Gen­er­a­tion Z:  bet­ter than their repu­ta­tion

Are you one of them? Or your colleague? Or your children? A member of Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2012?

Today, Generation Z accounts for almost 30 per cent of all employees in Denmark. That is a fourfold increase in just ten years. 

In the wake of Generation Z entering the labour market, a narrative has emerged in the public debate suggesting that they represent something entirely new. That they stand out because of their expectations of an inclusive workplace with room for emotions, flexibility and change. 

It is also often claimed that Generation Z’s approach has sparked an unprecedented value-based conflict across offices, production floors and C-suites. Here, boomers have traditionally set the tone with norms centred on respect, punctuality and resilience.

New study debunks the myth

However, according to a new study by Associate Professor Peter Holdt Christensen from CBS, much of this is a myth. 

He has examined how Generation Z encounters today’s workplaces and how individual expectations are handled in practice. 

And while the CBS researcher acknowledges that expectations around flexibility often divide opinions in Danish workplaces, his overall conclusion is that Generation Z does not differ significantly from other groups.

“Instead, we are currently seeing a significant, but entirely natural, redistribution in the labour market.  For 25 years, boomers and Generation X made up the majority, but that has now changed,” explains Peter Holdt Christensen.

Major turnover in workplaces

According to the CBS researcher, the current discussions about how we organise working life and how different generations can work together stem precisely from the fact that we are experiencing a major demographic shift.

Since 2015, the share of boomers and Generation X among full-time employees has fallen from 64 per cent to 42 per cent. 

At the same time, millennials and Generation Z have grown from 36 per cent to almost 58 per cent. 

This group now makes up the majority of the labour market.

Think in terms of life stages rather than generations

As part of his project, Peter Holdt Christensen conducted field studies in companies, as well as reviewed hundreds of research articles on different generations in the labour market. His own research as well as previous studies point in the same direction:

“There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that different generations in the workplace create major challenges. The assumption that people should be led differently based on when they were born is simply wrong. Leadership should be based on life stages,” says the CBS researcher, elaborating:

“If you are 25 and have young children, you often share more needs with a 35-year-old colleague who also has young children than with a same-age colleague who is single. That is why it is too simplistic and stereotypical to categorise people solely based on generational labels,” he adds.

He also questions why, in a time marked by strong individualism and heightened sensitivity to offence, we have begun to place people into boxes based on generations.  Instead, he suggests that leadership should focus on age through parameters such as life stages and seniority.

Each generation has its own characteristics

Peter Holdt acknowledges that all generations to some extent have their own distinct characteristics. 

Boomers typically have parents who experienced World War II, crises and unemployment. 

As a result, they were more often raised to be loyal and grateful. Together with Generation X, they grew up in a culture where emotions were not expected to take up much space. “If you want to talk about feelings, you can go home.”

By contrast, Generation Z has been accustomed to being involved in family decisions and has learned to be critical and to argue based on their own needs. 

Generation Z is tired of its reputation

“But there is nothing new about young employees bringing different expectations and approaches than their older colleagues. And the differences are greatest between the oldest and youngest generations, and smaller between the generations in between,” the CBS researcher emphasises, adding: 

“For example, the gap in perceptions of work is greatest between boomers and Generation Z, and smaller between boomers and Generation X, or between millennials and Generation Z.”

During his field studies, he observed that Generation Z is tired of being labelled as fragile and demanding. 

“When I spoke with leaders and employees, the differences had very little to do with real generational divides or a battle between young and old. In fact, I was positively surprised,” says Peter Holdt Christensen.

Generation Z are norm challengers

“Of course, there are disagreements. Especially when older employees’ work ethic meets younger employees’ desire for freedom and flexibility. But those disagreements are necessary. They contribute to the development of workplaces,” he points out.

He adds that one of the problems in the current generational debate is that it often takes the needs of boomers and Generation X as its starting point and therefore tends to look backwards rather than forwards.

“In reality, Generation Z, like the youngest generation has probably always been, are norm challengers. They are one of several prerequisites for rethinking how we organise working life and for implementing new practices,” says Peter Holdt Christensen, reflecting:

“We have appointed Generation Z as the generation that is supposed to save us from a bleak future marked by climate crises and geopolitical tensions. They should also be involved in carrying forward, challenging and developing new ways of organising working life.”