Gen Z Workplace Perspectives

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[00:00:41] Welcome, this is Hashtag GenZ, a podcast that explores Generation Z, who they are, how they're

[00:00:46] different from other generations, while also being an incredible blend of those who came before them.

[00:00:51] We explore what they think is cool, what moves them, and why they do what they do.

[00:00:54] I'm your host Meghan Grace and it is so nice to have you here. This is episode 53,

[00:00:59] where we're exploring GenZ mindsets as it relates to work. This has kind of been a theme

[00:01:03] throughout the entire season six so far. However, this is going to think a little bit more about

[00:01:09] the mindsets and expectations that GenZ brings to work. What we think about work and what we

[00:01:14] expect from work can have profound impacts on the companies we seek employment from

[00:01:18] and the levels of energy we're willing to invest into our work. And it's no shock,

[00:01:22] GenZ is going to differ into the ways that they're looking at their job search

[00:01:25] and their early career expectations and bringing different perspectives than previous

[00:01:29] generations. The perspectives that GenZ is taking into the job search and the workplace

[00:01:34] start long before submitting a resume or showing up to new employee orientation and

[00:01:38] onboarding. The job search is starting earlier and the expectations of companies

[00:01:43] is arguably higher among this cohort. Quantifying these perspectives is something that I'm

[00:01:49] always interested in, but I can't do all the research myself, which is why I'm excited

[00:01:53] for this episode's guest to share more about a recent study that was done to

[00:01:56] capture the perspectives of GenZ college students on a variety of topics, including

[00:02:01] what they think about work, how they're seeking out jobs and what they expect of

[00:02:05] companies and organizations. In this episode I'm joined by Christina Sugimoto who works with

[00:02:10] Wasserman Nextion. The Wasserman team connects with businesses who had GenZ and millennial

[00:02:16] consumers through custom research peer-to-peer social and digital experiential and media

[00:02:21] and community integration strategies. Christina has worked on a variety of different projects

[00:02:27] with Brain Ambassador, NIL influencer and experiential projects for Comcast and the

[00:02:32] Xfinity HBC tour, Kentucky, and to TurboTax and Duncan. She manages the day-to-day of

[00:02:38] ambassadors and influencers in various programs and prior to her current role

[00:02:43] she worked as a creative intern at Wasserman XGen and an art direction intern at BBDO

[00:02:49] She's a cum laude graduate of Emerson College holding a BS in marketing communications

[00:02:53] with a concentration on creative design and a minor in psychology. In her spare time you can find

[00:02:59] her at the beach soaking in the sunshine in San Diego or indulging in some five-star

[00:03:02] pasta and oysters in Boston's North End. Christina brings so many great insights to

[00:03:07] the conversation so let's get into it. Excited to welcome Christina to the

[00:03:16] conversation today to share more about what Wasserman Nextion is doing and the great

[00:03:20] work that they're producing as it relates to understanding generations. It's always wonderful

[00:03:24] when I can find people that like to nerd out about similar stuff and it seems like we've

[00:03:28] made a match so Christina welcome to the conversation it's great to have you here.

[00:03:31] Thank you for having me super excited to be here. Well Christina um you're really

[00:03:35] what people are here to listen to um so tell me a little bit more about your story kind of

[00:03:40] what is it that you do and what is the journey that you took to kind of doing

[00:03:44] the work that you do with Wasserman Nextion? Yeah so I my in my role I am an associate

[00:03:50] manager of accounts here at Wasserman Nextion so essentially I handle the day to day of managing

[00:03:55] our brand ambassadors and influencers for various programs that we have for our clients

[00:04:00] but I also work on some experiential marketing activations for brands as well.

