So many articles these days are centered around catering to Millennials and Gen-Z employees. In fact, we just wrote an article about it! One thing that doesn’t get much coverage however is how younger employees could better interact and work with older generations. Communication goes both ways so not only is it important for Boomers and Gen Xers to understand how to communicate with younger generations, but those younger generations need to do their part and learn how to properly communicate with older generations as well. In this week’s blog I delve into this topic and offer some advice to Millennials and Gen-Zers on how they can be more effective in bridging the gap between communication, culture, work styles, and values.

Gen Z is the latest generation to enter the workplace. While Millennials still remain the majority of today’s workforce, Gen Z is catching up. Those born between the mid-1990s to mid-2000s qualify as Gen Z and account for 61 million people in the United States. The Gen Z population are digital natives and they can’t imagine a time when the internet didn’t exist. Technology has always been an integral part of their daily lives and, like Millennials, social media is a big part of it. Compared to the previous generation of Millennials, who are often criticized for job hopping, Gen Z workers, who grew up during the 2008 recession, seem to be gravitating toward jobs that are more stable and they appear to prioritize financial security more. With this new workforce generation it’s important to offer guidance and encouragement to help them develop and thrive professionally.

In today’s workplace, email is the most widely used form of communication with most people reading and writing an average of 123 emails per day according to Forbes. It’s clear that non-verbal communication such as emails, online tools like Slack, and texts are only going to become even more prevalent as future technology driven generations move in to the workforce. The outcome of this is that our written communication skills are becoming increasingly impactful and how well or how poorly you communicate in this manner can have a profound impact on your career. So it’s imperative to consider factors such as relevance, length of communication, tone, language, and response time when communicating non-verbally.

With summer quickly approaching, many college students are considering taking on summer internships. According to dictionary.com, an internship is defined as “any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession.” Nowhere does it talk about pay! The most important element of internships is that they incorporate classroom knowledge and theory with practical application and skills developed in a professional environment. Internships are a great way to learn from experts in your desired field, gain relevant work experience, and in some cases provide a way to get your foot in the door at a company you want to work for long term. So, in evaluating internships pay is obviously a factor, but there are other things to consider.

More reports and surveys showing that “job hopping” and a lack of perceived value being tied to tenure is on the rise. Is this just a trend or a more accepted norm in the world we live in today? Is it largely a bi-product of the extremely low unemployment rates of recent years and will it change when we see things swing the other way at some point? How much impact does the wave of young entrepreneurial tech billionaires who seem to have skipped over the traditional period of paying your dues have to do with this trend? All things to consider, but in general it does appear that younger professionals changing jobs on a more frequent basis is more accepted now than it has been in previous generations. Prior to the last 5 years I would say 3+ years was the expected norm for being in a job before looking at transitioning, but now we are seeing 18 months or less in many cases and the candidates don’t seem to be concerned about how it will impact their candidacy for new roles. At least not for now. In today’s blog I’ll dig in a bit on the topic of changing jobs more frequently than the norm and offer some insight to the potential benefits and draw-backs.