Open enrollment: Workplace benefits that support every generation

Article

By Rob Hosking, Executive Director for Administrative and Customer Support, Robert Half

Open enrollment, which starts for many U.S. employers in November, is more than a time for employees to review medical, dental and vision coverage. It’s an opportunity for organizations to better understand and support the diverse needs of a multigenerational workforce.

The Salary Guide From Robert Half reports perks and benefits can be just as important as compensation to employees, and many companies are enhancing their benefits and perks to gain an edge in hiring. The open enrollment stakes are high, and the process of educating and guiding employees through what may be dozens of benefits choices is a yearly opportunity for HR teams.

Benefits enrollment in a multigenerational workforce

Why generational differences matter during open enrollment
What each generation wants from workplace benefits
Steps for managing benefits enrollment in a multigenerational workforce
Building benefits enrollment programs for every stage of life

Why generational differences matter during open enrollment

To add to the complexity, having four distinct generations in our workplaces means a one-size-fits-all open enrollment program could end up leaving some employees behind.

In recent years, changing employee expectations, economic uncertainty and evolving workforce priorities have influenced what professionals value from their employers, including the benefits and support they prioritize at different stages of life and career. Employers are trying to understand these changes while balancing hiring strategies, employee benefits decisions, flexible work options and workplace culture to accommodate every generation equitably.

Open enrollment offers an opportunity to dig deeper into what motivates baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z, which is information you can use year-round to attract, keep and better support employees, their families and their dependents of every age. In other words, inclusive benefits enrollment strategies are essential in today’s multigenerational workplace.

So, at open enrollment time, consider your new college graduates who are working alongside grandparents, and appreciate the diversity of what they—and the generations in between—are looking for on the benefits menu.

Explore the guide

For more insights into benefits and compensation trends, check out the latest Robert Half Salary Guide.

What each generation wants from workplace benefits

One reason open enrollment is so critical today is that benefits and perks have become an important factor in how employees evaluate their current role and future career decisions. Robert Half research shows employees across generations value different types of support, reinforcing the importance of communicating benefits throughout the benefits enrollment process in a way that connects with employees at every stage of life and career. Understanding these preferences can help HR teams highlight the programs, resources and options that matter most to their workforce.

Those differences show up in several key areas:

Gen Z: Flexibility and wellbeing stand out as key priorities for the youngest professionals. Seven in 10 Gen Z workers said work-life balance benefits could motivate them to change employers, while 57% cited health and wellness offerings. This generation also showed the strongest preference for lifestyle spending accounts, signaling an interest in more personalized benefits that support overall wellbeing, including options such as mental health benefits and other wellness resources.

Millennials: Millennials are looking for a mix of flexibility, financial support and family-focused benefits. More than two-thirds (68%) said work-life balance benefits could influence a job change, while 64% cited financial incentives and 38% pointed to family caregiving benefits. Highlighting the full range of available options during open enrollment can help this group identify benefits that support their evolving priorities.

Gen X: Financial security and choice are major priorities for Gen X workers. Sixty-five percent said financial benefits could motivate them to change employers, and this generation was the most likely to prefer a hybrid benefits package that combines core and optional offerings. Clearly communicating these options can help employees make informed decisions that align with their needs.

Baby boomers: Baby boomers place the greatest emphasis on financial and retirement-related benefits. Nearly two-thirds (65%) cited financial benefits as a motivator for changing employers, while 52% highlighted retirement planning resources. They also showed the strongest preference for hybrid benefits packages, reflecting a desire for both stability and flexibility.

These differences underscore why a one-size-fits-all approach to benefits enrollment may fall short. By tailoring communication and highlighting the options that matter most to employees across generations, HR teams can help employees make confident decisions while building inclusive employee benefits strategies that reflect the diverse needs of today’s workforce.

Steps for managing benefits enrollment in a multigenerational workforce

A mix of benefits and perks will appeal to employees across generations, so conducting open enrollment in a multigenerational workplace requires a thoughtful and inclusive approach to cater to diverse needs and preferences. Here are some strategies HR teams can use to improve open enrollment communication across generations:

1. Start early and use multiple communication channels. Begin communicating the open enrollment process well in advance. Use a mix of communication channels, offering digital options (on-demand videos, virtual benefits fairs, online decision tools) as well as traditional ways (printed materials, in-person sessions) to share benefits information and enrollment guidance. While it may seem outdated, postcards or other mailings to the home can be effective when the decision maker is not the employee. For additional tips on reaching employees outside the office, read how to conduct a successful open enrollment for remote employees.