[00:04:05] Some of the really cool brands that I've worked on in the past or have like contributed to

[00:04:10] include like Comcast, TurboTax, Duncan so pretty big names which is really cool for me to experience

[00:04:17] as someone so young in the industry but as far as how I got started I study marketing

[00:04:23] communications at Emerson College and I had a focus on creative design so a lot of the work

[00:04:29] that I did in college sort of was around that space so I dabbled a lot in social media

[00:04:36] graphic design and it eventually led me to land an internship in art direction

[00:04:41] at BBDO New York which is an advertising agency and I really enjoyed the creativity of that and

[00:04:48] the brainstorming aspect of being an art direction intern and knew that that was the path

[00:04:52] that I eventually wanted to go on and then in my last semester of senior year in college I found

[00:04:58] an internship at Wasserman Nextion and I was a creative intern for my last semester of college

[00:05:05] and in this internship I worked brainstorm and doing like creative ideation for clients

[00:05:11] and it was really exciting because it was a completely different side than the traditional

[00:05:15] advertising space where we were marketing specifically to college students so as a college

[00:05:20] student myself at the time it was really exciting for me to be in that space and then from there

[00:05:25] I found interest on the account side of things and got to sit in on a bunch of account meetings

[00:05:30] which was really exciting and then eventually when this role opened up obviously I applied

[00:05:36] and I got the job right after graduating in December of 2022 so I started in January last year

[00:05:42] and have been going stronger since. Well it's wonderful it sounds like the thread through

[00:05:46] your experiences like understanding your target audience right and I'm not in advertising but

[00:05:53] I know enough that like you gotta know who you're trying to communicate with right

[00:05:58] and I feel like we're gonna get into that but can you share a little bit more about what

[00:06:02] Wasserman NextGen is and what is NextGen really striving to do to help others understand and work

[00:06:09] with Gen Z? So NextGen focuses on helping other brands really reach that audience and so we hold

[00:06:17] an annual student census that helps us sort of gain insight into the behaviors and habits of

[00:06:22] Gen Z and what they're really interested in in all aspects of their life so our 2023 census

[00:06:29] asked around a thousand students in college in the US and in Canada questions about you know their

[00:06:37] school life, their personal life at home, their interests, how they engage with brands things

[00:06:42] like that and we use that information to create these programs so that brands can really resonate

[00:06:49] with this audience and you know drive really great brand affinity and just keep the consumers

[00:06:57] engaged for a really long time. So I think that those insights are really important and we're gonna

[00:07:01] definitely get to that aspect of what your census and the kind of that study does along with kind of

[00:07:08] like keeping a pulse through the data what are some ways that you all are working with brands

[00:07:15] to understand I mean right now Gen Z, some millennial and a bit of Gen Alpha but give

[00:07:20] us some examples I know you talked about some of the clients that you worked with you don't

[00:07:23] have to give away all their secrets but aside from providing some of the insights to those companies

[00:07:28] what are some ways in which you're helping others better work with Gen Z? Yeah so based on our census

[00:07:36] data and all of our insights and also what the client is looking for it obviously varies from

[00:07:41] brand and company just based on what they're looking for for like KPIs and so we curate

[00:07:46] programs based on their needs and utilize those insights to back it up wide. Wonderful that's

[00:07:53] fantastic to hear a little bit more about the work that you all do to help brands and in some ways

[00:07:58] bridge the gaps right like they want consumers you all are helping them understand their

[00:08:03] consumers and how to work with them. A big piece of that we already kind of teased is that study

[00:08:07] that you mentioned I would love to learn more about the study that you all conducted with

[00:08:11] recent Gen Z college students and really what are some of the key findings of that new study

[00:08:16] what are the things that we need to pay attention to from that? Yeah there's I mean we

[00:08:20] asked them a lot of different questions about their lives but the five main key takeaways from

[00:08:26] this census last year is that there's a lot of changes happening so there's changes in the way

[00:08:31] that Gen Z measures success. There's a lot of changes in living situations, screen time,

[00:08:36] brand engagement and investing specifically about money so I can dive into a couple of those

[00:08:40] points now in terms of like measuring success Gen Z has shifted their like interests and

[00:08:47] focuses a lot since COVID happened so during the COVID lockdown specifically students had a more

[00:08:52] defined idea of college success in the sense that a lot of people valued happiness and fulfillment

[00:08:58] and academic achievement was on the lower end but in our census from last year we saw the

