Lithuania’s Generation Z, which includes people born after 1995, is entering the labour market with different expectations from their employers, company reps say.
In September, the CEO of a Lithuanian startup Carvertical, Rokas Medonis, criticised the new generation of employees, posting on LinkedIn that remote work was not there to allow “dog walks for two hours or to be unavailable at 16:00”.
The post which has since gone viral shed light on the brewing discussion about the relationship between employers and the new generation of employees.
“Some of the disagreements stem from unwritten things: what is the person’s approach to work, what should the attitude to work be?” Sofija Čelutkienė, HR manager at the Lithuanian IT company Hostinger, said in an interview with LRT RADIO.
According to her, “it’s a reflection of the changing society and the labour market”.
To attract employees, companies are offering office entertainment and other benefits.
However, they do not reflect the real expectations of the new generation.
“This reveals a superficial approach to human motivation. If a person is looking for meaning, for opportunities to grow, to create, then perhaps he or she is not coming to the organisation for entertainment,” said Čelutkienė. “This path has given some the wrong impression of what to expect at work.”
Generally, older people talk about Generation Z as lacking in maturity and experience, she added. Such perceptions tend to change over time.
“The millennial generation has been talked about as being lazy. A few years have passed and they are seen as the most overworked generation,” said Čelutkienė.
“Everybody is talking about burnout, looking for solutions to avoid it. The fact is that every generation is slightly different, depending on who is talking about it,” she added.
Generation Z is often motivated by the effects of their work on society, according to Čelutkienė. They also strive to balance their personal and professional lives.
Another added layer is the focus on mental health, which is particularly important for young people.
“Many universities write about safe spaces where students are safe from the discomfort of dissent. Once they leave university, these topics enter the job market,” said Čelutkienė.
In the labour market, however, these topics are much more complex because the job of a manager is to achieve results, which can lead to unpleasant feedback, she added.
The challenge to the older generation of managers is to properly communicate expectations, according to Čelutkienė.
“It is very important for organisations to be able to clearly articulate and define what results the organisation is aiming for and how it will measure achievement,” said Čelutkienė. “If it is difficult to define what the organisation is trying to achieve, seeing a specific person at a specific time and place gives a certain sense of control.”
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