Some talk about a breakup. They are said to be resistant to authority and zappers. Managing Generation Z, those born after 1995, gives some human resources directors a cold sweat.
At the beginning of the 1960s, those of the baby boom, Douglas McGregor, a professor at the American institute MIT, put forward the idea that employees would express different expectations of the company depending on the generation to which they belong. . Today, growing up with a cell phone within reach is not without consequences. Just like being confronted with the multiple vertigos of the contemporary world.
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If there is a rupture, it is firstly linked to the radically different environment in which this generation evolves. A period marked by three major transitions: ecological, digital and demographic. None of the traditional benchmarks seem to resist these turbulences. Hierarchical lines are contested, the link to the office called into question with teleworking, the work collective weakened.
And then, criticism is easy. Those quickest to denounce the resignation of Generation Z and their tendency to skip have a short memory. They forget that they have not always been able to make room for young people. Using and abusing internships and short contracts repeatedly.
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There is indeed an integration challenge. Eight out of ten managers believe that younger generations are more difficult to manage than previous generations, observes the Odoxa institute in a survey which has just been made public on the occasion of the Think Forward festival organized this Tuesday, November 12 in Nantes.
Far from divorce
However, can we speak of a divorce from the company? We are far from it. This is what emerges from an in-depth survey carried out in 2023 by Apec (Association for Executive Employment) in association with the think tank Terra Nova. The interest of this work is to have surveyed young working people in the 18-29 age group and to have mirrored their elders.
Nearly half consider work to be as important or more important than other parts of their life. In the over 44 age group, there are only 36%. A majority of these young workers aspire to a good salary, interesting work and a balance between professional and private life.
Many also are no longer satisfied with a salary or social benefits. They ask the company to have an impact on the transformations of society. And even an extra touch of soul through its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy.
Nostalgia brings nothing. Just like pitting generations against each other. It is in intergenerational management that certain answers can be found. They involve the transmission of know-how and experience by developing reciprocal tutoring to accelerate the diffusion of new technologies. This also requires taking into consideration the new expectations of employees who are parents and sometimes want more flexibility in the organization of their working time.
For the first time, three and even four generations are called upon to work together. This hybridization is an opportunity and not a threat. It can be a source of creativity and well-being. Organizing it involves social dialogue based on trust to imagine new professional paths taking into account all ages of life. They do not oppose each other and are intended to enrich themselves.
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