[00:09:03] top choice was still happiness and fulfillment of 15% but academic achievement is a lot higher

[00:09:09] at 11 and so we can see in like a post-COVID world that students actually care a lot about

[00:09:15] their academic achievement but regardless brands should be encouraged to you know find

[00:09:19] solutions that propel student success and students you know define that on their own terms so

[00:09:25] just being able to adapt to that in terms of like living situations we found that 21% of the

[00:09:29] people that were surveyed still live at home with their families and so this obviously has a

[00:09:35] big shift in consumer needs and what they purchase and for example like if you live at home you

[00:09:40] might have greater commuting needs so you might pay you know insurance you might have car

[00:09:44] payments rather than someone who lives in an apartment on campus they are obviously paying

[00:09:48] rent and groceries and all that kind of stuff so a little bit of shift there another thing I mentioned

[00:09:52] was screen time and brand engagement so this one kind of scares me because I definitely see myself

[00:09:58] in this space but 84% of the people surveyed spend four plus hours per day on their phone

[00:10:04] or mobile device and 39 of those people that responded said that the volume is over seven

[00:10:09] hours and I can definitely say that I found myself in that group you know a couple times

[00:10:15] throughout the week and it's really interesting because even though the screen time is really high

[00:10:21] like social media is not necessarily like the primary way to reach Gen Z digitally which

[00:10:27] is really interesting because a lot of people use it for socializing with their friends

[00:10:32] and to pass the time when they're bored rather than looking for you know things to

[00:10:37] purchase or things like that so that's really interesting and people always say that like

[00:10:42] Gen Z has like a really short attention span and I feel like that definitely like sometimes

[00:10:47] may be true but I think as generations like evolved you just have to reach them in different

[00:10:51] ways and so I feel like if people are trying to reach them like you just need to earn

[00:10:56] our attention in new ways and with new kinds of stories and utilizing technology is a good

[00:11:00] way to do that but adding different perspectives and you know connecting with communities rather

[00:11:05] generation as a whole is really important since all of us are so different and then lastly I mentioned

[00:11:11] investing specifically about money and so what's really interesting about our census data is that

[00:11:16] 39 of the people that we surveyed currently invest in some capacity but a lot of people

[00:11:23] understand how it works or 54% were interested but had no resources to start and so I think

[00:11:30] with our current economy Gen Z is really you know wanting to understand their finances especially

[00:11:36] with you know inflation and all those things going on but are really unsure how to start and so

[00:11:41] strategic brands have a really great opportunity to guide and really bring to light all the great

[00:11:48] ways to like invest your money to Gen Z to really bring them to the point that they want to

[00:11:54] be at because I definitely fall in that group where you know I want to invest in more but

[00:11:59] I don't necessarily know how and so I think like if a brand really wants to reach this audience

[00:12:03] it's like understanding that is definitely helpful especially if you're in like the finance space

[00:12:07] looking to connect with this generation. Christina thank you for that I mean I could sit and

[00:12:11] gobble up stats for days um so I appreciated that fully I think there's so much to really

[00:12:17] explore with that because while you are capturing insights of college students,

[00:12:22] college students are just pre-employees if you will right like their their next step

[00:12:27] usually in life is either grad school or they're going to go work somewhere and eventually even

[00:12:32] grad students go work somewhere and so I think there's a lot that companies specifically that

[00:12:37] are working to want to attract this new generation in terms of potentially a new employee population

[00:12:43] can pay attention to some of those insights and some of the ones that stick out to me is like

[00:12:49] what is success in college if achievement is um I believe you said like academic achievement

[00:12:55] was kind of a rising trend what does that mean kind of for our employers that might be

[00:13:02] thinking how does academic achievement eventually translate to the workplace

[00:13:06] when I think about screen time and you said like kind of the digital space that they occupy

[00:13:12] it's much more than just they're looking to buy things it's how they're connecting and so like

[00:13:15] how does that impact people trying to recruit Gen C like these are just my like immediate kind

[00:13:20] of musings and ruffings and then this idea of investing in money right and wanting resources

