This blog post is based on our Born Digital: How Gen Y & Z Are Redefining Today’s Workforce webinar. The event featured the insights of Amy Haworth, Senior Director, Employee Experience at Citrix; author and generational expert, David Stillman; and Sophie Wade, work futurist and Founder of Flexcel Network.

The Born Digital cohort, which comprises both Millennials/Gen Y (born 1981 to 1996) and Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012), might seem young, but they already account for a majority of today’s workforce and will be in C-level or executive positions by 2035. According to The Born Digital Effect, the latest research from Citrix, they’re primed to deliver an extra $1.9 trillion in corporate profits.

However, to unlock their potential, the unique expectations, requirements, and motivations of this generation must be considered and understood. Organizations harnessing the insights and talents of their young workers will reap the rewards, but our research suggests many leaders are out of touch, operating on old assumptions.

These gaps must be carefully bridged and, in our webinar, we discussed key issues and priorities concerning the Born Digital generation, including how to build an organizational culture that meets the needs of diverse generation and how we need to rethink how work gets done.

Gen Y and Z do not get excited about new technology; instead, they are looking for something else

As digital natives, Gen Z have always been around technology, so they don’t get excited about it like previous generations did. As generational expert David Stillman explains, technology is an expectation for this cohort, and “it’s never going to be a recruiting or retention tool for Gen Z, who assumes the technology will just be there.” Sophie Wade, founder of Flexcel Network agrees, saying, “For them it is a given that technology will meet a certain standard, or they are not sticking around”.

In the Citrix study, having access to good workplace technology doesn’t rank as a priority for the Born Digital generation, compared to the 85 percent of business leaders who list it as their top priority. Instead, job satisfaction and career stability are the two biggest wants for Gen Y and Gen Z. As Wade explains, the Born Digital generation needs to see how an organization will help them to grow and develop within their career. “This mutually beneficial relationship is very important now,” he says, “since the trade-off of job security, that we had in the past, is no longer there.”

Wellness is also a top workplace priority for Millennials and Gen Z, particularly after a year of high anxiety levels linked to the pandemic, furloughs, and unemployment. As a result, this group of workers are challenging the concept of work/life balance, Stillman says, and much of that centers on their relationship with technology.

“We have Gen Z living in a ‘phyigital’ world, where physical and digital are blurred,” he says. “For them, work is no longer a place, and they don’t understand why work is time-framed, from nine to five. Instead, they are looking at a model that is work life blended.”

Generation Z are multi-taskers, or multi-switchers

The Born Digital generation are amazing at multi-tasking, but this is balanced with concerns around digital distraction and wellness. “What neuroscience is telling us is maybe we aren’t as good as we think we are at multitasking, and maybe there is some underlying fatigue,” says Amy Haworth, Senior Director, Employee Experience at Citrix. “My view, however, is we don’t try and undo the multitasking that has been part of Gen Z’s world, but instead we need to consider what we do to support them, with the best possible outcome in mind … and question what is sustainable.”

According to Haworth, decisions involving training and well-being need to be mindful of this behavior so that we can “meet them where they are and help them be successful … we don’t tell them it’s wrong, as it’s not, and we risk ruining trust and opportunity.”

Stillman concurs. “If we show them how to work, we will squelch innovation,” he says. “Just because we don’t work that way, we think that they aren’t working the right way, but Gen Z are not multitasking, they are task switching. For us it feels very scattered, but their productivity is better than the rest of ours. Really, we need to do a better job of saying, ‘What does success look like?’”

The Born Digital generation are struggling to build social capital

For some of Gen Z, their entry to the workforce will have taken place during lockdown, and they are yet to experience office life. How we support these individuals and rebuild workplace culture around hybrid working will be critical to organization success. According to Stillman, Gen Z are struggling most with remote work.

“They aren’t struggling with technology; the problem is they are finding it hard to build social capital,” he says. “The proverbial water cooler moments they are missing. Leaders need to figure out how to create social capital in a virtual environment.”

Wade agrees, saying there is a craving among Gen Z to connect with senior leaders, learn about other projects, and have career-related conversations. These interactions help to reinforce their sense of purpose and motivation for working hard and to progress within the organization.

Haworth says empathy has an important role to play here. She says new-to-career employees at Citrix are expressing a desire to be seen and be known. “That is core to being human,” she says. “This doesn’t necessarily mean recognition or a raise; rather they just want someone to notice their strengths.”

The perspectives of Gen Y and Gen Z must be heard

In some organizations, we have five generations working side by side, and a practice of listening is needed to ensure all voices are heard. The Born Digital generation is no exception. But Citrix research finds a consistent disconnect between the perceptions of business leaders and the needs of their younger employees.

“What this brought to mind is the importance of reverse mentorship,” Haworth says. “It’s time to go listen! Something I advocate is ‘five for five’: five employees, five questions. Just sit back, don’t defend, don’t justify, just listen. This is a call to leadership but also for the Born Digital to know they have a voice.”

Similarly, Wade advocates bi-directional mentoring pairs, where older generations benefit from younger generations’ technology skills and younger generations also appreciate the experience of older generations.

It’s an age-old problem, Stillman says. “Leaders are in a position to make big decisions, often on behalf of others, and too often they are operating from their own generational length. … Instead, we need to understand how we are different.”

Let them lead now

“With their digital aptitude, I think power is at the point of shifting, in a lot of ways,” Haworth says. “I think there will be some equity that generations in the past haven’t had.”

The Born Digital generation are the engine of growth for a company, and as our research finds, they hold huge economic potential if their talent is harnessed correctly. Keeping them engaged is critical. Let’s not wait until 2035 to let them lead. Let us let them lead now and take us forward into the next phase of work.

Managing the Born Digital Generation

Amy Haworth’s top three recommendations to HR for successfully managing the Born Digital generation

  • Support or start an employee resource group (ERG) for new-in-career employees who are Digital Natives. Then, be sure HR team members show up, support, and listen to the conversations taking place.
  • Advocate and highlight what Born Digital employees can teach other members of the workforce. Ensure that unconscious bias on the part of managers and team members isn’t limiting the contributions of this generation. Ensure generational inclusivity is part of programs and dialogues related to building diverse, inclusive organizational cultures.
  • Gen Z and Gen Y are our leadership bench. Evaluate your programs for leadership development and high-potential acceleration to see if there’s something different your organization can do to build readiness for leadership within this generation. This also pertains to internal mobility — strive to find ways they can build and share experience within the company rather than leaving for outside opportunities to build their careers.

You can watch the entire Born Digital: How Gen Y & Z Are Redefining Today’s Workforce on demand here.