- March 29, 2021
- By Joshua Reid
- Generation Z
- company , gen z , generation gap , generation z , genz , hiring , young professional , young professionals
What do companies gain from integrating young professionals?
Although older employees are working longer due to the advancements of medicine, eventually they will have to retire. This creates an opening in the company that could be filled with younger professionals. However, most companies would refuse to bring in young professionals from Generation Z either because they believe that they aren’t necessary at the current moment or because they feel that Generation Z’s young professionals will be “unfocused” if they are given work because of the technological and social media age they grew up in.
But what about those companies that want to bridge the generation gap in their workforce now?
What about those companies that see potential in Generation Z’s young professionals. but are still on edge about how this new generation can help their company?
In an article titled “Generation Z Enters the Workforce,” Kelly Monahan, a manager for Deloitte Services LP, argues that, as the newest generation to enter the workforce, Generation Z professionals will undoubtedly be compared to Generations X and Y, both in what they lack and in what they can contribute (i.e. a better understanding of technology).
Despite what Gen Z can bring to the workforce, Monahan notes, based on a study conducted at the time by 4,000 Gen Z participants, that 92% of the participants were concerned that technology was hampering their ability to have interpersonal relationships and develop people skills. This weakening of interpersonal relationships and developed people skills could be one of the main reasons why some companies don’t wish to have Generation Z’s young professionals brought into their company just yet. A company may feel like these young professionals don’t have enough interpersonal relationships or well-developed people skills to be an effective part of their business.
“Technology has impacted the development of cognitive skills, including intellectual curiosity, among the next generation, creating the risk of skill gaps when they enter the workforce en masse. A shortfall in highly cognitive social skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and communication, could be particularly evident.”
If companies are looking to integrate young professionals into their workforce, they also have to recognize that most young professionals may not have fully developed people skills and the ability to create interpersonal relationships.
What companies gain from integrating young professionals is something that shouldn’t be lost. Generation Z is a generation that doesn’t define itself with too many labels, but instead focuses on the causes that motivate them. Because of the digital age in which they grew up, and because of social media, Gen Z is more expressive in their views; always on the lookout for causes that they believe in. Companies nowadays must capitalize on this in order to bring young professionals into their business.
Tracy Francis and Fernando Hoefel, writers for McKinsey & Company, argue that “Businesses must rethink how they deliver value to the consumer, rebalance scale and mass production against personalization, and—more than ever—practice what they preach when they address marketing issues and work ethics.” Furthermore, Francis and Hoefel argue that because of Generation Z’s close access to media and information, they are not only able to process more information but are also more analytical in their approach to decision making.
“Gen Zers, with vast amounts of information at their disposal, are more pragmatic and analytical about their decisions than members of previous generations were… This generation of self-learners is also more comfortable absorbing knowledge online than in traditional institutions of learning,” wrote Tracy Francis and Fernando Hoefel.
Gen Z’s ability to not only process more information but also be intentional in their decision-making process is a benefit to companies that are willing to bring them into their business. Additionally, Generation Z’s young professionals, thanks to the flood of information they are presented with on a daily basis, can easily think outside the box regarding a certain plan of action. For instance, let’s say a company is looking to better serve their companies in the field of marketing and advertisements but are struggling with finding a method that best fits the changing demographic of their customers.
This is where Generation Z can come in.
Generation Z’s young professionals can use their technological knowledge to find out how other businesses are working on their marketing and advertising campaigns and figure out how to compete with the other businesses or they can use what the company is suggesting for marketing and find a way to reach the changing demographic in a way that their competitors haven’t thought about.
Giving Gen Z’s young professionals a chance to utilize their technological knowledge and ability to think outside of the box can greatly benefit a company when it comes to not only marketing and advertisements and how to compete with other businesses but also with other related projects. Generation Z’s “out-of-the-box” way of thinking, in addition to the flood of information they are presented with on a daily basis, allows companies to see firsthand the many accomplishments that this up-and-coming generation can bring to the workforce.
