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09 March 2023 | Press Release
As US job openings continue to reach historic highs, companiesurgently need Gen Z workers. And according to a new study, the businesses that win them—and keep them—will be the companies that put a laser-like focus on understanding what matters most to them.
The Conference Board report explores the most important motivations of Gen Z, a cohort that is expected to represent nearly a third of the workforce by 2025.
Based on interviews with more than 100 Gen Zers, they place the biggest premium on five critical values: adequate compensation, control, safety and wellness, growth, and purpose. While these objectives are important to all generations of employees, for Gen Zers, they are imperatives.
The report also explores what makes Gen Z—those born in 1997 or later—a force to be reckoned with. Unlike previous generations, their comfort with evolving technology and using social media to amplify their concerns makes them unique. Also influencing their views, Gen Zers completed their education remotely and started their careers during especially turbulent times—the COVID-19 pandemic, extraordinary economic uncertainty, geopolitical turmoil, and deep societal unrest.
The insights in the study reflect virtual focus groups and online polls with Gen Z workers—both hourly and knowledge workers—between November 2022 and January 2023.
To best attract, engage, and retain Gen Zers, companies should:
Reevaluate starting salaries and increase pay transparency.
Give them as much flexibility as possible over where and when they work.
“Many Gen Z knowledge workers finished their education and started their careers on virtual platforms during the pandemic. For them, hybrid work is the expectation,” said Robin Erickson, PhD, Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “Business leaders should discuss the importance of schedule flexibility and hybrid work with the entire C-suite to ensure their buy in and update policies about where and when work is accomplished to optimize worker autonomy and control.”
Provide opportunities for development—both internal and external.
“Many Gen Zers say adequate compensation isn’t enough to stay with a company—they need opportunities to learn and grow,” said Barbara Lombardo, PhD, Distinguished Principal Research Fellow and Program Director at The Conference Board. “Organizations must make sure these opportunities are not only available but are clearly communicated. Employees need to know they’ll be able to build and advance a career at the company—because for many of them, finding a new job is not difficult given the current labor shortage.”
Develop a culture of safety and wellness that genuinely supports employees while on the job and respects their boundaries beyond the workplace.
Ensure leaders are living the organization’s values in how they communicate with and treat employees.
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