[00:13:25] and understanding how to kind of financially prepare and you know there's different ways in

[00:13:31] which I think companies can assist with that so I think my question really is from the insights

[00:13:37] that you all have generated from this study what are the things that people who want to attract

[00:13:44] higher and retain Gen Z professionals what are the things they need to be paying attention to

[00:13:50] yeah I think Gen Z graduates look for a lot of things when looking for a job so when it comes

[00:13:55] to like getting their attention I feel like there's a couple things that companies should

[00:13:59] be aware of and keep in mind in our survey we asked like for brands to make a meaningful

[00:14:03] social difference what does Gen C care about the most and they care about ethical hiring

[00:14:09] policies or like the makeup of the workforce providing mental health days for employees and

[00:14:14] then also donating to causes those are the top three answers that came in from our study and so

[00:14:20] I think to retain people generally just providing an environment where they want to stay and they

[00:14:25] feel connected to the company and all the co-workers is super important I'm gonna shout

[00:14:30] out Wasserman for this one because I think they do a great job of you know incorporating group

[00:14:34] chats or communities that you can join based on your interests or identities and I think

[00:14:39] that's a great start for any company that is you know looking to you know explore this space so

[00:14:45] we have a bunch of things like dog owner group chats to like documentary lovers and also groups for

[00:14:51] like different ethnic groups that make up our you know employee workspace and so I think that

[00:14:57] that's a great way to you know touch on all these points and they also expect companies to

[00:15:03] you know address D&I issues in their local communities and you know nationwide our

[00:15:08] study says that you know 71% of them like care and they want to see companies showcasing support

[00:15:16] and addressing these issues in their local communities and so I think it's really important

[00:15:20] for companies and especially people that are hiring to really understand that and to you

[00:15:26] know highlight those initiatives to attract those new hires and to showcase the support

[00:15:31] in the representation that they have in all the communities within their company and I

[00:15:34] would say like if a company say like maybe doesn't have that in place I feel like there are ways to

[00:15:40] you know obviously work on it so I would say like advice would be to be sure that you can share

[00:15:46] ways of how the company is striving to get there and that you know showcasing that the work is

[00:15:51] being done because Gen Z is really not afraid to take a stance on things that they care about

[00:15:56] and aren't afraid to call people out and companies and brands so it's important to

[00:16:00] showcase that you know your company's putting in the work to make a difference both inside

[00:16:04] and outside of the workplace to really you know attract them and retain them and keep them for

[00:16:10] as long as possible. I really like you said Christina about the idea of like inside and

[00:16:16] outside right so like the work needs to be done not just from like a HR marketing perspective

[00:16:21] like we're a great place to work right like there needs to be a lot more I think with

[00:16:27] this generation because for lack of better words like we know that Gen Z can kind of see

[00:16:30] through the BS right like they can see through the marketing BS like you all can in my opinion you can

[00:16:36] sniff it out better than most generations can and I think you bring up a good point of you have to be

[00:16:43] intentional about the sharing and not just when we're trying to promote why this is a great

[00:16:50] place to work like it needs to be very authentic and very robust and not for what can feel like

[00:16:56] that's that kind of that hidden motivation of painting a pretty picture like the picture

[00:17:03] actually needs to be pretty as it is not doctored and I think that that's something that there are some

[00:17:09] some companies we know that do that really well and then there's others that try to kind of mask

[00:17:15] what's going on behind the scenes and I don't know what's going to happen to those companies

[00:17:19] but that was something when you said both inside and outside there's that link of truth

[00:17:24] and honesty I think that we see that's really present with Gen Z job seekers and those who are

[00:17:29] not even just job seekers those who are like am I going to be a consumer of this brand because

[00:17:35] they have bad employment practices maybe not or I know people have divested of different

[00:17:41] companies for different reasons because of their practices and I feel like there's just

[00:17:45] less that companies can hide these days that can impact both their hiring retention

[00:17:50] of employees and their their ultimate consumers so I appreciate you sharing that based on the study

[00:17:56] what are some expectations you know these are the things that Gen Z is coming into their job

