What HR needs to know about the Gen Z workforce

HR is not for the faint of heart. Not only are the professionals who perform this function tasked with tackling some of the toughest workplace topics, but to keep pace with the wants and needs of the ever-evolving workforce, they also have to reimagine their strategies for doing so every few years—if they’re lucky.

Consider, for example, that many organizations that currently employ four generations of workers. Members of the youngest cohort, Gen Z, account for 18% of the workforce, according to 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and are expected to comprise 30% by 2030. HR professionals hoping to support Gen Zers as they have those who came before them needed to start reevaluating their practices and policies…yesterday.

Lucky for you, HR Brew is on the case. Mikaela Cohen, a reporter covering workplace strategy, has dug deep into the generational challenges facing people professionals. She discussed some of her reporting—on what Gen Z wants from the workplace, and how HR can adapt to the up and coming generation of leaders—with Kate Noel, SVP and head of people operations at Morning Brew, during a recent episode of HR Brew’s People Person podcast.

“The social, political, economic environment, when you’re born within 15 years of other people, and you share those experiences and they cultivate your identity and what you bring to the workforce,” Cohen said.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Did anything surprise you when reporting these stories?

I am an older Gen Z…and I remember having a professor say to me that work-life balance was a very developing priority in the workplace. And I remember thinking like, “Oh, I kind of just assumed that’s the dynamic”...But no, it’s true that just five, six years before me, the millennials were kind of the groundbreakers in terms of starting their careers and demanding that. So I like to think that whether it’s career advancement, work-life balance, just the whole idea of engagement and productivity, millennials really did the groundbreaking and they kind of walked so Gen Z could run…the millennials asked, and now the Gen Z are asking and demanding, and only time will tell for the next generation.

When it comes to designing benefits, what do you think HR should prioritize or consider for the different generations?

With the youngest generations, language matters. And so even if there are already benefits in place, specifically around family forming, I think we think traditionally of parental leave being just parental leave, but…the industry has started incorporating adoption benefits and even just shifting the framework from being families having kids to family forming, family forming benefits, family forming plans. I’ve heard an expert say that just shift in language to be more inclusive can help with the different generations. And I think also under the umbrella of family as well, we all know that pets are family too. And so we’ve historically always had health insurance for ourselves, our partners, and our kids. But now more and more companies…[have] a pet insurance policy in place…a lot of HR professionals know that the health, dental, vision, that’s all table stakes…So what are you building on that you’ve already had and offering more of in other areas that you don’t have? Whether that’s…identity theft protection, cybersecurity protection…and even financial and legal resources as well.

You also mentioned, in one of your articles, that Gen Z leaders may need more help with interpersonal skills, because of the pandemic. How should HR rethink training and development to account for the generational differences in how information is received, retained, and applied?

You’re meeting them where they are at, in terms of language. And I think that also extends into learning and development in the workplace, because I spoke with a professor of business ethics and she mentioned to me that not only does she study the workplace as a business professor, but she also is teaching these classes to the potential workers of these companies in the future. So she has Gen Z students and she had to just check herself in terms of how she’s teaching…a lot of younger employees…they always have one AirPod in their ear no matter what they’re doing…And she had to explain to her students that they needed to take their AirPods out in class and she could see how…it could just come off as unprofessional…she explained it to them, she met them where they are, and she didn’t make them feel bad for not knowing that wasn’t professional…And so she used that as an example to just help HR professionals know that there are some things that are going to feel silly to you, but if you’re meeting people where they’re at, then you’ll both be better in the end, both learning something new.

For more from this conversation, tune into the People Person podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, or watch it below.