2. Segment and customize open enrollment communication. Tailor materials to address the specific concerns and interests of each generation. Highlight benefits that are likely to be more relevant to different age groups.

3. Simplify information. Present benefit options and their details in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. Use simple language and visual aids to ensure everyone can relate, understand the information and make informed choices.

4. Provide decision support tools. Offer tools, such as calculators, that help employees understand the potential costs and benefits of different options. This is especially important for choices involving health benefits. Today’s more advanced tools, including AI-supported platforms, can help provide more personalized guidance by helping employees compare options, estimate costs and better understand which benefits align with their needs.

5. Offer educational workshops and webinars. A series of subject-related informational sessions, virtual or in-person, can be a great way to target the differing concerns of all employees related to benefits. These sessions can clarify doubts and provide a platform for employees to ask questions and get answers. Include those who can’t attend scheduled sessions by providing recorded versions.

6. Provide always-on support. Have HR representatives or third-party providers on deck to answer questions and help throughout the open enrollment period and promote this capability widely; this may include offering extended call center hours. Providing manager resources so that leadership can help their employees know where to go if they run into questions will contribute to a seamless experience.

Building a workplace that supports every generation

Creating a workplace where every generation feels supported goes beyond benefits enrollment. Watch our Real Talk panel recap to learn how organizations can better understand employee expectations, strengthen communication and support a multigenerational workforce.

