Is it our age or our generation that defines us more? In this article, we explore characteristics that seem to describe the youngest generation of the workforce, as well as strategies for managing Gen Z workers.
Recently on The Science of Personality, cohosts Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Jean Twenge, PhD, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who is one of the world’s leading experts on generational differences. Jean has authored more than 180 scientific publications and seven books involving research on generations.
First, we’ll cover her research into generational differences. Then we’ll dive deep into what distinguishes Gen Z in the workplace—and what managers need to know about leading Gen Z workers effectively.
Researching Generational Differences
Identifying differences in generations is extremely difficult because the data defy traditional analyses. “The classic problem with measuring change over time is you’ve got three things. You have age, you have time period or year, and you have your birth cohort or generation—and they’re each the product of the other two,” Jean explained. Since all the data affect each other, it’s hard to capture a control set.
“There are three possible ways that that we can see those differences, and it’s not always so easy to disentangle,” Jean said. Researchers address this phenomenon by setting age as a constant. They then observe that group differences might stem from either generational effects or time period effects. This means they can compare differences in people who were age 20 in 1970 with people who were age 20 in 2010. “Getting age out of the equation is the most important part,” she added.
Causes and Effects of Generational Differences
In her book Generations, Jean explored why generational differences happen. Some theories hold that generational differences are due to major events, such as wars, pandemics, and economic cycles. However, Jean believes it is due to changes in technology, which include medical advancement, transportation, labor-saving devices, and social media. For example, the washing machine had a huge effect on the differences between the silent generation and millennials.
Technology also has two downstream effects on cultural change and generations: individualism and the slow life strategy. Individualism is more common in technologically complex societies, where people can more easily focus on the self. The slow life strategy is a theory that comes from evolutionary psychology. People can have many children and just hope they thrive, or they can have fewer children and nurture them carefully. “The second scenario tends to happen when you have more technology,” Jean said. When the trend is for smaller families, both lifespans and education tend to lengthen. “The entire developmental trajectory slows down, so children are less independent,” she said.
Generational Differences in Gen Z
The members of Gen Z, also called iGen, are less likely to do adult things such as get a driver’s license, go on dates, or hold a job, compared to other generations at the same age. These tendencies can be explained by the very strong social norms resulting from the slow life strategy. “Teens are simply taking longer to grow up,” Jean said.
When she compared data about millennials as teens and Gen Z as teens, Jean found significant, sudden changes, more than between any other generations. Gen Z teens reported sleeping less and seeing friends in person less. They reported feeling lonely and useless. They demonstrated behavior associated with depression, including an increase in suicide. “Clinical-level depression among teens doubled,” she said. “The mental health crisis among adolescents started a good eight or nine years before the pandemic.”
A Note on Gen Z and Technology
Jean observed that this stark generational change coincided with a technological change. The 2010s were when daily smartphone use and daily social media use became common.
While smartphones may enhance our lives, they have their disadvantages too—and Gen Z has borne the brunt of them. “If we stare at them 12 hours a day, that’s probably not going to be good for our mental health. That’s what we’ve seen with Gen Z, particularly with social media and particularly with younger populations,” Jean said.
The more hours a day a teen spends on social media, the more likely it is they will be depressed. The heavy users are often twice as likely to be depressed as the light users or nonusers. That correlation is strongest among children and younger teens compared to older teens and young adults. Jean advocates for restricting social media use in children younger than 16 and greater awareness of the negative effects of social media on children and adolescents.
Four Strategies for Managing Gen Z
Managing Gen Z effectively may require managers to adjust their leadership style. Certain observable trends in Gen Z behaviors, values, and work style can offer some insight. Note that the trends identified here are based on averages of data collected mainly in North America across approximately five decades. Individual, regional, cultural, time period, and other differences may also affect management strategy.
1. Support work-life balance – Valuing work-life balance is the biggest generational difference we see in Gen Z compared to previous generations at the same age. This means that they tend to care about vacation time, be reluctant to work overtime, and prioritize the personal above the professional.
2. Provide structure – Managers should stop subscribing to the stereotype that Gen Z workers are entitled. Rather, they should understand that the average Gen Z worker likely will have less experience with independence, improvisation, and decision-making (remember the slow life strategy?). They probably will need more context and structure to help them succeed in a role while they develop the skills and experience for independent work.
3. Support mental health – “Make sure that your company health plan has good coverage for mental health,” Jean advised. Data show that depression is increasing for young adults and aging with them. As workers, they may be more likely to take mental health days and seek benefits related to well-being.
4. Expect informality – Gen Z is comfortable with being informal in the workplace. They tend to use language informally and prefer to dress casually. This might mean calling others by their first names or wearing athletic clothes on a video call.
Jean suggested that organizations should factor these Gen Z trends into their talent strategy. “Expectations around work-life balance and having a realistic perspective on that—that’s the biggest challenge for managing Gen Z,” she said.