[00:18:01] search and their career preparation that they might expect of employers or potential employers

[00:18:08] the most important things when looking for a job according to the survey 33 really care about

[00:18:13] salary when choosing a job after college I think this ties directly into like the

[00:18:17] investing aspect and money just really being at the forefront of a lot of decisions especially

[00:18:22] with the economy now and a lot of Gen Z like myself personally like I feel like have had moments where

[00:18:29] you know you stress out and you are scared for what's to come and the struggle to like afford

[00:18:35] things like rent and basic needs on top of having you know spending money to hang out with your

[00:18:39] friends so I know salary is a really big part of people's decisions and I have a lot of friends

[00:18:44] who you know chose to have a job where they maybe you know make a lot of money but have

[00:18:52] really long working hours and value that aspect more than another and then 30% choose jobs based on

[00:18:59] how well they fit the description and I think this is a good baseline just to see what kind of

[00:19:03] positions are out there but I found that they're not always representative of all the different

[00:19:07] opportunities because for me personally I looked a lot on LinkedIn when I was searching for a

[00:19:11] job and a lot of the job postings that have like entry level listed on the posting say that you

[00:19:16] need five plus years of experience you know someone straight out of college isn't necessarily

[00:19:21] going to have that and so it can be a little bit discouraging sometimes for someone trying to

[00:19:25] break out in the industry that's definitely a baseline of how people decide and then

[00:19:29] what was really interesting from this survey was that company culture and benefits were

[00:19:34] pretty low at 11% each which I found really interesting because in my job search I definitely

[00:19:39] prioritized company culture and also the benefits because I knew that I was going to be living alone

[00:19:45] or like away from my family and that I would be on my own insurance and things like that and so

[00:19:49] I definitely think it's like obviously a case by case thing but I was shocked to see that it was

[00:19:54] that low especially because I think it's really important to enjoy you know the workplace that

[00:19:58] you're in and enjoy the people around you as well so that was really interesting but in terms of

[00:20:04] prepping for career search in terms of like timeline a lot of people start early in their

[00:20:09] senior year 20% of students start their job search or in the early senior year and 18%

[00:20:15] start the summer after junior year and before senior year and so the timeline like is mostly

[00:20:21] around that that time in their lives and I definitely started fall of my senior year which was

[00:20:28] technically my last semester because I graduated early so I know my timeline was a little bit

[00:20:33] skewed but I still felt a lot of pressure to find a job even though I knew that I had a lot of time

[00:20:38] compared to like other people in my class and in terms of how people are finding jobs 59%

[00:20:45] of them utilize networking as a primary source for finding jobs so going to conferences utilizing

[00:20:51] you know professors career fairs other mentors that they've had in the past that's definitely

[00:20:57] the most popular option that people go for and then 50% utilize LinkedIn and social media I think

[00:21:04] that's definitely new in the sense that a lot of brands are starting to post on things like TikTok

[00:21:09] being like we're hiring and a lot of people see it that way and so I know some of my friends have

[00:21:14] definitely found jobs that they're interested in through you know those brand handles and then

[00:21:19] 42% rely on their internship so going from that intern to full-time pipeline I feel like personally

[00:21:25] I utilized all of those options really leaning into my connections and you know talking

[00:21:30] to my professors for advice and all that kind of stuff for different opportunities and also utilizing

[00:21:36] the people that I met throughout my internships and I think like being very vocal about it

[00:21:40] eventually you know got me to where I am today and so I would say it's really important to

[00:21:45] support those people that are reaching out to you as someone that you know is an employee at

[00:21:50] a company and someone reaches out to you that is really interested in a job position but also

[00:21:55] if there's any you know Gen Zers that are looking for jobs listening to this I would say

[00:21:59] you know reach out to as many people as you can because you never really know when those

[00:22:03] opportunities are going to come and then in terms of location the majority of the students wanted

[00:22:08] to live in a city after college New York City was the most popular of our survey at 20% and 16%

[00:22:14] wanted to work in a city but didn't have really a preference and then in terms of like company