Hello everyone and welcome to Robert Half Real Talk leading across a multi-generational workforce. I'm Lorraine Kee, your moderator for today's session, joining you from sunny San Francisco. I am so excited to lead this timely and important conversation today about how we can prepare for the future of leadership across a workforce that spans four generations. Before we begin, I'd love to hear from all of you in the comments section. Where are you dialing in from? And what is one quality you think every future leader needs regardless of age and regardless of experience? So, where are you dialing in from and what is one quality you think every future leader needs regardless of age or experience? Drop your thoughts in the comments and I will be revisiting those shortly. Today's panel is going to take us beyond the typical conversations around succession planning. We are going to talk about what's needed next to establish long-term growth, innovation, and business continuity. We'll explore how organizations can build leadership pipelines that reflect today's evolving workforce and that are also prepared to meet tomorrow's business challenges. We'll be discussing topics like how to harness the unique strengths of every generation, best practices for building modern career development paths, ways of preserving institutional knowledge, and making space for every generation at the leadership table. Before we dive in, a quick bit of housekeeping. This session will run about 45 minutes. It is being recorded so you can revisit it anytime. Drop your questions and comments in the chat throughout and we will do our best to answer them live. Speaking of chat, I'm going to take a quick look at who's here and what quality our audience thinks every leader should have. So, we have Sarah from British Columbia. Good listening skills. Eness is from Paris. Welcome, Eness. She thinks agility is the best. Um, we have Lisa from Michigan. Transparency. Susan from New York. Joan says empathy. We have compassion, communication. Satic from Portland says collaboration. Okay, amazing. I'm loving all these adjectives. I love seeing how diverse this audience is. Thank you everyone for joining and for sharing. With that, I want us to meet our panelists. So Kathy Burton is the vice president of global learning and development at Robert Half. She leads initiatives that support employee growth and leadership development across the organization with a focus on building future ready talent. We have Megan W. Ghart. She is the founder and director of thought leadership at gentelligence.org. She is a professor, an author and a speaker who specializes in leveraging generational diversity as a strategic advantage in the workplace. And then last but certainly not least, we have Versa Chararma. She's the editor-inchief of Teen Vogue, where she leads editorial strategy and champions inclusive storytelling. She brings a unique perspective on how younger generations are shaping culture, leadership, and the future of work. And as I mentioned before, I'm Lorine K. Lee. I'm a keynote speaker and the best-selling author of Unforgettable Presence. And before that, I spent the first decade of my career as a founding editor at companies like LinkedIn and prey. So, let's give a wave. Hello, panelists. Thank you for being here today. Amazing to see you all and I thought it would be fun to start off our conversation today with a bit of an icebreaker so everyone in the audience can get to know our panelists a little bit better. So as I was thinking about okay what topic should I ask about today because it needs to be a topic that spans generations given the theme of our session today I realized that emojis would be the perfect topic. Now I have seen some hot debates around emoji usage and what exactly they mean. For example, what is considered friendly by one generation might come off as sarcastic or maybe even passive aggressive to another. I remember being shocked learning that the smiley face, which to me of course obviously meant being happy, might actually be seen as maybe patronizing by Gen Z. So my question for today for all of us, for all of you panelists, is what is the emoji that you use the most and what do you use it for? What does it mean to you? And to our audience, why don't you also throw your mostused emoji in the chat and what you think it means? So, Versa, let's start with you. What What is your most used emoji? Uh, it's kind of a boring answer, I'll be honest. I do the thumbs up or the white check mark, which I know that there's also been some discussion about whether the thumbs up is considered passive aggressive in my workplace. At least it is not. But the more fun one that I say I use pretty frequently, too, is the two red exclamation points. It's called bang bang and I use that for emphasis or agreement and that's something that me and my colleagues use a lot too. Nice. What about you, Megan? I don't know that mine's all that exciting, but I I do tend to use the winking emoji and I think it's my way of making sure the text is interpreted as being fun or not too serious. Making sure my tone is clear. So, I'm definitely in the the winking emoji camp over here. Love that. And what about you, Kathy? I tend to use the cringe emoji because I always go for the self-defamation. My nieces and nephews always keep me very honest on the emoji game. Nice. I use I would say like the most interesting one maybe is like you know those like two eye emojis and to me that means like oh I see your message like I'm acknowledging it. And then I remember um one of my interns, Jenz was said to me, "Oh, that to us it means like you're watching us." So, okay, very different definition there. Um turning to the chat here, I see one is, you know, someone has the chef's kiss. Um we're seeing some laughy emojis, blushing, the 100. I use that a lot as well. The the muscle strong one, upside down smile, which I feel like has many different meanings to different people. Um we're seeing a few of those. Yeah. prayer hand. Someone Knox, hello Knox, uh, uses a taco emoji, right? So, a lot of variation. Uh, emojis, I think, are a continuously evolving topic. Even what we're talking about, learning about today could even change in a few months. So, always a good idea uh to regularly check in with your teammates to to see what the latest is. So, thank you all for sharing those. And I want to start us off today with a level set. Succession planning has really traditionally focused on identifying who is the next natural person in line. You had a really clear structure within a company. But these days, it seems to be more about identifying and developing the right skills and qualities to prepare for what's ahead. So, I'm a millennial. I used to manage team members who were older than me, also much younger than me. And I really got to see firsthand how different generations had really different different definitions of what growth