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When I last talked about integrating the younger workforce over a 12 months ago, they were ahead. The strong US economy has led to a reality where staff were first, where that they had the upper hand. It was easy to get in, out, and back into the workforce.
Now their economic situation has improved largely reversedand yet generation Z still has an opinion low enthusiasm to work and higher attrition rates. A 2024 CNBC study found that they overwhelmingly value engaging work, crave autonomy in their roles and relationships with coworkers, yet many say they’re just getting by, or worse, resentful. Companies still struggle to determine how to motivate and retain them in the modern workplace, so what are they still doing improper?
About 10 years ago, I shared a motivational video with my team that may answer this query. A photographer showed the view through his camera with different lenses. The camera body stayed the same, but as he modified lenses—wide-angle, fisheye, macro—he described how that affected what he saw.
Like a photographer with a single lens, many leaders still see the workplace through their own lens, but latest employees have grown up with a completely different worldview. To motivate and engage younger employees, we first need to learn to see through their lens; understand their unique skills, ambitions, and perspectives; and use that knowledge to help them achieve their profession goals.
Understand their lens
Every generation moves from young and inexperienced to a latest majority workforce at some point. In every transition, corporations must first recognize the lens that has shaped the worldview of the latest generation in order to retain them as employees. The generation entering today’s workforce has grown up in an incredibly polarized world—politics, religion, the environment, and the Covid-19 pandemic. At times, the pendulum has swung so wide and far that it has stirred fear, division, and anxiety about the future.
Encourage the older generation of employees to take responsibility for adjusting their lenses to see the latest reality of the younger generation. Having already experienced and adapted with the generation that got here before them, they are higher equipped to facilitate integration. In the meantime, try to encourage the younger generation to take responsibility for recognizing how a polarized lens can shape their view and make sure that the pendulum stays inside the bounds of productive conversation. The sooner we shift our lenses toward unification and a place where we will accept our differences and move forward, the higher off we can be for it.
Looking to the future may require looking to the past
When we began at Clearfield, everyone did all the things, and we initially thought a flat organization with quick access to me and other senior members can be most helpful—and for a while, it was. Like other startups and small corporations that have grown with a flat structure, it helped us be fast and agile in a changing economy. But recently we have discovered that our younger generation prefers that we return to older philosophies.
Many of the younger employees come from a university environment where they have received regular instruction, feedback, and direction—and have experienced disruptions to their lives and education during the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding this attitude allows me to see how latest team members may hear about our quick access to leadership but have a harder time living it. I could consider ways they may benefit from more direct, immediate feedback and a defined boss to ask questions and get clear direction.
So we went back to a more traditional management model: more layers, but no silos. That allowed us to be more hands-on, discover more individual opportunities and maximize those opportunities. The younger generation was growing up with the web and digital technology, so we looked at that more closely and identified 25-year-old MBAs who had joined our team with higher Excel skills. Then we allow them to take the lead in demonstrating latest ways to use it to our advantage.
Make the possibilities visible
Our latest tiered structure also provided clearly defined and highly visible profession path opportunities, so team members of all ages and experience levels knew about them and how to achieve them. Without clarity on the criteria for a pay raise, two employees in the same position might feel they deserve it. If their boss sees and rewards only one of them and makes the other wait one other 12 months for the same opportunity, that becomes the other worker’s lens through which they view the company. Their boss needs to understand that lens and find a way to change it or risk losing the other worker.
If someone doing the same job as another person isn’t making the same as another person, the reasons ought to be as clear as possible. If leaders have to turn down a request for a raise or a promotion opportunity, they must also set clear expectations about what the worker can do to get there. Then work with them through education and training to map out a learning path that can get them there. With more clarity about their role and the promotion opportunities that would engage them, we’re more likely to retain younger team members to profit from the experience.
Rather than defining themselves by their work, as previous generations did, younger staff bring a latest energy. They still care about their work and find satisfaction in their accomplishments, but they see all of it through a lens shaped by a different worldview and their unique life experiences. Some of my children are in their 20s, and while they could be the same age, they have grown into very different people. Leaders should expect everyone to be different and plan to get to know them and what motivates them—but first they need to understand their lens to set the tone for more constructive dialogue and mutual respect.