Nowadays, when the labor market has been restored from the lockdowns of COVID-19, more and more people are looking for jobs. Belonging to different generations, people have different values and expectations of a workplace which employers should necessarily consider to recruit talented workers. The millennials and z-generation are among the most numerous in the job market; their perception of an ideal workplace reflects the desire to maintain a reasonable life-work balance and flexibility they aspire to have. Employers should consider numerous issues that help millennials and z-generation workers to boost their performance and, at the same time, single out stumbling blocks on their way to progress.
Millennials, as well as young people belonging to the z-generation, tend to prioritize life-work balance and flexibility at the workplace. However, having suffered a major setback in the job market in 2008-2009, millennials appreciate stability more than the z-generation. They are apprehensive about losing their job, which, on the one hand, “has led to the creation of a work-obsessed “hustle culture” and, on the other, has resulted in “a widespread sense of burnout” (Article CoursePack Generation Gap). Thus, to help millennials boost their performance, employers must ensure the stability of working positions in any crisis. Moreover, they should be careful not to overload their employees as the life-work balance is an essential part of a good job, the violation of which may lead to all kinds of frustrations.
The difficulties that other workers may experience working together with millennials may stem from the fact that most millennials cannot stand criticism. They see it as an encroachment of their personal boundaries and are averse to anybody trying to correct them. However, critique is useful since it boosts performance, so it is the managers’ task to educate millennials about criticism and how to take it adequately. Another problem of working with millennials lies in the fact that sometimes they cannot manage their time effectively. Indeed, they are prone to making personal calls and talking loudly in the office, which may hinder other people’s concentration and ultimate results. As millennials are used to typing messages, some people, especially those belonging to older generations, may not understand their abbreviations which causes misunderstanding. That is why, in the millennial cohort, education about written communication should necessarily be introduced. I have had a personal experience of working with the millennials, and I can say that their disrespect for private boundaries, like talking on personal themes at work, can be rather discomforting. I found that I could be distracted from my task by loud talks on personal matters that I have witnessed among this age group.
Z-generation is young people, most of whom have entered the labor market at the height of the pandemic, which led to the adoption of certain values by this group of people. As well as the millennials, the z-generation appreciates a reasonable life-work balance and autonomy; however, young people who did not live through the job crisis of 2008-2009 tend to be more affirmative in the job they want (Agarwal & Vaghela, 2018). Thus, most of them want flexible jobs, either remote or allowing them to plan their time in accordance with their private needs and not a company’s requirements (Hoffwor, 2021). Furthermore, the z-generation appreciates autonomy and is more focused on working alone and solving challenging tasks than upholding the team spirit.
The difficulties other generations may face in working with the z-generation people stem from their lack of team spirit and limited social skills. Indeed, it would take an effort to form an effective team with z-generation as they are focused on autonomous work. Furthermore, since they appreciate their time, it could be difficult to organize events where all workers, including z-generation, could participate.
Though both focused on an adequate life-work balance, millennials, and z-generation are different in their attitude to work. The difficulties of working with millennials may lie with their addiction to typing messages, speaking loudly on the phone, and intolerance to criticism. The issues that may hinder work with z-generation stem from the fact that they prefer to work autonomously and have disregard for team spirit.
References
Article CoursePack Generation Gap.
Hoffwor, H. (2021). Gen Z and millennials actually want the same things at work. But Gen Z has the upper hand. Insider. Web.
Agarwal, H., & Vaghela, P. (2018). Work values of Gen Z: Bridging the gap to the next generation. In INC-2018–National Conference on Innovative Business Management Practices in 21st Century. Web.