questions companies must ask themselves include: What drives this newest generation of young workers? What is required to keep them engaged in the workplace? Understanding how to adapt the workplace culture to the needs of Generation Z will help give companies a competitive edge. Importantly, Generation Z must also consider how they themselves must adapt. It will not be about them solely shaping the future workplace, but also how the future workplace will shape them. As Generation Z will be required to respond to new problems, opportunities and unknowns presented by the digital economy, read on to discover six key ways Generation Z differs from other generations in the workplace and what to consider when recruiting them into an organization.

1. Challenged attention spans Owing to their high level of engagement on a vast array of digital platforms and the volume of digital noise they field on a day-to-day basis, some research suggests Generation Z is growing up with shorter attention spans than its predecessors. Research has pointed to the hypothesis that exposure to the constant distraction of multi-channel notifications across digital platforms is potentially re-wiring the cognitive pathways of those born and raised in the digital age.

With this in mind, employers must consider what organisational measures to put in place to optimize workflow and well-being amongst employees of this generation. This phenomenon further presents business owners and product developers with previously unforeseen opportunities to cater to this shift through new and innovative products and technologies.

Take, for example, AdBlocker, of which 51 percent of Americans now utilise to stop unwanted ads popping up whilst they surf the net - a product which 50 years ago was probably inconceivable to most. In conjunction with mental health experts and organizations, Facebook and Instagram have also introduced tools that restrict the amount of time people spend on apps. Users can monitor just how long they’ve spent scrolling and swiping away the hours, set a reminder for when they’ve reached their allocated time, and limit notifications. Additionally, Generation Z’s experience in filtering through high volumes of content means they are uniquely positioned to help their organisations evolve their approach to more effective marketing strategies to both internal and external stakeholders because they are easily distracted.

2. Second-Nature Digital Literacy (and Distraction) Another spin-off of Generation Z’s aptitude and experience with managing multiple devices, digital platforms and information streams, is that this cohort has consequently trained themselves to become professional digital multi-taskers. They can be listening to a podcast, reading an email, flicking through Instagram and rearranging their desktop in a separate window, all at the same time. While it may sound grand, multi-tasking doesn’t necessarily equate to focus, and a distracted workforce can have a negative impact on a business’s ability to value-add to the society. If employees aren’t fully engaged by content that is critical to doing their jobs well, their overall productivity and performance will suffer. That, in turn, could undermine business innovation and well-being. There are many schools of thought regarding the attention span of the younger generations. Significantly, findings from Prezi’s 2018 State of Attention report demonstrated that today’s workers are “definitely distracted”, with “ninety-five percent of all business professionals surveyed say they multitask during meetings”.

The study also found evidence that attention spans were not only “intact” across generations, but also expanding in younger generations due to the requirement to juggle a lot of “noise”. (above we are talking about how they are not expanding - generation z’s attention span is getting less is the general conversation above so this statement is a contradiction). That’s important information for businesses as many organ