Global Intergenerational Week runs from 24th to 30th April this year and it’s an annual worldwide campaign that encourages everyone to embrace intergenerational practice and relationships. At Comma, we’re proud to be a team of three different generations and celebrate the different experiences, perspectives and vocabulary we each bring. You can take a look at our profiles here and get to know who makes up Comma.
Recently, a very unhelpful article began floating around that calls out Gen Z as ‘lazy’, ‘unreasonable’, and ‘demanding’. In my role as an Internal Comms recruiter, and as someone toeing the line of being a Gen Z myself, I’m engaging with Gen Z talent first-hand. And let me tell you, they’re FAR from lazy.
The article’s author seemed to forget many Gen Z workers entered the job market during a pandemic. They’ve navigated uncertainties, economic crisis and worldwide disruption from the get-go. Just like our attitudes to hybrid working completely shifted post-pandemic, it would be crazy to think their generations’ motivators or expectations wouldn’t be different after that introduction to work.
The motivators are shifting for these young professionals. I’m repeatedly hearing from Gen Z candidates that they want:
✅volunteering days,
✅sustainability initiatives,
✅flexible working arrangements,
✅healthy work-life balance
…as their non-negotiables in their jobs. And they’re often placing those values above the salary. They’re looking for companies that prioritise EVP (Employee Value Proposition).
At Comma, I count myself very lucky to be part of a company that fully embraces these values. That’s why I’ve been supported and encouraged to dedicate time out of my workweek to begin volunteering at a local charity to provide communications support where it’s needed most. That is what makes me a proud employee and that’s what I’m going to tell my (Gen Z) friends about when we chat about work – not my annual salary.
As the job market picks up and more opportunities arise, it’s crucial for hiring managers to understand what motivates this next generation of talent and to help dispel the harmful narrative around our future workforce by embracing the change, not resisting it.
If you’re unsure how to appeal to Gen Z talent or showcase your EVP effectively, we’re three generations helping organisations to attract and retain the best and brightest comms talent of every generation.
The future is diverse, don’t get left behind.