looked like. So, you know, they brought different expectations. They had different communication styles. They had different career goals. And all of those differences can make it a challenge for companies juggling all of this. So, Kathy, from your perspective at Robert Half, um, I'm curious, how are organizations rethinking succession planning? Well, I think a couple things to take into consideration here. One is I think there always needs to be a lens to the future because I think a lot of our seuite a lot of the times have been with the organization for a really long time. are tenured or possibly have a traditional view and so I think to really stop and think about what is it that the organization is going to need in the leadership roles in the future say two or three years down the road if we even think about two or three years in the rears there were positions and roles and technology that didn't even exist so I think having that lens to the future is a huge benefit what do we want to be how do we want to be what is what are the roles what is the technology that's going to be out there. What's the culture? What who are we going to have as our employee mass? And how do we keep them engaged? How do we keep them retained? How do we keep them developed? And what's the leadership mindset and skill set we need to do that? So, I think that's one big one. The other thing that I would take into consideration as well is knowing what our demographic is for the organization and having a look to what is the projected growth in some of these roles because there is a piece there to where you might have a younger demographic and they're going to be very um motivated and driven to move up and there might not be the pace of growth within the organization for that. So, how do we balance keeping them engaged and developing them in a way without, you know, without them feeling frustrated or passed over or don't have the patience to wait for the the next open role. I think that's such a great point, Kathy. I just wanted to jump in to echo that. It's it's great to hear you talk about that specifically because that is something that I have run into myself at work and I know other colleagues have as well. Um, I'm a millennial. I am the oldest person on my staff. My staff is made up of younger millennials and genzers. Of course, for a publication like Teen Vogue, that makes a lot of sense. Um, but there are specific challenges that come across with that. And one of the things that I find most interesting is both the similarities and the differences between millennials and genzers because we have both. And I feel like, you know, I entered the workforce in media um shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. It was a very different time to when Jenzers are entering the workforce. And I have noticed this kind of um almost restlessness or or impatience that comes along with great ambition to want to earn or get a promotion or a title change every two years that I think older generations are just like that's that's not how things work. That's not how things happen. Um but it's a completely it's a completely new world for them. So I think it's really interesting um and great to hear that that's something that you guys are thinking about as well, Kathy. Yeah, just to echo that, I think, you know, the important thing that I'm hearing in in everyone is one of the things I talk about in g intelligence, which is identifying assumptions that might be brought into a conversation and and just like the emojis, how often we think we're having the same conversation with people of different generations and we might be on a very different page. So, for example, Lorine, when you mentioned the idea of growth, um what does growth look like? What does development look like? you know, just even asking that question. Not only does it open up the conversation, but it allows people who have been there longer or older generations to say, "Well, let's talk about what growth and development look like here, and then you can figure out if there's a misalignment, a conversation about if if there's a really clear reason why it takes two or three years to get to the name uh next position." Let's talk about that so that we all understand these aren't random rules or if they are, maybe it's time to change them. But I do think really just identifying where we may be using terms like development or uh feedback or growth or any of those or even success in ways that look very different. I think that's important. Uh I also think the generational norms we we see around how to define success does that include upward mobility. And so for for it's different for every person, but I think some generations brought in a broader definition of success. We're seeing Gen Z want more balance around mental health and work life. You know, one of my students said really profoundly last year, it feels like all the boundaries between work and life have disappeared and we're just trying to put some of them back. Um and and I thought, wow, that I have to think about that for a minute. So perhaps we don't want to generalize, but perhaps you know the fact that success might mean upward mobility for some and it might mean more balance uh and not necessarily the highest wrong on the ladder for others. I think that's a really important conversation to have. Yeah. So all three of you, you touched on some important points. So then once we start understanding then the expectations, the assumptions right across generations and also what we want for the company in the future, how do we start figuring out how to actually grow and nurture the people who are showing that potential? Because this to me this is one of the most important considerations for leaders because there's nothing worse than a teammate with tons of promise leaving because you didn't invest in them. And I say that because earlier in my career, I was that teammate, right? I left a role I love because I just didn't see the clear path forward and it and it really stuck with me. Um I know Versa, you have some thoughts and have experienced this as well. So I'll throw it over to you first. Yeah, definitely. I've I've been in this same exact point as you, Lorraine. Um I I have left a job for that reason as well. So now that I am a manager, I am so mindful of making sure that all of my teammates and employees who report to me feel that there is a direct path um or a clear path rather for growth and development. And I think Megan made some great points about what that looks like and how it's different. The traditional career ladder, I think especially in media, does not exist anymore. um maybe it exists for like one one person to get to executive, but there's such a zigzag path in order to get there. And so I think one of the things that millennial leaders have really brought to the workplace as a strength um is empathy, as somebody said in the comments earlier, and just the