Recently, India dethroned China as the world’s most populous country when its population reached a whopping 1.42 billion. A UN analysis has indicated that India’s population will continue to grow for the next three decades, till 2050. According to the report, as high as 68 per cent of India’s total population is between the ages of 15 and 64, which is considered the working-age population in most countries. Moreover, the median age in India will be under 34 for the next decade. This will signal a “paradigm shift” for India’s development. While ageing populations may place additional strains on healthcare and other welfare systems in other countries, India’s population clearly comes with a huge potential to boost its economy – what economists usually call the “demographic dividend”. This is as opposed to a few decades ago when India’s population boom was described in menacing terms such as “population explosion”.
Importantly, millennials and Generation Z have come of age at a time when online platforms and social media are available and offer them the ability and power to share opinions, influence people and question authority, seamlessly. These forces have had a strong role to play in shaping their worldviews, values and behaviours. From MeToo to Black Lives Matter and the convening of protest marches on climate change, these generations are compelling real change in society. The influence of these truly digital natives is only expanding. While young people have always embodied the spirit of their times, the influence of Gen-Z – the first generation of true digital natives – has been enormous on account of these forces. As global connectivity soars, generational shifts could come to play a more important role in setting standards of social behaviour than economic forces have.
These seismic shifts also bring major implications for businesses, from both the consumer and employee perspectives. Among other things, studies have found that newer generations place less value on work for its own sake and that the concept of work centrality has declined.
According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Annual Report, 51 per cent of Gen-Z employees are more likely to prioritise health and well-being over work. They also list “positive culture” and a sense of purpose/meaning as their top priorities. Generally, they work to live versus live to work and they’re drawn to employers who share their personal values. LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Report has found that as much as 80 per cent of Gen-Z employees are looking to work for companies whose values align with their own.
Additionally, fostering a respectful, inclusive and diverse workplace culture is crucial to attracting and retaining top talent in today’s competitive job market. According to a survey by Monster, as much as 83 per cent of Gen-Z candidates said a company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is important to them.
Millennials and Gen-Z also like to seek out employers who truly support their long-term career goals and ambitions. Companies that recognise this and provide a high level of support – from more time for skill development to imparting “marketable” skills – are going to stay ahead in the war for talent.
Ironically, while Gen-Z employees are bringing their values and priorities to the workplace, research shows that Gen-Z is struggling with engagement at work. According to a 2022 Gallup Poll, 54 per cent of Gen-Z employees are ambivalent about work or not engaged at work.
As such, it is essential for managers to understand what drives this generation, to support their Gen-Z employees and earn their full engagement.
Deloitte, in its report “Welcome to Gen-Z” notes that although money and salary are significant to Gen-Z, other factors like work-life balance, flexible hours and perks and benefits are deeply valued because of the circumstances in which they grew up. In fact, in choosing between a higher-paying yet uninteresting job and a lower-paying but more engaging one, Gen Z appears to be equally divided. Of all the factors they value at work, flexibility and adaptability stand at the top.
Similar trends were seen in a study by Fiverr (a popular online marketplace for freelancers), which collected answers from over 7000 Gen-Z individuals around the world. The study showed that Gen-Z prioritises flexible, passion-driven work and entrepreneurship. As much as 40 per cent of the Zoomers (Gen-Z) surveyed want to own a business or freelance throughout their career. 71 per cent of the respondents said “flexible working hours or the ability to be self-driven were top priorities when looking for a new job”. One-third of those surveyed reported that they work harder when working on something they are passionate about.
Given the preferences for flexibility and greater agency among these generations, we may have to rely more on intrinsic motivation as opposed to external rewards when it comes to Gen-Z.
In this context, the work of Edward L Deci, a well-known professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, on the negative effects external rewards can have on intrinsic motivation is worth examining. Specifically, if external rewards are seen as controlling or coercive, they can reduce a person’s interest in the task in question and decrease their sense of autonomy. Deci conducted a series of experiments in which participants were given tasks to complete and were either offered rewards or not. He found that while rewards could initially increase performance, they also decreased intrinsic motivation in those who received them. Furthermore, when the rewards were removed, the decline in performance was sharper among the participants who had received rewards than among the participants who had never been offered any.
Bestselling American author Daniel Pink has popularised these ideas, and his persuasive advice on founding motivation on the three pillars of autonomy, mastery and purpose fits in well with this generation.
Coming to our core topic of the future of work and Gen-Z, we can find an aha moment from watching the excellent interplay of technology and mindset. The flexibility that digital technologies enable in the design and delivery of work is exactly what Gen-Z wants. In turn, the mindsets and preferences of Gen-Z prepare them more than other generations to exploit fully the potential of a technology-led future of work.
However, flexibility must go beyond tokenism and avoid mere band-aid solutions. The need of the hour is for managers to value the genuine blending of work and personal life and to look beyond “presenteeism”. Interestingly, managers often forget that they too are employees.
The future of work can thrive only in futuristic cultures that foster experimentation and failure. The culture of the future must move away from the authoritarian styles of the past, for they do not work when it comes to Gen-Z employees. The future generations of workers cannot be ordered around. They will flourish in a culture of mentorship and coaching. Young talent is eager to flex its entrepreneurial muscle. Allowing it to dream up and test bold ideas is clearly the way to go.
Additionally, organisations must ensure real-time communication between the young workforce and the top management. This is what a McKinsey report calls putting “communication on steroids”. Not only does the young workforce expect two-way communication, with inputs from everyone, but it also expects prompt action. It is also important to explain to these youth how their individual contributions matter and if they have made a difference at the workplace.
Excerpted with permission from Shaping the Future of Work: Build Flexible Work Options and Unleash the Human Capital of Bharat, Chandrasekhar Sripada, Penguin India.
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