up on time. “It’s not only great for the employee, but also for the employer. We get overwhelmingly positive feedback,” he says, and he attributes the students’ success to the preparation they get beforehand. Gen Z in the workplace The Marin County Office of Education also has Gen Z employees, and Lippi finds they’re valuable contributors. “They’re willing to participate in a significant way from the start, which is a plus,” he says, and they’re adept at working independently. He also appreciates their participation in face-to-face meetings and their willingness to be open and share thoughts in a meaningful way. “They bring energy and a new way of working,” he says. “I find it exciting, stimulating and fun to work with this generation.” He points out that they’ve had to face significant challenges. “Their lives began around the period of 9/11 and, through their childhood, they’re the generation that began to encounter the most serious kinds of drills in school related to safety,” he says. Then COVID-19 brought everything to a standstill and forced them into isolation at a time when peer relationships are important, and older teens and young adults had their lives upended. Next, the effects of climate change became more severe. “Anyone who is a logical and sane thinker recognizes that we have a serious environmental crisis,” Lippi says. “They’ve seen it all unfold. They’ve lived through a period that’s been pretty tumultuous.” As a result, instead of becoming discouraged, they’ve learned to care for their mental health, he says, observing
Today’s younger employees will one day be in charge—change at the workplace is inevitable.
that work-life balance is a healthy thing and should be encouraged. He suggests that employers look at a more flexible way of doing things instead of expecting young people to fit into old, established patterns. They could, for instance, look at how their Gen Z employees communicate and recognize that texting is a way of working for them. He’s been in the working world for well over 40 years, and “I’m the one who needs to learn to communicate like them,” he says. In some situations, he adds, as long as productivity is on target, a different working style might not be an issue. “We want them to stay,” he says. “It’s incumbent on us to incorporate them.” Similarly, Eyler believes that employers need to recognize that a new generation has a different view of work, and situations are different. “We need to provide incentives for them to be productive and still stay in their lane,” he says. In the long term, if employers don’t find common ground with Gen Zers and are unable to find enough workers to meet their needs, they’ll be forced to start looking at a broader geographic radius, he predicts, perhaps having to pay people to commute or creating different work schedules. “They could also utilize more technology and use machines instead of people,” he says. And with fewer job opportunities, young people would be less likely to stay in the communities where they grew up. He adds, however, that it’s
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Robert Eyler says the pandemic has brought change to modern work norms.
November 2024
NorthBaybiz 39
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