Yahoo Finance Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers
Gen Z workers aren’t happy on the job.
Of the four working generations, those born starting in the late 1990s are more likely to say their work is frustrating and overwhelming, according to one survey. Another found that Zoomers are more likely to say they have little energy for non-work activities at the end of the day. The obvious result? The youngest generation is more likely to report looking for a new job or have quit recently, a third survey found.
That’s a problem for employers, which lose a lot of money for each departing worker. But experts say managers can retain these young workers by better understanding their needs and implementing strategies to meet them.
"Fundamentally, [the workforce] is broken," Chason Hecht, founder and CEO of Retensa, a consulting company that specializes in worker retention, told Yahoo Finance. "The disease is causing the ailment that is quiet quitting and the Great Resignation. That's not the problem. That's the manifestation of this underlying sort of chasm between the needs, wants and expectations of the modern employee and what employers are providing."
‘Fully loaded cost of turnover’
A recent Bankrate survey of 2,417 US adults found that Gen Z was more likely to report quitting a job and getting a new job in the last year than any other generation. It also found that 55% of Gen Z workers report they are “very likely” to look for a new job in the next 12 months, versus 43% of millennials, 28% of Gen Xers, and 13% of baby boomers.
That’s a wake-up call for employers, said Jeff Wahl, CEO of Big Blue Marble Academy, a provider in early childhood education. Wahl said the company focused on retention during the "quiet quitting" trend and the Great Resignation period during the pandemic. He says he was able to keep voluntary turnover to just 1% — versus the national average of 17.8% in 2021 and 2022, per Mercer — and said that retaining Gen Z workers can save managers major hardship down the line.
For instance, replacing a single employee can cost one and a half to two times that employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup, which characterized the estimate as "conservative."
"Only do this if you're willing to be honest in the calculation, but for those that are driven by the numbers, calculate the fully loaded cost of your turnover and you will be amazed. You will be absolutely positively amazed at how high it is," Wahl said. "That's what you're doing today. What if you invested one half of that number through investments in your employees?"
'Working when they want to work'
One place to start is with workplace flexibility. The Bankrate survey found that 61% of Gen Zers said they were likely to ask their managers for more flexibility in the next year.
"The Gen Z worker has an interest in working when they want to work, and that might not align perfectly with when your manager wants to work," said Hecht.
That may or may not mean working from home.
"It's a myth that every Gen Z wants to work from home. What they want is the flexibility that when something happens, you have a sick relative or you're not feeling well or there's construction going out of your home," Lindsey Pollak, author of The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplaces, told Yahoo Finance. "It’s possible to be very productive from home. And you know that you can have all the tools you need at home. So, it makes less sense that someone would not approve that request."
But that flexibility may help these young workers go from time-on to time-off better. A survey of 1,000 US workers from SHRM, the trade organization for Human Resources professionals, found that 63% of Generation Z had little energy to participate in non-work activities by the end of the workday, compared with 54% of millennials, 44% of Gen Xers, and 33% of baby boomers.
To help younger workers manage their time off, Pollak said employers must provide clear paid time off, or PTO, policies. For instance, she advised against telling an employee "take a reasonable amount of PTO."
"Have a clear policy and explain it," Pollak said, offering an example of two weeks of vacation plus 10 PTO days.
“Because we want you to have the flexibility you need to take care of your life, but it's important to us that we know when you're going to be in the office so other people can plan their schedules,” Pollak said. “That is a clear and understandable policy.”
'What does it actually take?'
Advancement is also important for Zoomers. Companies often offer exit interviews to employees who quit, but Pollak said they should offer so-called "stay conversations" instead. In such conversations, employers should help employees understand what they can do to progress in their role and ask how they can support them as they advance.
"What does it actually take?" Pollak said. "Questioning the way things have always been done in terms of career paths and promotions to be specific in the metrics it takes to get to the next level."
When it comes to advancement, a clear path forward is key, Wahl said.
"We had to say, ‘okay, this is how you can do it. This is where you're at. And this is the next role that you can go into and this is what the investment would be,'" he said.
'Begins with building trust'
For Zoomers, the need for regular communication is paramount to create a strong connection with their employer. For instance, at the Big Blue Marble Academy, Wahl said he regularly hosts monthly virtual coffees and town halls to check in with employees.
"It really begins with building trust, and showing respect, and putting down like generational divides, and showing flexibility, and just asking them — so we go through extensive, what we refer to as 'gaining voice of customer,'" said Wahl.
Wahl also uses technology to provide different avenues for communication, a strategy that reaches young people. Big Blue Marble Academy previously struggled to keep prospective employees during the recruitment process, but then the company implemented a tech platform called Mainstay, which reaches both potential candidates and new hires with chatbots and texts to answer questions.
"That's really helped us better communicate with them, and engage with their demographic," he said. "Also, through AI chat bots, we can quickly communicate with and engage and ensure timely follow up with every single one of them when they apply, from the time that they applied to 30 days into their new role."
Pollak recommended that companies employ a method called "reverse mentoring," in which junior and senior employees meet regularly to discuss their perspectives on the workplace.
That mix could help increase workplace satisfaction and counter negative feelings younger workers have about their jobs. For instance, older employees are more likely to find their jobs enjoyable and fulfilling, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, while Gen Z is more likely to find work stressful and overwhelming. Reaching out to that younger generation can help managers find out why that disparity exists.
"The simple thing anybody can do to get better at this is to have a conversation with Gen Z," Pollak said. "Very senior executives will say to me, ‘what do my Gen Z's want?’ And I always say, ‘have you asked them?’ You have to get to know people and talk to them."
Dylan Croll is a Yahoo Finance reporter.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
