In the 1970s, the British philosopher and writer Alan Watts asked a group of students a seemingly simple question: if money were no object, what would you do with your life? In doing so he signified the shift away from work as a means to an end and introduced people to the idea that they should find a job they love because it will take up most of their waking hours.
Nowadays it is the norm for people to want more far from their job than a good salary. As the Harvard Business Review famously predicted in 2011: “Meaning is the new money.”
But in addition to meaning, and a sense of purpose, what does each generation really want? And what can employers do to ensure they have a happy, satisfied workforce post-pandemic? For this piece we have divided the generations into the following groups who have lived through — and are shaped by — the same defining political, social, and economic events.
Baby Boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964, Generation X born between 1965 and 1981, Millennials who were born between 1982 and 1996 and Generation Z, born in or after 1997.
This last group are either in their teens or just coming out of college and, far from being smartphone junkies with a poor work ethic, multiple studies show they are a force to be reckoned with.
Monster and global research firm TNS carried out a Multi-Generational Survey, which surveyed more than 2,000 people across the Boomer, Gen- X, Millennial, and Z generations to find out what makes them each tick when it comes to jobs.
And, much to everyone’s surprise, they found Gen Z’s attitude to work was remarkably money-minded. Seven out of 10 said salary is their top motivator, while 70pc said health insurance is a “must”. In addition 58pc said they’d be willing to work nights and weekends for higher pay, proving they are highly self-motivated.
Organisational psychologist Cathleen Swody believes this is a symptom of a generation who are more financially insecure and finically worse off than their parents. Given that they have less of a chance of owning their own home and have less money than their parents no matter how hard they work she says “this group is all about trying to get onto stable ground. It is probably why we are seeing their focus on a good salary and health benefits.”
She explains: “They want stability, they want to be able to move out of home, they want to be able to take care of themselves and have the ‘nuts and bolts’ of their independence sorted.”
Bob Casey, managing director of Korn Ferry Ireland, one of the country’s largest headhunting firms and which works mainly with executives between 40 and 60 — is already taking note of Ireland’s future workforce.
He says he also “gets the sense that the younger generation is not only driven by package and overall renumeration” and that “purpose is huge”. He is right. In the same survey 70pc said purpose matters even more than money.
As Casey explains: “They want to know who they are going to be working with, what is the purpose of that work and they want to understand the firm’s social and corporate responsibility agenda.
“They want to work for people who care about the environment, the climate and sustainability.”
Swody agrees. She says both Gen Z and Millennials want to be “part of something bigger”.
“They want to be easily able to tell the story of their company and explain why they are proud to be part of it. They want to be able to tell people what they are trying to accomplish.”
As for the Millennial generation, Swody points out that many are getting married and having children later in life. With homeownership on their mind she says: “they want to develop their competencies and build their skills” but she says, given their lack of responsibilities, “they are also looking for flexibility.”
As a result she says remote and hybrid work will be a core focus.
“They want to be trusted to get their work done [remotely] so they can adapt their schedule for a good work-life balance”. Swody says 2020 has empowered a new generation to ask for what they want. “Over the past year they’ve realised that remote working works and sometimes it works even better.
So what I am hearing from a lot from clients is that they have staff saying to them ‘I am happy to come into the office on some days but I also need these days at home to meet my other responsibilities and here is why….’ The past year has given them confidence to ask.” She says for this generation it’s also important for employers to recognise “it’s not ‘work from home’ [given so few are home owners] it’s ‘work form anywhere’ and that small word change represents a complete mental shift in how this generation is thinking about work.”
As for Generation X she says, a far bigger proportion of this group are married with children and their post-pandemic needs are falling into two categories: “What they want all depends on their individual situations: the size of the family unit, the size of their house, how many kids they have and what stage of life their children are at.
“Some can’t wait to get back to the office and others say ‘I still need to be at home because I can’t manage’ so I think there is going to be a lot of variance.” As a result she says “I have been saying to employers: it’s going to be important that you understand that one size will not fit all. Managers need to understand that each person is going to have their own unique best way of working so that they can get the most out of their workforce.”
Meanwhile, business psychologist Martyn Sakol of OE Cam warns that if more employees want hybrid work conditions, then employers must change their mindset to protect against discrimination cases. He highlights the problem of ‘presence privilege’, ‘in groups’ and ‘out groups’ and says employers need to make sure that all employees, regardless of location, are treated equally. He says there is a likelihood the more women of this generation will chose to work from home given that they traditionally take on caring roles.
He warns: “If it ends up that a lot of women are staying at home and not getting access to information, while others get promoted, you will have the 1970s boys’ club in the office again.”
Mental health is also important across all generations and Sakol sees another pitfall ahead as the world of remote work takes hold. He calls this ‘psychological safety’.
He says: “I’m in the office and the boss gives me feedback that a project didn’t go so well and I’m really upset. What do I do? I grab my mate and ask ‘do you have time for a coffee’ and they offer reassurance and we talk through the problem. Now compare that to me sitting in my bedroom on my own when I get bad feedback and the screen goes blank. Then what? There are concerns that psychological safety will be compromised in a hybrid environment.”
Swody agrees: “Emotional skills and communicating with people over technology is going to matter more than ever across every generation now that remote working is becoming so widespread.”
Bob Casey, who headhunts leading CEOs and executives for Irish companies, says there is going to be “a lot more onus and higher expectations on leaders to be able to integrate diverse perspectives and views and values”.
Meanwhile, speaking about the Baby Boomer generation he works with, many of whom are in managerial roles, Casey says “they want to uncover the purpose of an organisation.”
Although many can command six figure salaries he says it’s not their sole focus.
“Look, I get it, they want to make money but they also want to understand the purpose and the culture of the organisation. They want to understand how they can grow within that organisation.”
Casey says that’s why “the reputation of companies matters, especially in Ireland, because you can find out very quickly what it is like to work there and how their people are valued.”
He says trust also matters to Baby Boomers in the workplace: “It’s even more important now because employees are not beside each other day by day so people have to feel like they are trusted and they are given the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership in their role. That’s the big thing we are hearing.”
In the post-pandemic world managing a workforce’s changing wants and needs is going to be “very challenging,” admits Swody. “It’s going to take a lot of empathy, communication and some core guidelines to make it work for everyone,” she says.
With rising wealth inequality, Gen Z are more financially insecure than previous generations.
They want a good salary so that they can move out and become independent from their parents.
Highly self-motivated and hard-working, many are willing to work nights and weekends.
Want to work for companies who have a mission they can be proud of. They care about sustainability.
They’re getting married and having children later in life but also have their eye on home ownership.
They want to work for a company which will give them the ability to improve their skills and to develop in their career.
But with a lack of traditional responsibilities they are likely to place value on flexible work hours and locations to support their quest for a healthy work-life balance.
Many are homeowners and married with children. What they want post-lockdown will very much depend on their individual circumstances.
The size of their home, number and ages of children and caring arrangements will all factor in deciding whether they are desperate to return to the office or keen to stay at home.
Empathy and ground rules will be needed from employers
Many are in senior roles and are leaders in the workplace.
More will be expected and demanded of them in a post-pandemic world as they try to ensure their teams are happy and productive in a hybrid-working world.
They want good renumeration but they also want to be trusted, to be given autonomy to make decisions and the ability to take ownership of their roles.
Sunday Independent