Mindset, perspective, and working style differences across generations might present a challenge in your company. Thus, it’s important for you business owners to come up with effective strategies to embrace generational differences, so you can boost your startup growth with Gen Z & millennial talents.
A bunch of entitled job-hoppers who give nothing beyond the bare minimum.
Ouch! What a cruel stereotype!
For the last few years, stereotypes and memes of Gen Zs and millennials in the workplace have been going around the internet. And people seem to love them, resorting to age and generation discrepancy to justify differences in mindset and styles of work.
Of course, we disagree with generalizations like this. After all, our business success, especially startups, is greatly dependent on the Gen Z and millennial workforce. These younger generations now make up 46%, or almost half, of the U.S. workforce. There’s no way you, as a business owner, can avoid working with them.
In fact, you might be a millennial yourself. Our team at Chykalophia also comprises mostly millennials, and a few Gen Zs.
In spite of that, our team barely faces any challenges regarding work ethics. It all goes back to each individual talent and how you create a comfortable workplace for all, not just cater to a certain generation of cohort. Here’s how you can fuel your startup growth with Gen Z and millennial talents.
5 strategies to boost your startup growth with Gen Z and millennial talents
The first thing to do to fuel your startup growth with Gen Z and millennial talents is to achieve a healthy workplace within your company. This will help you attract top talents and retain them so you can grow your startup business long-term.
Here are the five effective strategies to do so:
1. Prioritize wellness, both mental and physical
We know how Gen Zs and millennials highly value mental health — so much that the term strawberry generation surfaced. Let’s look at their perspective, though.
The increasing cost of living, climate change, and inflation threats have been a big burden on the young shoulders, making high-stress levels a regular companion. Research shows that 46% of Gen Zs and 39% of millennials feel stressed almost all the time. Knowing this, isn’t it reasonable that Gen Zs and millennials value are very aware of mental health?
However, mental and physical wellness are tightly linked, so we suggest prioritizing both. For your reference, here are some things we apply at Chykalophia to support mental and physical health:
- Menstrual leave for the ladies
- Gathering for our local team members
- Online game time
- Paid day-offs or vacation time
- Quarter reviews with direct managers, discussing current professional and personal sentiments
2. Be a value-driven organization
More and more millennials & gen Zs make their career decisions based on their personal values. This is yet another reason for you to revisit your business values and missions, and see if your startup has been true to them.
Maybe your startup aims to provide easy access to health for minority women, reduce plastic waste and carbon footprint, provide free education for young women, or support animal welfare. Whatever it is, do walk the talk. Show that you’re genuine through your business ethics, branding, and CSR programs. You’ll eventually attract top talents with the same values, who want to improve themselves along with your startup business.
3. Lead humanely
No one wants a perfect leader and there is no such thing, so don’t try to be one. People, not just Gen Zs and millennials, want to work with someone they can relate to. And being flawed shows that you, despite being their leader, are just another human being trying to figure things out.
As a woman business owner, leading with a touch of positive emotion can also benefit your relationships with your talents, especially with the nature of startups, where your business will face unexpected challenges and changes. It’s okay if you don’t know how to deal with them yet. Communicate it with your teammates, continue to upskill yourself, and learn together with your team as your startup reaches new milestones.
4. Flexibility is key
You’ve read in point one that stress level is high among Gen Zs and millennials and that financial concerns are one of the causes. That being said, flexibility allows them to take on a second job for an extra source of income — as 37% of millennials & 46% of Gen Zs have done.
Flexible work schedules, flexible locations, and flexible working styles can help you attract top talents and retain them. It allows your team member to have a better work-life balance, so they can do their hobbies, spend time with their loved ones, work on their personal goals, take on a second job, and more.
5. Support any kind of development
We truly believe that improved team members improve the company. But let’s not tell them what to do because no one likes being told what to do — remember when we were kids and our parents would tell us to stop watching TV and start making the bed?
Instead, with a certain budget, our company policy allows all team members to choose their preferred training or course. This way, everyone can gain new knowledge and improve themselves on things that really matter to them, not just because they’re forced to do so.
Attract top talents and retain them so you can grow your startup business
With so many jobs available globally today, it can be easy to lose a top team member if you’re not careful. And retention is paramount if you want to grow your startup business because recruitments are madly expensive. It can cost three to four times the position’s salary to hire a new team member, so imagine doing that repeatedly within a year because your team members don’t last long.
To sum up, if you want to fuel your startup growth with Gen Z and millennial talents, do attract top talents and maintain good retention by creating a healthy company culture. This allows you to grow your startup business, and you get to support your teammates’ individual development, too. How cool is that!
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