Ask Lemmy

I'm a millennial but have insight. Think about the 90s. Didn't even have MapQuest yet. No cell phones.

Okay, now you're at work, and your sister miscarries her pregnancy. When do you discover this? 6pm? 8pm? Later that week?

Gen Z finds out between customers. Or emails.

In the idle time you used to spend daydreaming about your girlfriend or lackthereof, gen Z is learning about wildfires that will reduce their air quality. They're googling rent worldwide to figure out if it's time to seriously consider moving somewhere cheaper and colder.

What am I getting at?

We as a society get ever more connected. We are therefore ever less present from our 9-5. There is so much going on that is relevant to us, and an 8 hour chunk of my day is really asking too much to sacrifice.

If your employees are at a computer, let tell them outright it's totally okay to watch Netflix or YouTube, or reddit, or lemmy, whatever as long as the work is getting done on time.

If your employees are serving customers, let them take frequent 10 minute breaks to use their phone or be away from humans.

Let them know you understand they have WAY more going on in their lives than your job which barely pays bills. Then, act that way.

But also, gen Z knows that no one gives raises like new bosses. So, don't expect them to stick around long.

I think I'm suited to answer this. I manage multiple people, including Gen Z. I am also Gen Z. People are actively trying to work here.

One of the biggest factors is employee appreciation and respect. A lot of companies will half-ass that front through just giving their employees an occasional pizza party. The problem with that style of management, is that it removes the human aspect. It kind of just turns it into another thing to just "check off the list" for corporate. It's something commonly thrown back at employees who complain. We've seen that happen enough to not want to deal with it.

It's also important to focus on the little things. Small details are what make up the big picture. If you leave those out, the big picture will be incomplete. Congratulate them when they reach a new goal. Tell them when they do work that would make the company proud, within reason. Encourage them, and actually work alongside them sometimes. If you want to throw free food on top, maybe poll your staff for their opinions on restaurants/food trucks. Show them you care.

Regarding the human aspect, a happy employee stays, and a happy employee is also usually a productive employee. Get to know your staff a bit, casually. Try to give reasonable allowances for time off during stressful life situations, like when their home floods or their sibling dies. Most companies will only allow the legal minimum.

Don't expect more from them than what you are willing to do yourself.

Accept their imperfections and work with them towards improvement. Instead of shouting, go straight towards the solution, and include them in the process. Allow them to learn how to avoid the mistake and learn how to fix it with you. Don't baby step it, but maybe show them a cool trick for that process if you have one. Remember that they are human and that there was also a time where you didn't know how to do it.

I'll be frank with you. Many of us don't see a great future over the horizon, so we're kind of making the best with what we have. We want to enjoy as much of the time in-between as we can. We've seen our grandparents, parents, siblings, and other family members become burnt out and emotionally overwhelmed, and we don't want that for ourselves.

The best way to not have that, is to not go along with it. So, hypothetically, I would go to the next job that treats it's employees well, even if the wage is the same. Why would I waste my efforts and hard labor on someone who doesn't value it? Why not spend it somewhere where I can learn, improve, and thrive?

One thing to keep in mind is that they're young and have fewer responsibilities than Millennials and Xers and can afford to float between jobs. I'm not saying all GenZers, but there are ones that still get some form of assistance from their parents and thereby have a safety net. As they age and start families, they may be less inclined to do so.

Also, maybe they're not being paid enough to want to stay and feel they can leverage the experience at your workplace to get a better paying position elsewhere.

Just my thoughts, I'm no expert.

Gen Z software engineer here. From what I can tell my generation doesn't care that much about company loyalty and all of that jazz. That's true for me as well. Companies have a soulless aspect to them. I can't put my soul into that. If another place is willing to throw more money at me, I will take it. Sure, if my workplace is extra nice I will think twice about it, but most of the time it isn't.

Then there's the lack of investment in the younger folks on the part of the company. No mentorship programs, a lack of workshops, etc. Our input isn't taken into account and is often overlooked. That's not the right way to show young people that you care about them or their future. In turn they won't care about you or your company's future.