[00:22:19] size the majority wanted a medium-sized company so anywhere from 51 to 500 people and so those

[00:22:26] those are some of the things that Gen Z looks for when they're starting out their

[00:22:30] job search and career prep. So there's something really interesting because as you're sharing kind

[00:22:36] of the things that like their expectations are like they're looking for like obviously salary

[00:22:40] like that matters I think I was also shocked by the idea of benefits being so low and I think

[00:22:46] that it might be a little bit of like you might be a unique experience where you were

[00:22:51] potentially off your parents like insurance earlier than others but you also kind of know that

[00:22:56] benefits is a monetary game right so like paying for insurance through your employer is cheaper

[00:23:03] than paying for insurance elsewhere and so like I do find that interesting maybe that's just an

[00:23:08] opportunity for companies that are looking to attract salary driven young people like Gen Z

[00:23:16] or like monetarily driven young people of understanding and giving really good education

[00:23:21] about like the full scope of company benefits and how sometimes there are not or there are things that

[00:23:27] are included in those benefits that don't feel immediately directly financial right so like if

[00:23:31] your company is going to pay for your gym membership that's potentially anywhere from 50 to

[00:23:37] $200 a month right that could be not coming out of your pocket same with health insurance

[00:23:44] having a really good company plan can save you money down the road it's like not the sexiest

[00:23:49] version of the salary but it does impact like your financial bottom line in general so that might

[00:23:56] just be like companies that are listening HR professionals that are listening if you're out

[00:24:00] there like let's help the young people understand the benefits are like not so sexy but very

[00:24:06] important yes so important right and like those those benefits like I've certainly

[00:24:13] have seen some really interesting benefits that have come out of like jobs of like certain companies

[00:24:19] will pay for your at-home work setup or if you're completely remote like paying for lunch once a week

[00:24:30] right like little things like that that do impact your bottom line the other thing that really

[00:24:35] stuck out to me and I don't necessarily know if it's shocking but I do think it is a

[00:24:42] a shift that we've gradually seen happen is that for seniors or rising seniors the job search is

[00:24:51] starting earlier than it was I think previously if if seniors are graduating in the spring they were

[00:24:58] doing a lot of the job searching in the spring and it sounds like from what you're hearing in

[00:25:03] your survey and what you're understanding in the survey is they're really like if they're

[00:25:06] graduating in the spring they might be job searching in the fall or the summer which feels

[00:25:11] almost a year prior to when they would start that job and what I hear from that is

[00:25:18] Jenzie wants to have a plan they want to minimize the uncertainty of what could happen

[00:25:23] after graduation is that a fair assessment yeah I think that's really fair I think it also

[00:25:29] depends on like the industry that you're trying to go into because I know some industries

[00:25:33] hire a lot sooner than others like I have a lot of friends and you know the tech and like engineering

[00:25:39] spaces and they a lot of them secured jobs you know in their junior year of college

[00:25:45] through their internships or anything something like that and as far as like my timeline with

[00:25:50] like marketing it was much later so I think that's also a thing but yeah I agree that you

[00:25:56] know a lot of college students just want to have that job security and you know have

[00:26:01] that path after graduation because graduating college is scary and you know you don't have

[00:26:07] school anymore unless you're going to grad school and like it's a really stressful time for students

[00:26:13] and so I think it's very fair to say that you know having a job lined up and having that pathway

[00:26:20] just helps with a lot of the uncertainty that you know comes with growing up and

[00:26:25] moving on from a big chapter of your life absolutely so I've got you know two more questions one more

[00:26:33] really focused on people that are potentially wanting to hire or attract Gen Z so this is really

[00:26:39] if you have the ability to give advice to HR professionals let's just say that

[00:26:45] what would you suggest to organizations that want to create a positive workplace experience

[00:26:50] for Gen Z employees? Yeah I think it's important to create a really positive and supportive work

[00:26:57] environment for Gen Z obviously with like COVID happening a lot of us had to go through college

[00:27:04] through that and a lot of other things going on in the world and so just providing support is

