Generation Z and their perception towards the working environment

Table of content

Abstract

1 Introduction

2 Literature review
2.1 Different Generations
2.2 Gen Z and its Characteristics
2.3 Work values and expectations at work of Gen Z
2.4 Traditional vs. Modern Recruiting
2.5 Challenges and trends in recruiting
2.6 Hypotheses

3 Methodology
3.1 Objective
3.2 Quantitative approach
3.3 Psychometric characteristics
3.4 Elaboration of the survey
3.5 Survey frame data

4 Research Findings
4.1 Characteristics of the data
4.2 Results
4.3 Discussion
4.4 Recruitment guideline on how to approach Gen Z
4.5 Limitations and future research

5 Conclusion

6 References

Abstract

The Generation Z is going to dictate the job market in the future. However, research on it is still occasional, especially in times of Covid-19. Consequently, best practices are lacking on how to approach the cohort. This work-project addresses the research gap by carrying out a cross-sectional study with the help of a questionnaire. The research revealed that Gen Z’ers are characterized by being digital-natives, who have diverse perceptions of the working environment. They are affected by events like Covid-19 which impaired their mental health, among other things. Based on these insights, practices to approach the cohort were designed.

Keywords: Generation Z, Perception of the working environment, Best practices on how to approach Gen Z, Human Resource Management This work used infrastructure and resources funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/ECO/00124/2013, UID/ECO/00124/2019 and Social Sciences DataLab, Project 22209), POR Lisboa (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007722 and Social Sciences DataLab, Project 22209) and POR Norte (Social Sciences DataLab, Project 22209).

1 Introduction

Employees are an important part of companies. In the near future, firm’s success will be dependent on the recruitment and behavior of future generations. Currently, five generations are active in the job market. One of them is Generation Z, which has recently started to enter the job market, though the cohort is going to dictate it soon (Fratričová and Kirchmayer 2018, 28). In 2020, 20% of the workforce already consisted of Gen Z’ers (Half 2015). Currently, the so-called war for talents, an unstable economic situation, and skill-shortages have put companies in competition for employees. Companies can build a competitive advantage, if able to recruit the best employees (Șupeală 2018, 1–3). To be competitive in the long run, companies have to analyze values, trends, expectations, etc., from Generation Z. Thus, they will be able to build knowledge upon how the cohort is shaped as future employees and be capable of recruiting and retaining the best talents. The new generation will be an intangible asset for companies, shortly (Sidorcuka and Chesnovicka 2017, 807). But managers don’t always understand the differences between ages and hence don’t take the right action to address them. (Urick, Hollensbe et al. 2017 as cited in Maloni, Hiatt, and Campbell 2019, 1). Companies need to understand how the perception towards the working environment has changed from Gen Z’s perspective and which behavior patterns are unknown. If identified, recruiting practices have to aim at what motivates the cohort and meet their expectations. Research studies on Gen Z are becoming more frequent. However, they are still occasional and recruiting-best practices are lacking. Furthermore, conducted research is most likely to be restraint, as Gen Z just started to enter the job market. Consequently, even more members were underaged in previous studies and their character wasn’t fully developed. Especially during times of Covid-19, academic research is rare on the effects of the pandemic for the generation. This research gap shall be addressed with the thesis. The aim is to answer the following research question: What are best practices for companies to approach Generation Z?

2 Literature review

This section will summarize the current literature on Gen Z’s characteristics, their examined work- values and recruiting trends. Moreover, the rare academic literature on Covid-19 and its impacts on Generation Z will be examined. The literature should be published within the last years, as many Gen Z’ers were underaged in the recent past and not fully matured. Due to already conducted research, in different countries, different industries, at other times, there are limitations to identify distinct features on the cohort of Gen Z. Therefore, with this holistic approach, the claim is to gather different views on their values and expectation. Last but not least, based on extensive literature research, hypotheses will be designed.

2.1 Different Generations

For the first time, five generations are active on the job market; Generation Z, Generation Y, Generation X, Baby Boomers and Traditionalists (Bejtkovsky 2016, 105). Transitions between generations are fluid. Therefore, the literature assigns specific periods to them, which can deviate. Generations are shaped by their own upbringing and their social background but also from events, trends and chronological dates, which they have in common with everyone else at that time. At a young age, these influences result in individual characteristics and expectations of the working environment. Differences between cohorts have already been discussed in the literature in the past. However, research on Gen Z is still sporadic, especially in times of Coronavirus.

2.2 Gen Z and its Characteristics

In the literature, there are different definitions of Gen Z and how to classify them. The definitions include the years from mid-1990 to mid-2000s (Sivabalan, Yazdanifard, and Ismail 2014, 178–79). For this thesis, Gen Z is classified as follows: Members of Gen Z have been born between 1995-2010 (Christensen, Wilson, and Edelman 2018, 1; Maloni, Hiatt, and Campbell 2019, 2). The following table summarizes identified characteristics of Gen Z’ers:

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