Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter on all things Gen Z.

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One of us 👴🏽 is the ex-Economics Editor of BBC News and therefore likes nothing better than digging around graphs and Excel spreadsheets. Perusing the latest Office for National Statistics data in the UK (and who doesn’t like to while away a few hours a week doing that?), we stumbled across this graph:

Which slightly blew our mind. The number of 16-24-year-olds classed as “economically inactive” - that is people out of work and not looking for work - is now higher than it was during the pandemic lockdowns. And is also the highest of any age group.

Now, there have been some pretty funny videos unpicking this on TikTok - but this is a mega-trend worthy of note.

We can suggest a number of reasons - and Deloitte’s new report, below, is an essential read.

Many economically inactive young people are students. Many are suffering mental health and anxiety issues. Much entry-level work does not pay well, is dull, poorly managed and frankly not very appealing. Promotion and “growth” opportunities are limited as traditional businesses struggle to understand the new world of work.

The grey economy and the “side hustle” mean that much paid for work is out of sight of the official statisticians, and the tax system. The “Bank of Mum and Dad” leaves the stay-at-home generation able to live frugally as someone else is paying the heating bills and putting food on the table. 

This is a challenge for us all. A world of well paid, supportive jobs, businesses with a “purpose” which is about more than just profit, clear career paths, greater wealth and opportunities to learn whilst in work are at least part of the list marked “solutions”.

And making sure we tell the story of why work is attractive. As we know at Get to Know, all the “truths” of the 20th century - in this instance, go to school, get a job as fast as possible - are breaking down.

The successful will be those that understand that and rise to the challenge.

Happy or peaceful

A new report from the Pew Research Center has found that nearly three-quarters of US teens feel happy or peaceful when they don’t have their phones with them. But these positive associations aren’t affecting habits, as most teens have not limited their phone or social media use as a result 🤔. 

Speaking of screen time . . .

According to new research from Morning Consult, half of Gen Alpha are already streaming video daily - a stat which includes the youngest in the generation, aged four and under 😬. 39% of children spend at least three hours online each day, while 24% spend at least seven hours a day on their smartphones. It’s where the audience is, and will remain so.

That Deloitte report we mentioned . . .

For Gen Z leaders, the core things that matter at work are mental health, work-life balance, and emotional intelligence. Based on some early case studies, these values are building workplaces that are less hierarchical, more informal and a lot more focused on wellbeing. The shift is pronounced by this report from Deloitte, which shows that Gen Z workers consider “empathy” the second most important trait in a boss after “patience”, whereas their managers rank it fifth.

But not everyone is here for Gen Z’s workisms

We talk a lot about Gen Z lingo, but when it comes to new language in the workplace, not everyone is on board. Some employers feel that casual communication is unprofessional, which is hard to marry with advice like “be yourself” or “bring your whole self to work”, which many Gen Zers have been raised on. We are not sure that either of those phrases are very useful when it comes to the workplace - there are, for good reason, boundaries.

And finally…

46%

…of Gen Z think having a stay-at-home dad would be "just as good" as having a stay-at-home mum, which is lower than any other age demographic polled. Just over one in five of Gen Z thought it was "worse".

How can we help?

In my many travels and conversations, I’m increasingly talking to CEOs, executives and civil society leaders wanting to better understand the next generation of consumers and the next generation of employees. Gen Z is putting pressure on us all to transform in fascinating ways, and many of us are asking questions about how to cater for younger workers and future proof our organisations.

If this sounds like you, we’d be keen to have a chat and see if TNM can help. From our own content production to work we have done, for example, with The Oliver Wyman Forum, we have a raft of insights and data which can support you. We work closely with a number of global organisations – helping with high-impact story-telling, digital media, internal communications, through to employee benefits, HR and working structures.

Email me direct and all of us at TNM look forward to speaking further.

Kamal Ahmed
Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder
The News Movement

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