By Priti Dargad and Lopamudra Sanyal

Multi-generational workplaces are the norm today from baby boomers to Gen Z working alongside each other. Unsurprisingly, the coexistence of these generations make the workplace more dynamic and necessitate talent practices to be broad that honour each generations’ uniqueness. However, the addition of Gen Z has necessitated a people-centric talent framework than ever before. 

The term ‘Gen Z’ is used for people born during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The World Economic Forum predicts that Gen Z will account for one-third of the workforce globally by 2025.   In the Indian context, Gen Z accounts for roughly 18% of the overall workforce and 27% of the overall population. The Indian social impact space now has an increasing population of Gen Z seeking resonance and meaning between their personal and professional avatars. 

Gen Z are digital natives. They are an innovative, adaptable, and most diverse cohort with respect to gender identities, ethnicities, and interests. They value authenticity, freedom, avoid labels and are vocal about mental health and wellbeing. They encompass an innate ability to coexist in a world that has many choices- be it sexual and gender identities, religious faith, science and alternative theories, political opinions, work or leisure. Certainly, these characteristics and behaviours are affected by several contextual factors but largely this cohort when compared to its previous generations, exhibit similar traits within their respective contexts.

The clarity of purpose, the digital prowess, the emphasis on wellbeing and work-life balance and the aversion to bureaucracy that Gen Z have brought with them feels almost refreshing and brings the civil society sector, among many others, at an inflection point where a lot of action needs to meet thought. Here are some viable strategies to accommodate the individual characteristics of each generation at the modern workplace: 

Unpacking A-B-C: Accountability and transparency

  1. With changing size and compositions of teams, accountability and its contours need to be revisited to ensure harmonious processes and relationships. Clear articulation of the expectations, addressing issues flagged by the employees and providing them with adequate resources are vital to this effort.
  2. The multi-generational workplace today with the addition of Gen Z is increasingly averse to hierarchy. Typically, employees in starting roles, have limited access to organisation’s strategies and planning. If organisations wish to engage and retain Gen Z better, they will have to make deliberate efforts to make their processes more democratic.  This also includes keeping room to engage and change a few decisions based on employee consultations.
  3. Accountability is a two way street. The leadership must lead by example and ensure open channels of communications with all employees.  There is a lot that leadership can learn from young employees and vice versa. Trends point towards the need for conventions to be challenged and for Honest, Open and Two-way (HOT) communication to flow across.

Benefit (Mutual)

  1. Compensation and Benefits: Many Zers entered the workplace in the backdrop of the pandemic and uncertainties brought about by the same. The impact of myriad, radical changes to our daily lives has hit younger generations hard—economically and socially. Organisations must acknowledge that Zers are joining the social sector at an opportunity and financial cost. Given the sector’s challenge in access to funds, can organisations prioritise re-evaluating compensation policies and introduce incremental changes to keep remunerations fair and equitable?
  2. Create career paths and invest in learning and development – Gen Z is ambitious and independent. They seek career development, mentorship and learning in a workplace. The indications are for organisations to explicitly discuss their interests and growth when hiring and assign roles accordingly. Investments in L&D and opportunities to expand or redesign roles must be structurally offered to employees. In return, such an approach will elevate the collective potential of the organisation and improve ownership, quality and long-term commitment to their work. 
  3. Develop intrapreneurs – This is the era of entrepreneurs and innovators. The present-day workplace and talent need an environment of independence where employees can run their programs as their own ventures. Ownership and responsibility that comes with such an operating model could have long lasting impacts on the organisation’s mission.

Culture and Processes 

People, their behaviour and interconnectedness are the underpinnings of culture in all organisations:

  1. Enable a diverse, inclusive and collaborative workplace: This generation values diversity more than ever before. Diversity ensures representation and enhances overall workplace capabilities. An inclusive culture creates a feeling of belonging and elevates organisational performance and wellbeing. 
  2. Ensure work-life balance: Modern employees seek a balance between professional obligations and personal commitments. Practices like flexible working hours, hybrid working, job sharing, part time work and compressed work weeks could create a work environment conducive to both.  Additionally, there is a need to give adequate attention to employee wellbeing and mental health in the interest of organisational capacity and reduced attrition.
  3. Value and mission alignment: The social impact space needs committed individuals who keep the end goal as their guiding light. Keeping Gen Zers connected to the mission and allowing them to engage with it deeply will not only help the organisations retain them but also develop leaders of tomorrow.

The call for amplified accountability (and transparency), better (mutual) benefit and concentration on culture (and processes) is writ large for all talent managers, particularly for the social impact space. Social purpose organisations (SPOs) have been reinventing themselves in the last few decades to keep pace with the complex developmental concerns this episteme has witnessed. It becomes all the more vital for these organisations to bring the same reflection and restructuring to their workplaces in their journeys to create lasting impact at scale. 

In the future, Zers will increasingly influence workplaces. Our ability to make systemic changes at the organisational and policy levels will determine if we navigate this multi-generational talent pool as barriers or opportunities for reinvention. The real-time requirements for sector professionals are fast evolving in keeping with the issues they are responding to. SPO leaders need to look beyond obsolete structures and rigid utilitarian processes towards greater transparency, equity and alignment with values internally. 

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The ABC framework, in some ways, is just the tip of the ice-berg. We would need to continue to excavate (perhaps all the way up to Z) to be able to truly capture the impelling professional changes of the new generation.  Undoubtedly, it will take patient effort, un/learning and mentoring to co-create a workspace where these young minds flourish into leaders of tomorrow. 

The authors are associated with Global Knowledge Hub, ISDM