importance of listening and active listening. So just having those conversations about what does growth and development actually look like for people, what are they interested in? I'm a big believer in people um being good workers and hard workers if they're actually motivated by what they do, if they feel it has some purpose. That's something we're seeing with younger generations as well, a very valuesdriven or purpose- driven um motivation at their at their workplaces. Um and so that's just one of the things that I think is incredibly important to this conversation. Yeah, I think Bersa, I would jump in on that one and and say I think you're right. I think potential presents itself very differently for everyone. And so I think the more exposure, the more experience, the more variation we can provide to people to engage, the more the more of a a showcase we can give them to exercise their personal superpowers. As humans, we're all wired. We want to be seen, heard, and valued, right? And we want to feel like we we're safe, we belong, and that we matter. And so at that stage of the game, it's like how as leaders and from a learning function, how can we help provide that variation and that variety for people to find that spark of motivation where we want to get that discretionary effort? Because when you see that discretionary effort come from people that comes from a passion, a purpose, a valuedriven alignment that you you can't find. You can't, you know, there's compliance and commitment and you want people to be committed to the cause and where they're going. And, you know, the more that we can present different ways for people to showcase their potential and like I said, their superpower, I think that's where we're really going to start to see people stay engaged, retained, and continue to grow, whether it is vertically or horizontal or horizontally. I I would add too that really you know the research confirms that if we create cultures where all ages so everyone across all all career stages feels that their age is of course not a hindrance that's kind of the lowhanging fruit but beyond that that it is recognized as bringing a unique value that there's value in these different generational perspectives you know the research is showing that that is how an age diverse workforce becomes an asset rather than a liability that people become more engaged, the turnover goes down, all of the things that we hope to see. And that really does come from that that trendy term of psychological safety. But psychological safety for all ages. So what that that means if you haven't heard the term is basically that everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas and taking risks as well as asking for help. And so to bring it back to the the development question that you started with, Lorine, what development looks like or where I need it does have likely a generational component to it. So, I I had a client recently that was sort of bemoning that the this the young people today didn't know how to do very basic functions in their industry and they don't know how to mop a floor and they don't know how to answer the phone and they don't know how to multitask and and of course there's always a sort of a judgment in that and and that's fair. We should absolutely expect them to be able to do things we need them to do, but it's always there's always a why, right? as overscheduled as young people are today, maybe there's less time to learn basic things like mopping or, you know, there's certain things just like older people have to feel safe saying, could could I head to an AI workshop because I would love to learn this, but I I haven't had time. Like, I would love to just go somewhere and be able to immerse myself in it. And so, meeting people where they're at and that no matter how old we are, we should be able to say, I would love to learn this or I could use some help doing that. as well as the flip of I have an idea and I could share it without being called entitled um because maybe it feels too soon for me to have ideas. So, we want to try to create that and I think anyone who feels heard and seen is going to be feeling like they are developing. Yeah. Um so glad there are leaders like you being so thoughtful about this. Not all leaders are thinking about this, right? Um the chat is is completely agreeing with you all. Also, Cara says it really helps to clearly communicate so that there's a level set of expectations on all sides. Um, Allison agreed with all of what you had to say. Um, and then Erica says she loves the defining success. She thinks that's key. So, looks like you have a lot of agreement in the audience as well. I want to talk also about knowledge transfer between teammates, especially in hybrid or remote environments because of course it's still doable. U many companies are operating under these models now, but you know, I've experienced it. and I'm sure many in our audience have as well. It can take a little bit more effort to have that open communication and to share ideas than if the person was sitting right next to us in an office. So what are some effective ways that we can make sure that you know knowledge is not just flowing within a company but also flowing across the generations and we're not sort of just siloed in our group. Um so Megan I'll throw it over to you first. I think that is you know it's our new challenge that that the hybrid and remote and in person brings different different I think opportunities but also frustrations to many of us. So when we first went into lockdown we assumed that our younger generation was going to thrive in this remote only. We felt like they had been asking for that. Um and actually really quickly the research showed we were completely wrong that our youngest generations were struggling the most. Now, of course, this was total isolation, different than what we have now. But I think it brought to light something. We were really quick to assume based on generational cliches like, well, the younger people know the tech, so they'll be fine. The rest of us will struggle. It really wasn't about the tech. It was about the different needs you tend to have at different parts in your career. So, you know, I work every day with with Gen Z's who are entering into the workplace and almost none of them want a fully remote job or internship, which seems really surprising, but but Gallup just recently redu uh released some data around this as well showing that that was true. So I think more and more we're seeing confirmation on this that you know the reason is that that younger people want opportunities to network and make their mark and prove themselves and learn things that are really hard to do remotely. Um and that when you're older maybe that's something less critical for you and and you may you know not have those same needs. So I think it's really again what we've been all saying recognizing those unique