Gen Z will make up more than a quarter of the global workforce by 2025, according to McCrindle Research data. However, when it comes to retaining staff of Gen Z (those born between 1995-2009), employers need to better understand and support the Gen Z workforce in building their offline professional personas, says leading Gen Z expert and social researcher, Claire Madden.
As more and more Australian workers are being encouraged to return to the office, Claire says that Gen Z is at risk of increased anxiety because they’re not as confident as older generations when it comes to interpersonal skills and face-to-face interactions.
“Following The Great Resignation, it seems like we may now have The Great IRL Hesitation: people feeling awkward in office interactions, presenting, asking for help, and even just picking up the phone for a call can fill many Gen-Z and Millennial employees with dread and create a feeling of apprehension,” explains Claire.
“It makes sense for an offering like Prologue by NIDA to come along, that not only helps Gen Z with crafting their offline persona and communicating effectively in the workplace, but also delivers entertaining and insightful content in a way that works for them,” adds Claire Madden.
In addition to investing in courses such as Prologue by NIDA, Claire’s top tips for managers of the Gen Z workforce are:
Facilitate a supportive relational environment in your workplace culture. Teaming up colleagues to work together on a project will help Gen Z build offline relationships and feel like they can be their true authentic selves at work.
Give Gen Z achievable opportunities to grow their confidence in face-to-face communication – including training and development, and contexts where they can share their knowledge.
Creating pathways that provide Gen Z with personal and professional development is key to a retention strategy.
Secure foundations and positive sense of self-awareness and confidence within Gen Z because this will translate to confidence in interactions with colleagues and clients.
Provide regular, ongoing, positive and constructive feedback to Gen Z. They have become conditioned to regular feedback through online platforms. In the workplace they like to know whether they are doing things well and how to improve in their work. Remember it doesn’t take long to give a positive compliment after you see a staff member do a good job.