[00:27:09] really essential like providing resources like you know mental health days we talked about

[00:27:15] different DNI initiatives and just a positive work environment of like you know being flexible and

[00:27:21] offering the resources for people that need it and I feel like we're constantly learning or wanting

[00:27:30] to find new ways to learn and absorb information so it's like if you give it to us like we'll be

[00:27:35] able to adapt and so just providing that good environment for us is honestly key because Gen Z

[00:27:43] is really passionate and driven and outspoken and I think that if you give them the tools that

[00:27:48] they will succeed and put in their best efforts and perform in whatever role that they're in and

[00:27:54] so providing resources like that will just better them as an employee and help them like help you

[00:28:01] pretty much and so I think it's important to you know provide those resources I guess this

[00:28:06] falls under benefits but just providing ways to make the work experience better in terms of

[00:28:13] like support and different resources that they can utilize when or if they need the support.

[00:28:20] I really appreciate that because I think some people could listen and say oh Gen Z needs all

[00:28:25] this support to even just get their job done right and I don't think that's necessarily

[00:28:29] the case I think that what Gen Z is asking for in terms of support guidance resources training

[00:28:37] actually is a cry for give me the things and the training I need to be eventually autonomous

[00:28:44] and resilient right because I think Gen Z is actually quite tough they just want to do a good

[00:28:51] job and they don't want to waste their time guessing if it's a good job. Yeah and I agree I

[00:28:57] think like also our generation like we just learned how to set really good boundaries for

[00:29:03] ourselves individually and like watching other generations go through what they've been through

[00:29:07] it's like we know when to say yes and when to say no and I think that some people might take that as

[00:29:13] you know we're being lazy or something like that but I think that we just have standards

[00:29:17] and boundaries and we're very strong about them and I think that that's a good thing

[00:29:21] and I think that eventually it creates for an environment where all of us can really enjoy

[00:29:26] you know what we're doing on a day-to-day and you know eventually like thank ourselves

[00:29:30] in the future for creating that you know really nice environment for us to all be in

[00:29:38] because I think I think like like you said like if you give us the tools like we're gonna

[00:29:43] we're gonna put all of our you know 100 effort into it and perform really well and so

[00:29:50] I think that that's just super important. Absolutely and I think that that's a really

[00:29:56] I think it's really healthy actually that Gen Z is like I can't commit to something if I don't have the

[00:30:01] things I need to be successful in it and playing the guessing game and trying to figure it out

[00:30:06] is not going to be conducive for your efforts right and so I think that there's something that

[00:30:11] other generations can look to that of I don't think Gen Z is being me and desiring support

[00:30:16] and resources. I think they're being smart and planning ahead and saying if I'm going to give

[00:30:23] it 110% or 100% I need X, Y and Z to do that effectively and so it's just asking for what you

[00:30:31] want and then not sacrificing your values which I don't I don't see a problem with it at all so

[00:30:37] we got to look to the younger generation to help us think about work a little bit more healthy.

[00:30:43] So Christina our time is almost to the end and I don't really let anybody get out of this

[00:30:48] this podcast without answering my favorite question and you know what is your favorite thing about your

[00:30:55] Gen Z peers and kind of the Gen Z that you get to study in your work and help kind of provide a voice

[00:31:00] to you through what you do at Wasserman Next Gen. What's your favorite thing? Yeah it's really

[00:31:04] awesome because my job you know allows me to learn more about my generation but also like

[00:31:09] collaborate with you know my friends who are also part of this generation but I just really

[00:31:14] love how we're really proactive in creating that better environment for ourselves in the future

[00:31:19] and we're all spoken about the topics that we care about and that we're passionate about. I think that

[00:31:24] that's really great of us as an entire generation that you know we value that in ourselves. I also

[00:31:31] just love how creative this generation is whether it's in like a traditional art sense or even

[00:31:36] through like videos and humor like on TikTok or like Instagram. I think that a lot of us

[00:31:42] in our generation use it as a sense of you know finding community and bringing a light to something

[00:31:49] during a dark time or you know just using humor to connect with people I think is a really strong

[00:31:54] thing and I think our generation does it really well and I think like through engaging with

[00:31:58] people on social media and in person I think that it no matter like where you're from like

[00:32:04] you can always find something that you know you've seen before you you know have experienced

[00:32:09] before and I think that that's a really cool thing and inspires me to explore new things and

[00:32:13] you know share them with the world too and so I just really love how you know we're not afraid to

[00:32:19] show like who we are and we do it in a really fun and engaging and really like artistic creative way.