needs. And I also think it's really about, you know, if you're trying to convince people to come back to an office and they've never worked full-time in an office before, explaining why that's so important or why we think that has value and what that's going to bring to us that maybe we feel like we've lost. And so I think again, it's never a one-sizefits-all. I think anytime we use a mandate like everyone has to come back or everyone has to stay home or everyone has to do it this way, we lose, you know, all of those wonderful differences that we're talking about right now. So, I think really thinking about what might be helpful and convenient to to one generation about having some flexibility versus what might be the challenge of that. And I would end by saying I've been really struck by the fact that flexibility is the number one desire or benefit for every generation. Like no generational differences in that at all. But it goes back to what we just talked about that well what does flexibility mean to you as compared to someone you know 30 years older than you? It might look very different even though we're all saying we want quote flexibility. So I I really think it's about asking people what barriers does your work situation, whatever it might be, remote, hybrid, in person, what barriers is that creating for you and how could we support you? And also what do you love about it? I mean, I think those are so so interesting to have in terms of conversations and see in your organization what that looks like. I think for us we focus a lot on the central aspect of mentoring and it's a very inclusive mentoring. In fact, we have a huge mentoring culture within Robert Half thanks to some of our great team members. In fact, they've just won a gold Brandon Hall award for their mentoring mentoring program. So, uh hats off to them. But one of the things I think when people say mentoring, it's like new to experienced. I think that's the traditional way people think about mentoring and we look at it from peer-to-peer. We look at it as a as a transition. We look at it as even reverse mentoring. We've looked at it from even a sunsetting perspective and transitioning. So I think when you think about mentoring and knowledge transfer, there's a statistic out there by Gartner that's someone who learns something from a peer or someone that is not their direct manager, they are 65% more likely to try it. And so the whole concept of mentoring is inviting in different ideas and the equity of the value that everyone brings to the table. regardless of role, title, tenure, responsibility, function, and even location. We do this globally. We have people from our Sydney office mentoring with people in our Los Angeles office. So, it really does breach a lot of a lot of um areas that open up some avenues for people that they would never have. So we really really really focus on our mentoring culture within the organization because it just seems to fuel that additional retention and that additional level of respons I mean uh uh relationship to people that aren't directly within their work group what are you seeing uh team vogue yeah exactly exactly the same I I want to study Robert H mentoring program award-winning mentoring program to understand exactly what's going on there. We have some some of this um in place already. Conde Nast, which is our parent company. Um you know, Teen Vogue, Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, all of these great great magazines are under this one parent company. Um the cond Nast umbrella. So Kai Nast as a company does have something called the global employee council. We are a global company. Um, and that is like the biggest opportunity I think for junior more junior staff members globally to get a chance to actually interact with senior leaders, the executive leadership team, the highest ranks of company management. That's like kind of the whole purpose of the council and also for it to go both ways for executive leadership to hear from people who are doing the everyday like work of publishing these magazines online on social. um in some cases still in print, like what are they actually concerned about? What are they interested in talking about? So, I think that having something like that at your company or workplace um is a really great opportunity to have learnings go both ways and in in all directions, honestly. Yeah. So, yeah, same here. I wanted to join all your companies and join your your mentorship programs. Um but for those in the audience, if your company does not have a formalized program, um there's still ways that you can find mentors outside of work as well, right? So just remember that that's an option. Um it can be someone you've worked with previously. It can be someone you know through like a volunteering organization. So it's okay to think outside of the box. It doesn't always have to be um such a structured thing if your company um doesn't allow it. And then of course if you are passionate like you could always start a program internally as well. So um just keeping that in mind just given how significant mentorship can be in helping grow a career. I wanted to say too really quickly that uh you know I love the idea as you said like I I've had some um opportunities to witness what we call mutual mentoring. So kind of the mentoring reverse mentoring together but it really informally. So when you said if your company doesn't have an award-winning one and you're trying to get there you know I had a situation to observe it was just a dozen people of different generations that had sort of thrown their hat in the ring as being interested. They met, I think they paired up, they met once a month with sort of a loose structure of things they wanted to talk about, like workplace issues and challenges. And I got to sit in on their final like coffee meeting where they all came together. And what I was most struck by was how many partners said, "I just had no idea I would have so much in common with this person that's so much older or younger." And we don't often get a chance to interact with people significantly older or younger because we don't move through the organizations with them the same way as we do people similar in age. And I love that because they found that common ground that we do know is there. But they also learned a lot about how to understand those differences. And you know it also just helped create that trust, right? I can't stereotype or generalize someone from another generation if I'm a if I have a friend at work from that very generation who isn't any of those things that I always hear. So I love that idea of just even casually informally forming your own group. I think there's so much promise there. Well that that leads me to you know a question from the audience. Someone asked you know how can we understand the challenges or differences um between generations in a way that's unbiased. So, it sounds like