Also the fact that people tend to bring their politics to work is a big problem for me. This is especially true with the boomers in the company. They love to stroke their right-wing, often bigoted political opinions in front of us at work. Mostly in the form of complaining about whatever they saw today on Instagram or Facebook. Now this isn't inherently a problem that can be brought up with HR, mostly because they do it in a subtle and veiled enough manner that there's not much you can do about it. But I'd say that personal politics is another big factor for me. It makes me not care that much about the workplace/company as a whole.

I would ask her directly, say that you want to know why you lose gen z workers.

Just remember that they're still early in their careers, changing jobs is about the only way to get a raise these days.

Generations aren't a monolith. It's reductive to say "these people are leaving because they're from a different generation."

The best thing you can do is perform an exit interview and ask them why they decided to move on. If they're good people they'll give you an honest answer.

And remember, young people in the workforce now have had adults in their lives who were likely laid off during the 2008 financial crisis. Those adults were, correctly, teaching their children that companies are not loyal to their employees, so do not be loyal to your company.

They are probably leaving for more pay, better benefits, or a promotion of some kind. The only way you'll know for certain is if you ask.

What do you mean by low engagement? Are they not doing their work in their given hours?

I'm a millennial but I imagine it's the same issue.

Work isn't something I want to do. It's something I have to do to for money. If someone offers me more money I'm going to take it.

So first thing to check is are they just leaving for better pay. If so paying them more is basically your only option.

In my industry (software development) the average length at a job for younger people is two years because it's the only way to get a decent pay rise in many cases.

The idea of loyalty to a company is dying a quick death.

If it's not that the only to find out is to talk to them. Ask them if they're willing to do an exit interview and see if there's anything you can improve on.

Some people here are posting with rather wishful thinking. I think the most cost-effective actionable advice I can give is that Zoomers don't buy into the whole "we're a family here" thing. They understand that their success and their company's success are not necessarily correlated. You can act on this by expressing an interest in your team's improvements on the basis of the personal goals they've achieved rather than with corporate metrics.

way to give 0 context, what do you want us to say?? Gen Z means fuck all it's such a wide umbrella term.

how about you give some actual examples of behavior and maybe the pay scale and you'll get some actual answers

Exit interviews can be a goldmine. Some people who don't want to burn bridges might hold back and tell you what they think you want to hear but others will tell you exactly what they think.

Not a very big sample size, did you perform an exit interview? Why not just ask their thoughts on the way out?

How long have they been at your company? A lot of younger people hold zero loyalty to their employer (for better or worse), and combining that with the guidance fo change jobs every two years for maximized income, you're more likely to see increased turnover regardless of job satisfaction.

I often feel like my supervisors don't respect my input or my time. I work in IT, our business is solving problems efficiently. Yet when I pitch ways to improve our methods, or when I call out dumb decisions, I get ignored.

On multiple occasions in the past couple years, my immediate supervisor has made bad calls that would lead to unnecessary work for me and my team. I point this out to him, and I am ignored. Last summer, we wasted a couple days fixing computers after an unnecessary BIOS update kept them from loading Windows. We also spent a whole day installing a firmware update on a new shipment of monitors, this update was to fix compatibility with the Mac Studio - we don't use the Mac Studio at my work.

Try paying them better. It really is that simple.

Everyone's giving you long-winded answers, but this is the ultimate truth.

PAY MORE

Stop trying to be their friend or do anything outside of office hours. 99.9% of people are not at the workplace out of free will because whatever it is you're doing is what they want to spend the next 40 years of their lives doing exclusively.

As others have said, fight for more pay and benefits and fuck everything else. Which may not be easy in your position which I assume is middle management. Most of us footmen are very much aware of how you guys are essentially just used as the fall guys for all kinds of bad news from above, and that you have little leeway in making such decisions at your level.

My baby boy, I’m so glad I get to share what’s worked for me.

My younger peeps seem to thrive on mentorship and coaching. If you don’t already do 1-on-1s (even just meeting every 2 weeks), I recommend starting.

During that time, ask each person what their honest career goals are (even if they involve working elsewhere) and then help them gain the skills they’ll need to achieve those career goals. It’s their responsibility to do the work, but you’re the one helping them stay on track towards the things in their life that matter to them.

I’ve helped folks with all sorts of things from time-management to negotiation to coding to project management.

A tool I’ve found invaluable is the book “FYI: For Your Improvement”. It’s basically a manual for helping improve soft skills. I recommend getting an older version that’s cheaper.

