Stereotypes about different employee age groups might be absolute tripe but as the numbers of gen Z in the workforce grow, Luke Shipley, CEO and co-founder of Zinc and proud millennial, argues its high time for a dedicated recruitment and retention strategy for this cohort.
The entrance of new generations into the workforce is always wrought with friction. It wasn’t that long ago that the word ‘millennial’ was uttered with scepticism by generation X, who often accused us of being entitled or lacking work ethic.
Now, as businesses get to grips with how best to manage the gen Z’ers entering the fold and the gen alphas trailing just behind, we’re seeing the same.
Whether it’s claims they aren’t motivated to work or are too reliant on technology, allowing these unfair stereotypes to fester distracts from the immense value they bring.
If they’re already set to make up a quarter of the workforce by next year it’s only a matter of time before they become the dominant generation in the workforce. Hiring teams are doing themselves a disservice if they don’t have a dedicated strategy to recruit and retain them.
It must be recognised that even if the tropes are untrue, these younger workers are still markedly different from generations past. Businesses that bring them aboard now and plan for their development will benefit in the long run as they grow into seasoned workers with deeper understandings of their organisations – but that won’t happen by accident.
Nurture the candidate experience
Hiring standards have risen among young people in the post-pandemic years. Shifts towards flexible work created expectations that technology would make the working world more streamlined, even during the interview process.
As a result, hiring teams need the right tools to get things like background checks and onboarding done swiftly and efficiently to ensure a strong first impression that keeps gen Z applicants engaged throughout the process.
The consequence of failing to nurture a positive candidate experience is simple but painful: great talent will gravitate towards those who can and future applicants could be dissuaded from applying. Already, 86% of UK job seekers admit to abandoning interview processes and ghosting recruiters, wasting time that already stretched teams could better spend sourcing candidates or providing feedback. Dips in communication or delays risk impacting a candidate’s interest and organisations can’t risk letting targets slip through their fingers.
Gen Z applicants who feel engaged throughout the process via timely updates about their status, consistent communication and regular touchpoints are far less likely to disappear from hiring teams’ radars. And better engagement can be achieved through automating tasks like verifying credentials and liaising with candidates.
Balance speed with diligence
However, moving quickly cannot come at the expense of diligence. Bad hires are costly to replace for one. But in highly regulated sectors like education or financial services, the stakes are even higher with penalties for non-compliance reaching the tens of thousands.
In education for instance, Zinc has seen global right-to-work checks increase 163 percent to coincide with rising fines for employing illegal migrants.
Organisations that prioritise improving how quickly and accurately HR teams can verify candidate credentials are less likely to be saddled with hefty fines or workers who aren’t best suited for the role. It also carves out time to focus on more rewarding – and valuable – work like devising new initiatives and improving DE&I.
As gen Z are typically more purpose-driven than older workers, this has the added benefit of creating an environment they are more likely to feel connected to. A major part of retaining younger staff members is understanding what they value and aligning existing policies accordingly. Creating an inclusive culture is becoming increasingly critical but it’s a big task, one that becomes even harder to manage if HR is bogged down in manually searching for and sifting through talent.
Listen to digital natives’ tech needs
The greater emphasis younger workers tend to place on work-life balance has resulted in them understanding better than most how technology can save them time without compromising on productivity. Burdening them with manual processes once they’ve been hired does not bode well for their longevity at the organisation.
This applies to any department, even HR. There is no reason that mundane and time consuming tasks like tracking applicants’ statuses and verifying their work histories can’t be handled by technology given the litany of platforms available today. HR leaders must not shy away from these tools in fear it will replace their teams. They should see them as a way to ease people’s workloads and attract younger, digital natives to the function.
Creating an environment where workflows align with how people want to work is critical, and adapting to the needs of gen Z is no different.
Succeeding throughout the workforce transition
Much attention has been paid to how different gen Z is to older groups, but soon all that will be moot. Once they make up the bulk of the workforce, the focus will inevitably shift to how generation alpha differs and the ways businesses can best attract them.
Until then, the businesses that are best positioned to succeed during the workforce’s transition are those that recognise gen Z’s unique needs and expectations, and work to fulfil them – even before they’ve been extended a formal offer.
This paves the way for them to grow with their organisation and deliver the kind of value that only comes from having a fuller understanding of the business’ goals and its ways of working.
