How to Boost the Employee Experience for Gen Z
Gen Z will make up roughly 27% of the workforce by 2025. Just like all generations, Gen Zs are unique. Having grown up in a highly digital, hyper-connected world with cutting-edge technology and personalised consumer experiences, Gen Z has different expectations when it comes to the world of work.
Organisations that are successful in appealing to Gen Zs will offer truly personalised career experiences, in much the same way customer experiences are personalised.
In this blog, we suggest five tips on how to boost the employee experience (EX) for this age group.
How to create a memorable EX for Gen Z
1. Offer a smooth onboarding experience
Clunky, inefficient processes won’t cut it for this generation and the onboarding process is no exception. With research revealing 91% of Gen Zs feel technology influences job choice among similar employment offers, your onboarding process – as a new hire’s first interaction with you as an employer – should be as smooth as possible!
HROnboard’s Onboarding solution allows you to create, send and process job offers and advanced provisioning faster with a fully-customisable onboarding experience.
With nothing to print and seamless electronic acceptance, your new hires can accept their offer from anywhere, on any device. New hires will hit the ground running and feel like they’ve had an amazing start to their employee journey. Plus, they just need to verify that the details you’ve already collected are correct – no double entering data!
All of this allows you to create an epic onboarding experience and wow your new Gen Z hires. They’ll be prepared and excited for their first day, without the usual information overload.
2. Focus on employer brand
Having grown up and born witness to large global movements such as #MeToo #BlackLivesMatter, this ‘activist’ generation is more concerned by corporate values than any other. Gen Z no longer forms opinions of a company solely based on the quality of their products/services but also on their ethics, practices and social impact. 83% of Gen Zs consider ‘purpose’ when deciding where to work.
This means that how employers present themselves – at all touchpoints – has never been more important, particularly in the recruitment and candidate experience phase of the employee journey.
Automating the recruitment process allows companies to develop consistent recruitment processes that allow your employer value proposition (EVP) to shine through clearly and consistently at all touchpoints, from job adverts on external job websites to branded career portals. ELMO Recruitment, from HROnboard’s parent company, ELMO Software, helps you to build candidate sourcing capability, refine recruitment workflows, screening questions and interview processes, all while promoting your EVP to attract the best Gen Z talent.
3. Get personal
Gen Z values a personal touch. In fact, 29% of Gen Z say they would be much more likely to complete a purchase if a brand provides a personalised customer experience and just under half (44%) will provide their personal data to enable a more personalised experience over an anonymous one. Therefore, personalising the employee experience takes on a new level of importance when dealing with Gen Z.
Entering the workforce for the first time can be nerve-wracking as it is. Not only can a personalised approach help to ease those ‘first-job’ nerves of Gen Z graduates entering the workforce; this personalised approach is favoured – expected, even – by this cohort.
HROnboard’s Onboarding solution helps companies to nurture and retain new starters with hassle-free, personalised inductions, while providing expert induction advice on what makes an amazing induction experience with handy templates and the expertise of our team.
You can easily create and personalise a perfect induction experience, from day one to their first anniversary. After all, each new starter is unique, so their induction journey should reflect their personality and preferences!
4. Build a culture of feedback
As with all employees, Gen Zs like to feel their voices are being heard. It’s a particularly pertinent desire for this generation. Growing up in an age of the internet and social media, Gen Z has always had the power to share their opinions, influence distant people and institutions and question things in new ways.
ELMO Survey enables organisations to conduct and manage staff surveys throughout all points of the employee lifecycle to gain actionable insights into Gen Z’s attitudes and opinions towards work. With a range of ready-made HR survey templates built by industry professionals, ELMO Survey helps HR leaders to help make smarter, more informed and employee-centric business decisions.
5. Focus on employee wellbeing
Mental health sits at the top of Gen Z’s agenda, with nearly half of Gen Zs and Millennials ranking it as their first or second priority.
Mental health at work is no exception. However, there is more to looking after employee wellness than simply offering free yoga sessions and an EAP service. Savvy employers also take into account the wishes of their end users: employees, which is why cultivating a feedback culture is equally as important in creating effective employee wellness programs.
ELMO Survey can help to gather insights into Gen Z employees’ wellbeing, work environment and the success of the company’s wellness initiatives.
The workplace will continue to evolve in sometimes unexpected ways, and it will be shaped in the future by Gen Z. To ensure your organisation connects with this generation – while never missing a beat with other generations – it’s time to re-think and re-prioritise the EX.
HROnboard, an ELMO company, offers a best-in-class software solution that reduces the amount of time HR teams and leaders spend securing the best candidates and undertaking the critical onboarding process for new hires. Our solution also helps manage internal employee role changes and can create a smooth and seamless process for exiting employees. To find out more, reach us here.
ELMO Software is a cloud-based solution that helps thousands of organisations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to effectively manage their people, process and pay. ELMO solutions span the entire employee lifecycle from ‘hire to retire’. They can be used together or stand-alone, and are configurable according to an organisation’s unique processes and workflows. Automate and streamline your operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and bolster productivity. For further information, contact us.