Using this philosophy, I’ve only had folks leave my teams because of pay (which is something I don’t control and am constantly in contention with my company about). I’m still in contact with most who’ve left and one if my former peeps even got me a new job one time.

First of all, let me say this - You are better than 99% of managers out there because you are asking yourself these questions. It means you are wise enough to acknowledge shortcomings and mature enough to seek help. So thank you. I wish more people had your worth ethic. You are probably a cool manager, and those are hard to come by these days.

Are you conducting exit interviews? I know it seems pointless, since they have likely already taken other jobs and it's too late to try and entice them back with a deal, but it does provide some context as to why they are leaving the company. They've got a new gig lined up, so they don't need to pull any punches. You will tend to get honest answers.

No, you don't know how to manage genZ (or any other cohort) because that's not a fucking thing.

Start here:

Fight to pay them more. Period. This should be at the top of your daily to-do list. Your team is the reason you have a job, and they're the reason your shareholders live such splendid lives. So, you want to keep your position(s) of benefit & security? Then never stop fighting for worker's pay & benefit INCREASES. It is really hard to care about management, production (or shareholders 🙄) when you can't take care of yourself or your family.

Curate a safe, work-focused environment that supports the life-cycle of a product that actually solves current, real-world problems like - global warming, profiteering, equality, etc.

Stop managing and learn how to lead.

Leaders:

Know how to say, "I don't know."

Show / do by example

Share knowledge

Support and foster knowledge sharing.

Shut their goddamn mouths and trust their teams to succeed (that's why you hired them in the first place right?) and when the team/member falls short of PREVIOUSLY AGREED UPON goals you work together to address the extenuating circumstance(s).

Every company's greatest asset and product is the verve, innovation, and vision of its employees. Squash, or worse, fail to invest in any of these aspects of your workforce and the human beings you're trying to "manage" will "manage" themselves into better working conditions elsewhere.

Does "low engagement" mean "objectively not doing the job you are paying them to do"? Or does it mean "not going 'above and beyond,' aka not working unpaid overtime or doing things outside their job description"? Because only one of these warrants letting someone go.

In addition to the wealth of experiences and opinions in this thread, it is worth reminding:

2 is a really small sample size

I am not one but I am manage two. So far I have yet to see any real difference. They were like me when I was that age.

It is cynical but you have to be cynical. Everyone has basic drives. Find what it is and give it to them. One of mine is driven by praise, I praise him when he does good work. The other one is driven by achieving variety, he wants to touch on a thousand things, so I move him around.

Have you tired asking them? When you sit down with the employees to discuss performance the conversation should be two way. You tell them what you expect and how they are doing while they tell you what they expect and how you are doing. Maybe what they want is unreasonable but you won't know that until they tell you.

hold leadership accountable, provide a clear path to advancement and pay them well

Have you asked these unhappy employees? You’ll probably get a more helpful answer if it comes from somebody familiar with the specifics of your job / company. If you’re not doing exit interviews (or not setting a tone where they feel they can be honest in the exit interview), you’re doing yourself a disfavor.

It's okay to change positions/roles/jobs. That's what you need to understand

This post seems ridiculous to me. If you would like to know why your employees are unhappy then why would you ask random strangers on the internet why they are leaving your company? If your (or anyone's) workplace culture discourages employees to air grievances then you aren't entitled to know why they would like to switch companies. Most likely, I think that young people don't wish to be percieved or talked about as whiny (or any other words you can use), in the event that they raise issues which management or colleagues view as unimportant or inconsequential for the company. I'm also curious as to how you know that your Millennial team members are happy, as opposed to working just because they need the money and don't see better opportunities elsewhere.

Perhaps you got hung up on that whole "Generations"-Thing. Generations cannot be defined by common attributes as easily as it might seem. Perhaps the explanation is less the "generation" but more the age of the people? Younger people are more likely to quit a job because they have less responsibilities that would keep them from doing so if they start to dislike their current job. Gen X/Millenials are now all in prime family-establishing age and thus more likely to prioritize job security over job excitement. Younger people might weigh this differently and switch around to try other companies/other fields.

Brave of you to assume everyone else is happy, and not just used to putting up with a job because they need the money.