[00:32:26] I appreciate that I think Gen Z is serious about the things they know they need to be serious

[00:32:31] about but don't take them to there's themselves too seriously about the things that

[00:32:36] they're allowed to be silly about so again pretty sure these young people are helping us find balance.

[00:32:43] Well Christina thank you again so much for being here sharing some of the insights about what you do

[00:32:47] and kind of the work that you all at Next Gen are helping brands and companies better understand

[00:32:54] this generation and other generations but if the listeners want to keep up with you

[00:33:00] in the work that you are doing what's the best way that people can follow along with

[00:33:03] some of the great work that you are doing at Wasserman Next Gen? Yeah well I would recommend

[00:33:10] following Wasserman Next Gen at Wass Next Gen on social media on all platforms Instagram,

[00:33:16] TikTok, Twitter that's where we always post about our work and all the great things that

[00:33:21] we're doing we highlight a lot of our students and influencers that are part of our programs

[00:33:26] and just bringing in a new set of you know community members to this fantastic community

[00:33:31] that we've built up so I would recommend that people check that out and also our website so yeah.

[00:33:38] Well wonderful everyone I'll be sure to include those links that if you would like to follow

[00:33:44] along and learn more about the great work they're doing at Next Gen but Christina thank you again

[00:33:48] so much it's been fantastic to learn from you. Thank you so much for having me I had such a

[00:33:53] great time talking about this. Another thank you to Christina for bringing such

[00:34:01] data-informed insights into the conversation it's one thing to observe behavior and another to use

[00:34:07] data to measure it and make changes. The work that Wasserman Next Gen is doing is helping

[00:34:12] companies and organizations not only better connect with their consumers but better understand

[00:34:16] their future and their current Gen Z employees. Well it can be easy to write off differing

[00:34:22] perspectives from other cohorts it's important to recognize that changing these perspectives

[00:34:26] is very difficult if not an impossible feat so the best thing that companies and

[00:34:30] organizations can do is listen and do their best to adapt differing perspectives if they want to

[00:34:36] effectively engage members of Gen Z or any other generational cohort. If we're willing to listen

[00:34:42] understand and validate perspectives that are different than our own it's much easier to work

[00:34:47] together to create meaningful and engaging workplace experiences and luckily there are

[00:34:52] groups like Wasserman Next Gen that are doing great work to capture the perspectives of Gen Z

[00:34:57] There are more great episodes and guests coming up in season six that you likely don't want to

[00:35:01] miss. I'm not going to tell you to live your life but subscribing is a great way to be sure

[00:35:05] that you don't miss any new episodes when they become available so if you haven't yet now is

[00:35:09] a great time to hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and while you're at it share

[00:35:14] this episode with a friend or a colleague you know my preference the more the merrier

[00:35:18] and the more the listeners the more learners which is my favorite and I'm always looking for

[00:35:24] new topics to explore and guests to chat with if you have a suggestion of a topic or guest

[00:35:30] I now have a pitch form on my website so you can just share it directly with me you can find that

[00:35:35] form at MeganMgrace.com slash podcast that's M E G H A N M G R A C E dot com slash podcast

[00:35:46] and if you want to hang out you can also find me on instagram threads and linkedin

[00:35:50] at MeganMgrace and I couldn't wrap this one up without a thank you to Leah Kramer the Gen Zer behind

[00:35:56] the scenes editing this podcast and bringing it to life. Thank you Leah for all that you're doing

[00:36:01] and one more thank you for you thanks for stopping by for this episode and this season

[00:36:05] so far let's continue the conversation and we'll chat soon.