9 Workplace Behaviors Changing with Gen Z

With over 2 billion world population now termed Generation Z, they are now seen playing a key role in today’s economy. Millennials are currently the market leaders, but the statistics say that Gen Z will take up 27% of the workforce by 2025. Since Gen Zers are the first digital generation, their mindset and priorities are a lot different from Millennials.

Talking specifically about workplaces, they have a lot of different preferences and don’t seem to align with the current corporate environments. Since Gen Z has already started taking up corporate places, so it is worth knowing what are the main workplace behaviors going to change with Gen Z employees. So, let’s dig more around it and list some of the likely changes in workplaces with Gen Z.

The traditional workplace practices have remained operational for decades, but they are now hit badly by the COVID-19 pandemic and the changed mindset of Gen Z. So, how the workplace behaviors changing overall? Below are the 9 workplace behaviors changes coming up with Gen Z:

Prefer to Work Individually

Gen Z can work in teams. They can collaborate and work mutually to achieve common goals, which is what we see in the current workplace. However, they prefer to work individually and be assigned separate tasks. Gen Zers have the sense of showing their skills and tend to prove their abilities to employers. So, it is likely that Gen Z employees will be working separately on tasks but still intend to achieve common goals.

Relies on Productivity Apps

Gen Z is comfortable using email, spreadsheets, and the currently used apps in workplaces. However, they prefer to have more productivity apps for their assistance. For example, voice recognition, design tools, virtual assistants, no-coding platforms, online real-time collaboration tools, and similar others are gaining popularity among Gen Z. So, workplaces will soon have many productivity apps in place for the assistance of employees.

Central Communication and Interaction Environment within the Workplace

Gen Z is a digitally-driven generation. In fact, 98% of Gen Z own a smartphone and are addicted to having a central place to interact with others, usually in the form of groups on social media apps. So, Gen Z is coming into the workplace with the same mindset and tends to have a central communication channel where they can get all the company-related news and do all kinds of other interactions with colleagues and higher management.

Brief Meeting Sessions

Gone are the days when employees could stick to hours of meeting sessions. Today a culture of brief 15-minute meetings is becoming popular. Gen Z employees find themselves lost if a meeting continues for hours. In fact, they believe that they should not be part of those meetings where they have nothing to contribute. So, the traditional meeting practices will change into more brief sessions, focusing on specific goals.

More Benefits from Employers

Generation Z is more conscious about health, as 2 in 3 Gen Zers feel worried about their well-being and health. In fact, 82% of Gen Z employees want mental health days. They intend to have a more work-life balance and prefer those organizations that provide more well-being benefits. Gen Z also looks for companies that offer development training, like a first aid course that prepares employees with the skills to address emergencies in the workplace. 

It is found that benefits such as mental health days, paid time off, activities that provide a sense of community, and similar others engage Gen Z more. So, the workplaces will be having more employees’ well-being programs to engage and retain Gen Z.

Prefer a Competitive Environment

Gen Z likes competition and even intentionally dives into such practices. They like to test their limits and compete with others to showcase that they are smarter and more skilled. This competitive environment culture is not seen much with Millennials, so workplaces with Gen Z will have a more competitive ecosystem.

Increased Feedback Practices

Gen Z employees want to hear feedback from employers continuously. 66% of them say that they want feedback from their superiors every few weeks. Gen Zers are found to be more focused, motivated, and productive once they hear that their work is being appreciated. So, another changing workplace behavior is the increased feedback practices.

Hybrid Working Culture

The technological influence on Gen Z and the forced practices of remote working during the pandemic has changed the mindset of Gen Z on how offices work. Today Gen Z are more willing to work under a hybrid working culture where they have both on-site and remote working flexibility. This gives them a sense of more freedom and a better way to have a work-life balance. So, the hybrid working culture is going to influence workplaces a lot with every passing year.

More Vacation Time

More than half of Americans are not using all of their earned vacation days. It is because they are worried about the work, so it holds them back from having vacations. However, this environment is changing because Gen Z loves vacations to have a balanced life. In fact, they are even willing to take work with them during vacations. So, we will see more workplaces where employees will utilize earned vacations no matter how it impacts the project or lined-up works

Wrapping Up – More Workplace Behavioral Changes on their Way

Gen Z is going to surpass millennials in the workplace in the next few years. Once Gen Zers dominate the workplace, we will see an aggressive shift in workplace behaviors. The above 9 changes are just the prominent ones we will most likely witness.

However, Gen Z is a digitally-driven era, and technological advancements are already on a rapid pace, so workplaces can have even more major changes. For example, the emergence of metaverse or virtual experiences can have an influence on workplaces. To sum up the discussion, all we can say is sit tight and witness how workplaces change their decades-old practices to advanced, tech-driven ones under the control of Gen Z.