How Gen Z are reshaping work culture

This post is all about Gen Z in the workplace and one simple truth:

society isn’t built for us in Gen Z.

Nothing is really designed for us, not most universities, not most workplaces, and definitely not social networks like LinkedIn.

The reality of being a Zoomer (a person born in Gen Z) in 2022 is making your own way in a world that isn’t meant to help you. It’s built for people 20-40 years older than us, who have had very different experiences from us.

What is Gen Z?

If you’re asking this, you’re probably not in Gen Z.

Gen Z are people born from 1997 to 2012, we came after Millennials/Gen Y (people born between 1981-1996) but before Gen Alpha (2012 ~ 2025) and we make up most of the younger people in your workforce. Nice to meet you!

Our childhoods included the internet, constant whirlwinds of financial crises, mass unemployment, and endless distractions. Most of us don’t really know a world before the internet as Millennials do, it’s always something that’s been a part of our lives. We probably won’t be able to afford to buy our own houses like the generations before us, and I am not sure all of us would actually want to.

It sounds bad, and it is. There’s no point pretending it isn’t. But it’s made us stronger. It’s made us aim for different things in life. Because we’ve had the internet all our lives we’ve seen a lot more experiences and views from across the world, as a generation we’re more likely to be guided by our personal convictions like gender equality, racial equality and mental wellbeing. We may have less, but we know our worth. So how do we fit into the complicated world of business today?

What can Gen Z bring to the workplace?

Most of us have brilliant technical ability compared to the standards set before us. We’re used to learning fast because we’ve always had to adapt. We bring a fresh worldview that’s post-internet (ok, present-internet, but post its beginnings), and we’re not afraid to challenge what came before if we think we can make things better.

We’ve always had limited job security - we know nothing’s safe or permanent in our employment. That means we generally won’t just settle for a salary in a job we hate, because the world of working the same job for years doesn’t exist for us. But if we believe in what we’re doing, we’ll go above and beyond to get it done.

What is Gen Z good at in the workplace?

Above all else, adapting. We can fit in anywhere and be whatever we need to be to get things done. We have fresh ideas about how things should be done, and if there’s space for us to improve a workplace, we’ll do it. But if there’s not (and there often isn’t), we’ll quietly work and make other plans. For us, jobs aren’t permanent, we live in a world of zero-hour contracts, constantly jumping from job to job to stay afloat. That’s all we’ve really known. A real job is more than just a paycheck to us, we associate our identities with what we do, we’re passionate about the causes we believe in and if those are reflected in our work there’s no stopping us.

What is Gen Z bad at in the workplace?

We’re not good at accepting things that work badly or putting up with people who can’t understand basic technology. It’s like riding a bicycle for us, and while older generations have had to learn a lot of new things, this has always been our world.

It’s what we know best. Telling us to do something the wrong way just because it’s always been done that way is bad management and a waste of our potential. We invest a lot of ourselves into our jobs, which is a good thing, but if we find out our employer doesn’t match our values, we’re usually in a position where we can just leave and find something else. We spend most of our time looking for what’s next because we haven’t lived in a world where job security is a thing.

How will Gen Z change the world of work?

Maybe this all sounds hypothetical, maybe if you’re not in Gen Z, this is something you don’t really care about. But by 2025, Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce. A quarter of your team will be people who are full of ideas, who have been whirling from job to job their whole lives, who have had to fight to get to a basic level, and who are, above all else, so passionate and hopeful for a better world despite all that.

It’s not just about us in Gen Z, it’s about whom we want to be as a people. We’re all human beings, but we don’t all see each other that way. Gen Z will be the first generation to challenge that, to take our personal beliefs in fairness and equality into the workplace.

For us there’s never been an easy path forwards – so we’ll take the one that looks right instead, even if it’s more difficult.

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