IT sector is mostly created by young people, who have just entered the labour market. The major part of them have graduated recently, but there are also a lot of people who combine work and study. Up to 60% of programmers are people who are younger than 30 years old. It means that software development companies have to confront with changing demands of their employers.
The main purpose of this article is to present you the most motivative factors for each generation, especially Gen Z, which is a huge challenge for companies. If you hire people born in late 90s (or later) or you are a person from Gen Z and you want to know your motivation better, this article is made for you.
At the moment we have four different generations on the labour market. There are Baby Boomers, X generation, Y generation and Z generation. The oldest ones are Baby Boomers, who are born from 1946 to 1964. They retire for last few years, but many of them are still professionally active. They are a goal-oriented people, who are motivated by promotions, professional development, prestigious job titles and recognition, like office size or parking spaces.
Next generation, who is the cohort following the Baby Boomers, is Generation X. There are people who are born between 1965 and 1980. They are self-sufficient, result-oriented and hard-working. They tend to be quiet achievers. They want to feel responsibility for their actions and they like professional challenges. For Gen X it is more important to find balance between private life and work than for Baby Boomers.
Generation Y, usually called Millennials, are born in 1980s and 1990s. These people mostly value family, friends, personal connection and loyalty. They believe in the possibility of change. Millennials have a reputation of being lazy and narcissistic, but they are interested in career development. They want stock options as a monetary reward. Feedback, mentoring, skills training, recognition from the boss and flexible working hours as a non monetary reward are also important part of their motivation.
Generation Z is the newest generation in the workplace. Depending on the source they are born in late 1990s or in the first 5 years of the 21st century. They are looking for fun at work, so employees need to adapt their human resource strategy to the needs of the next generations. Below you can find eight factors, which affect on the motivation level of Gen Z-ers the most.
Regular feedback
Z-ers desire regular feedback on their actions. They are accustomed to receiving real-time updates, because they are online for the major part of their lives. They are in touch with everything what happens all around them, so they expect the same at work. Gen Z has been raised with social media, which have a huge impact on their actions. They use Google always when they want to need something and they get answers very quickly, so they are not taught to wait for anything, feedback included. Their bosses should share them their opinions about Gen Z-ers’ work and give advice, if needed. That is also really important in communication between employer and employees, so regular feedback can be a good practice, not only for Gen Z motivation, but for all workers.
Career growth opportunities
Gen Z-ers hate to be in one place for a long time. It applies to both literal and figurative meaning. Young people want to develop their skills in fields they are interested in. In IT it is really visible, because many developers start their adventure with software development as teenagers. They learn different technologies and programming languages in pursuit of the one made for them. When they start their grown-up lives and go to the first workplace, they expect many opportunities to develop themselves. Mentoring programs, skill training, having frequent one-on-one career check-ins and Without it, you can be sure that Z-er won’t be satisfied with his/her job and will quit, sooner or later.
Ambitious tasks
It is connected with the factor mentioned above. People from Gen Z have been raised in the conviction that they are absolutely unique. They want to do tasks which can confirm their abilities. It is possible only if young people get ambitious, interesting actions. Their “to do lists” should be full of exciting, developing tasks which require them to flourish. It is also connected with their competitiveness — they want to work on their own and be judged on their own merits rather than those of their team. If they get achievable, but ambitious tasks it is more likely they will feel rewarded. That can be a key to successful motivation system for Gen Z.
No routine
Due to globalisation and digitalization people from Generation Z are habituated to get many stimuli all the time. They hate routine, boredom and repeatability. It kills their creativity and willingness to work. The solution for this problem may be frequent change of projects that Gen Z-er works on. If, for example, employee get new project every month, there will never be a place for routine. Of course it is more difficult to organize work in this system, but it is possible and it becomes a growing trend, especially in IT.
Attractive workplace
Generation Z appreciates collaborative environment at the workplace. They prefer open spaces rather than separable offices for every employee. It helps them to feel socialized, because they can always discuss their issues, talk, laugh and get quick feedback, if needed. Design of the office is also important. Gen Z-ers appreciate plants in the office, because they are more aware of the climate crisis and ecological issues than previous generations. A huge role is played by the facilities used to balance both work and life. They will get satisfied with a chill room, where they can rest during the day, especially if they can find there Xbox, PlayStation etc. A common trend is also hot desking — a system where employees don’t have their own desks, but multiple of them use the same physical work station during different periods. It protects employees (especially the young ones) from boredom caused by the same view everyday.
Flexible work
As digital natives, Gen Z-ers are used to the convenience of the online world. They live in a world, where remote work, flexible working hours and mobile apps used for company’s management are some kind of standard. That’s the reason why they expect at least an opportunity to work remotely for a few days a week. There are much more options of flexible work, such as job sharing (two people do one job and split the hours), part-time work or 4-day working week. The IT environment allows all of this forms, so companies should consider adapting to the expectations of Gen Z-ers to attract young, ambitious people with potential.
Having fun
Desiring fun doesn’t mean Gen Z-ers aren’t serious about work. They love challenges and will strive hard to succeed. Their fun won’t necessarily equate to ping-pong tables, but it could involve gamification and developing ways for colleagues to compete with one another to reach goals. It can be implemented as a training or workshops, but the goals can also be set for a typical tasks. Breaks during the work time should give Gen Z-ers a large dose of entertainment to help them focus.
Money
The last, but not least factor which affects the motivation of Gen Z-ers the most is money. The youngest generation on the labour market treats money in different way than their older colleagues. For Baby Boomers and Gen X money was needed as a guarantee of security — they have felt better when they could buy a house, a car and make good living for their families. Generation Y uses money as a tool to stay in balance between work and private life. Gen Z-ers are less responsible than BB and Gen X and a little bit more adventurous than Gen Y — they want to spend their money to pursue their passions and enjoy the moments with their families and friends. Many of them dream about long journeys, so they need money to fulfill their dreams.
As you can see, Gen Z-ers are people who want to work, but in a little different way than previous generations. They value their independence, but they also want to be a part of a community, which allows them to have fun during work. They can be efficient employees who reach the organizational goals, but it needs more engagement of their supervisors to keep them focused and give them regular feedback. They have to give a greater consideration to the office design, entertaining area, flexible forms of work and appreciation of their work from the very first day.
Written by Karolina Matusiak
