Beyond Millennials: Are You Ready for Generation Z?

And just when you thought handling millennials was complicated–in a few years, Generation Z will be streaming into the workplace, and there’s a reason why they’re deemed a separate group altogether from their infamous millennial cousins.

Gen Z, the post-millennials

The exact range of birth years are fuzzy, but Gen Z roughly refers to anyone born on 1996 to 2010. This would put the oldest of them at 21 years old, meaning that you won’t find a lot of them at your office yet. In contrast, millennials (born 1977-1995) already dominate the workforce and are pretty much driving the change in work structure, clamoring for more flexibility and creativity.

What sets apart one generation from the other is that Gen Z are the true digital natives. Sure, millennials are tech-savvy. They’re active on five social media sites, get antsy when their phone’s not around, and are cool with having endless open tabs on their laptop.

But they only picked up this familiarity later on. CDs, cassette tapes, and Game Boys were likely major features of their childhood–no high-tech smartphones yet. The internet only became popular during the 2000s, after all, and millennials locally were tinkering with Friendster before Facebook even came around.

Gen Z has the interesting situation of never having known the world before it became hyperconnected. For them, social media and wi-fi have always been there, and this puts them several steps ahead of millennials.

The biggest influence on this generation, growing up, is arguably technology. Contrast this with other generations such as Baby Boomers (1946-1964), whose coming of age took place in a prosperous post-war economy, or Traditionalists (1922-1945), who had to go through the Second World War.

Taking a closer look at Gen Z

A disclaimer, though, before we look at Gen Z further: we’re only talking about generational trends here. There are no hard and fast rules that apply to everyone. As much as we’re shaped by environment, we’re so much more than our culture–in other words, people may or may not fit the descriptions of their generation.

Can consume content quickly

Gen Z’s digital native status has led to them being called “millennials on steroids.” They consume information a lot faster than millennials, giving them a potentially shorter attention span.

It also makes them expert curators. They can identify within seconds whether or not a piece of content is worth going through; if it is, they give it their wholehearted concentration. Another flipside is they’re comfortable with extreme multitasking, switching from one activity to another without batting an eyelid.

Aware of personal branding

Being adept at social media grants more than validation and popularity: learn its intricacies, and you’ve pretty much taken a crash course in modern marketing. Gen Z has a very intuitive understanding of personal branding. To score likes consistently, you have to be aware of your image–and then tweak this depending on the platform. This requires a certain restraint and care with what you post.

Surprisingly, Gen Z is more private, flocking to Snapchat when millennials were drawn to Facebook and Twitter. With Snapchat, your content can never be too incriminating–it vanishes right away.

Prioritize stability and independence

This cautious streak doesn’t contradict Gen Z’s entrepreneurial flair. Despite being young, they often take on part-time jobs, work freelance, or even launch their own ventures–not because of the thrill or the risk, but because they want to build a secure future for themselves early on. Unlike millennials, who are prone to job-hopping, Gen Z seems to prioritize stability and are more conservative.

They’re used to figuring things out on their own, with Google at their fingertips, and they were bombarded early on by the media with what’s happening around the globe. Out of all the other generations, they have a lot in common with Traditionalists, who were similarly risk-averse and pragmatic.

Gen Z may not have a strong presence yet in the workforce, but the spotlight’s shifting to them, and it’s better to be aware of what’s coming rather than be shocked when it’s there. Millennials still have a long career ahead of them–with Gen Z stepping up too, the future of work should be exciting.

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