So you think you have finally figured out how manage, employ, and work with the Millennial workforce. Congrats, because if you were like me it was a bit of a learning curve.

The reward you get for taking the issue seriously and accomplishing the goal? You get to do it all over again with Gen Z.

I was introduced to the Gen Z workers in a presentation by Clifton Beck at the most recent ACCA Next Level fall meeting in Indianapolis. Beck is the manager of digital media for the ESCO Institute and has spent a lot of time studying the different generations and how they can contribute to the workforce.

Gen Z members were born between 1995 and 2012, so they are really starting to make their mark in the workforce. But over the next seven years, they will probably be the highest represented generation working in your business.

Beck explained that Gen Z are digital natives with a short attention span. While that last part can be perceived as a negative, it is only because they spend so much time looking for information and they like to find it quickly. You can hardly blame them.

They like to multitask, and they are visual learners who consume information on multiple platforms.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the presentation is when Beck discussed their learning style. Most of us old folks are linear learners. It is how we are taught in school. You read and review chapter one. Then you take an assessment test on the material, and if you pass, you go on to chapter two.

That is not how this next generation learned. There was a shift in the education system in the late 1990s where learning became nonlinear. This is the world the Gen Z members grew up in. It is leadership’s job to teach these employees how they want and need to be taught. It does take a change in thinking.

So how do you make the correct changes to make sure you are both recruiting and retaining what is soon to be a rather large labor pool? Here are some tips from Beck:

  1. Training videos. Internal training videos should be under three minutes in length. It is called micro learning, and it is how Gen Z learns. A year ago ESCO, had 500 subscribers to its YouTube education channel, and about 90% of those subscribing were Gen X males. They changed not the content but rather how they delivered the content — and now they currently have 7,600 subscribers with a demographic that is now more evenly distributed, including a fair amount that are 18-24 years old.
  2. Job postings. It is not just money these individuals are interested in, but rather, they want to know they are making a difference. The HVAC industry is going through an HFC phasedown and moving to SEER 2 equipment. Why are we doing that? The cynic would say the government is making us. But when talking with prospective employees, you can certainly position it as they will have an opportunity to work in an industry that is perhaps doing more than any other industry in respect to looking out for the long-term interest of the planet. If you are not including that in job postings, you are doing yourself a disservice.
  3. Create a career path. With every new recruit and hire, lay out a plan for what growth could look like at your company. Help them build a resume. A lot of contractors are hesitant to do this due to a fear that they will leave. But that is less likely with Gen Z. They have a lot of brand awareness, and what you are doing is marrying them to your brand.

What Beck’s research showed was that even if they do leave, if you have offered this career path, they will oftentimes return because they are not getting that same type of management at their new company.

I realize taking these steps is easier said than done. And it is even tougher when you have to manage Gen Z while also managing a couple other generations of the workforce. But the work you put in now will certainly pay off in the near future.