I did a lot of reading over the holidays and was exploring all the new “generations” upon us.
I was fascinated by the studies on my daughters era — the Gen Z!
Gen Z:
These are the kids born after the Gen Ys — the Millenials. They have never known a world without the Internet, mobile devices or ‘I’ everything! For their entire life, they have had instant access to mountains of data on any topic that flutters through their imaginations. They crave constant and immediate feedback. But they have also grown up hearing about global warming, 9-11, and have been subjected to terror alerts of varying colors and watched their parents weather the recent economic crisis.
Gen Z is going to have little interest in sitting behind a desk for 40 hours a week [source 1=”<a” 2=”href="http://www.justmeans.com/Jesse-Medalia-Strauss–A-Gen-Z-Perspective-on-Careers-and-Employment/46205.html">Page</a>” language=”:”][/source]. They demand to freelance, and want to swoop in with their particular expertise (they’ll all be an expert in something) but then move on.
Gen Z has more of an entrepreneurial spirit
17% of Gen Z vs. 11% of Gen Y wants to start a business and hire others.
For Gen Z, it’s not about the money … yet
Only 28% of Gen Z said money would motivate them to work harder and stay with their employer longer, as opposed to 42% of Gen Y.
Gen Z prefers face-to-face communication over technology
Gen Z grew up with technology, yet 53% percent prefer in-person communication over tools like instant messaging and video conferencing.
According to Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding and Author of Promote Yourself, the study reveals other attributes that distinguish Gen Z and Gen Y employees. “Gen Z has a clear advantage over Gen Y because they appear to be more realistic instead of optimistic, are likely to be more career-minded, and can quickly adapt to new technology to work more effectively,” Schawbel said. “Additionally, since Gen Z has seen how much Gen Y has struggled in the recession, they come to the workplace better prepared, less entitled and more equipped to succeed.”
Do you agree?
And then there is the impact on the Enterprise. I loved this thought on Gen D enterprises!
Gen D:
A new class of enterprise is emerging with a fresh approach to improving business. Generation D, is made up of data-rich, analytically driven enterprises. They understand the unique and powerful value of data and analytics, analytics, and they know how to combine that with cloud, social and mobile technologies to transform
their enterprises.