that's one way, Megan, that you saw firsthand like, "Oh, I can't make these assumptions because I actually know um someone of this generation." But are there any other ideas or ways um that you've seen in your research or otherwise um that can allow us to understand without that bias? I'm a big fan of talking about generational norms instead of stereotypes. Because when we talk about stereotypes, almost all of us become not only uncomfortable, but disengaged because we think that's a cliche. all young people aren't great at tech and all older people aren't tech res you know all those things that we hear but we we are know aren't necessarily true but how do you balance not stereotyping with this feeling that there are differences here I'm definitely running into that I don't know how to navigate and so to me a generational norm is simply saying I'm not saying every person in this generation had this experience or is this or likes this form of communicating But we're noticing we can we can measure and track frequencies of behaviors and attitudes that eb and flow due to really interesting sort of forces around us as we're as we're heading into the workplace. So just like we said that Gen Z due in part to their growing up during the pandemic and their increased fluency on mental health, they are putting some boundaries back as a generation at a higher frequency than the millennial generation did. they had that hustle culture at their back and so they were more sort of encouraged to to push and and and get ahead as quickly as possible. Not every millennial, not every Gen Z, but those norms allow us to say this is a tendency or a swing we're seeing that feels different without insisting that we're going to paint everyone in that generation with a a broad brush. And then the last thing I would say is I really love thinking of generation as just one layer of your identity. And when we say that we can say it's really fascinating that the time in which you grow up and start your career does influence the way that you think and about things and see things. But it interacts with so many other parts of who you are. Whether that's your gender identity, your race, your culture, where you grew up in the world, your socioeconomic status over, you know, again and again and again, all the things we could layer. That's interesting. And we need to make room for that. That's how we have much smarter conversations in this area is yes, I'm a Gen Xer. Go Gen X. But also, there's all these other things about me that that I want to bring into to why I feel this way. I want to I want to jump in real quick and say uh I I completely agree with everything that Megan said and I I like that idea of focusing on norms rather than stereotypes and I think I'm you know also a journalist by training and this is the type of field that I work in but what we can observe about generations right like what are the actual observable behaviors and then again looking at history or the period and time in which they came of age I think is really really important and entered the workplace. So obviously I think and talk a lot about Gen Z. This generation has gone through so much that is completely different to previous generations because of the pandemic, right? And uh Rachel John Faza, who is a regular Teen Vogue contributor and she's great. You should check out her newsletter. Um it's all about Gen Z if you're interested in that kind of information. She has posited a theory that's like there's Gen Z 1.0 and 2.0 and 1.0 0 was in college when the pandemic started and 2.0 was in high school when the pandemic started and 1.0 um came of age and earned the right to vote in the Biden administration and 2.0 had that in the Trump administration. You know, very very different circumstances all around. So even just within Gen Z, you can see some observable differences. Um but to the question of mental health and boundaries, I just really think that keeping like COVID the pandemic has altered all of us, right? That's something that impacted all generations. Um, but Gen Z is a generation that many of them probably started their first full-time jobs remotely because of the pandemic. So, there is a transition to physical workplaces and back to office and what are those norms and what do they need to learn about that that even millennials and younger millennials had the chance to do that um in the late 2000s and the 2010s. So, I just I just think it's it's a really fascinating topic. I love Yes. I love all the the mindset shifts and sort of the reframing of all this. Um Kathy, a few people are mentioning in the chat they loved what you said earlier about leaning into superpowers, which I think ties in well with what we're talking about here, generational norms. Um so how do you think about generational norms and how can leaders start harnessing those to or like lean into the superpowers if you will um to build stronger teams? Well, I would go down the path of courageous curiosity. I think that um coming at things from an appreciative mindset versus a judgmental or a critical mindset. I think that's the difference between a norm and a stereotype. Um so I do think that there's a level of courageous curiosity around what is the value that this generation or this person is bringing to the table and vice versa. And so I think it's instead of, you know, having a millennial go, "Oh, we're gonna get here we go with the boomer, the jenzi is gonna give me a lecture about something." Um, that I think it's what what nuggets are in there that are beneficial to me and what is the value that I can contribute to the organization. And I think we get caught up in a lot of the times about you know hierarchy, tenure, titles, authority and that gets to automatically equate in a traditional sense a value and then that infers that someone with less tenure, less age, less experience or less lesser of a title doesn't provide that as equal level of value. And I don't necessarily agree with that. I think that if you're a good leader, your responsibility is to be in service of your team and to help them find ways in which they can showcase again their superpower like what is it that their value is that they bring to the table and it's my responsibility to provide an opportunity and an experience or exposure for them to do so. So, it I'm constantly kind of on that Easter egg hunt of, you know, how can I help this person be seen? How can I help this person have a voice? How can I help this person contribute value? Because then they feel a purpose. And when they feel a purpose, they're going to have loyalty. They're going to have commitment. They're going to want to have that discretionary effort for the team, for their role, for the organization. And they're going to go home feeling good about what they've contributed. that it's not going to be I'm a cog in a wheel. I'm a man for the machine. It's that they can identify themselves within their role and that they're adding that level of value. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know, it makes me think of an important point that, you know, each employee is going to want different things. So, for example, not everyone wants to be a manager, not everyone should be a manager. Um, so what are what are some ways that we can support and celebrate these different paths at work that aren't necessarily, you know, traditional management? Um, Versa, any thoughts there? Yeah, I think like the actual practice of just sitting down with your colleagues or your direct reports and sketching out what that actually looks like in 2025, 2026, and going forward. Um, again, when we're talking about an industry like media, uh, so much has changed. Jobs exist today that didn't exist 5 years ago. and five years from now jobs are going to exist that like we don't even know what they are. Um so I think also being very clear about managing expectations is really important understanding that again the jobs today as we understand them and the career ladders or the paths that we know today may shift next year. So that's why the kind of regular check-ins with your team are really important to know that you're consistently thinking about this. Um it's not just something that you think about once a year when the year reviews come around. Um, but we have a great process at team Vogue where we have um I mean mandated quarterly check-ins for sure with HR and management, but even with our team, it's much more regular than that, right? Like we're constantly talking about what are the ways that you want to grow um and what are the milestones that you can reach in order to get there. Else have any thoughts want to chime in? I I I love, you know, the the comments that have been made and I think it just all comes back to are we creating a culture where we value different kinds of contribution that that, you know, somebody who wants to be upwardly mobile and success to them means I want to be in, you know, the highest level of this organization possible. That's amazing. Let's talk about what it takes to get you there. as well as somebody that says, "I really enjoy my role as a team contributor and in in in this support role that I'm in or or things like that that that's not less than something else because we all know it takes different kinds of contributions to to make an organization run." And so, you know, I think making space for different kinds of of definitions of success is really really important. Um, I also think once again just that com opening up the conversation. You know, I' I've had a lot of clients who say,"I have this very high potential young employee who wants to be promoted tomorrow. That's not realistic, but I don't want to lose them." And and I think that we've kind of locked into, well, how do we balance that? And and I think it doesn't have to be we don't have to give away everything that we've done for a particular reason because the next generation is anxious or or wants to do something faster. I think it's a conversation about I love that you want you're ambitious and you want to go there and I can absolutely see you getting there. I would love to be someone who helps you with that. Can we walk through all the competencies or the experiences that we need you to have before you're ready? Right? instead of it maybe being an arbitrary timeline, unless your your industry is very much that way. I think often what people want to know is there's a future for me here and somebody here sees me and cares about me and believes that I can get there. And if I know that, maybe then the fact that it can't happen immediately is less worrisome to me because somebody is helping me figure out what progress looks like, the best way for me to get there. And so I I I feel like we're hitting that theme once again of really opening up definitions about success as well as conversations about um what it takes to get there in this organization. We I know we only have a Thank you, Megan, for that. I know we only have a few minutes left, so I want to close out with a really really uh important question that I'm excited about, and I know some of us have alluded to this in the comments as well. Career paths. So, one of the biggest shifts that surprised me when I started working was that my career path wasn't as linear as I expected it to be, right? I wanted to initially climb the corporate ladder, but then I zigzagged and I moved across teams, I switched companies, I got laid off, I started my own company. So, all of these things I hadn't anticipated. Um, I know many of you in the audience probably have zigzags in your own career, too. So, drop those in the chat if you feel comfortable sharing. Um, but it's really become the norm, not the exception. So, how can companies support growth whether someone is earlier in their career or more seasoned and sort of help them along the zigzag journey? So, Kathy, I'll throw it over to you first. Yeah, I well within the organization at Robert Half, we have been very diligent about creating learning journeys and being very transparent about those learning journeys. So even if you're looking at it from a linear perspective, but you also because of the transparency if you are going to be a zigzag, which we fully support, um you know what the opportunities or the options are for that zigzag. And so with a learning journey, we root them in very core consistent competencies a lot of the times aligned with the organizational values as well as universal competencies that can stretch across the organization. So we're continually try to help everyone at their, you know, meet them where they're at and helping them elevate their skill set, their competencies, not only from an experience, exposure, education, but also creating an environment for them that they can really thrive and that they're know that the organization they work for is committed to their development. We have made a promise by publishing these learning journeys. We continually align all of our programs sequentially to that and it really does help with either a recruitment, a development or even a retention tool because a lot of organizations don't do that for their for their employees. And when we make that commitment, there's this unspoken reciprocal commitment that our employees make back to us because they know we're going to continue to support them in their development. Um there's, you know, again, going from that vertical to the horizontal development, we're able to support both. And so if you want depth and breadth because you want to become a subject matter expert in the role that you have, fantastic. If you want to start working towards that leadership track, we have all sorts of opportunities to help you get ready to do that. So that that's what I would say as far as career pathing and, you know, career career journeys as it goes. Mhm. Persia, did you want to chime in? Yeah, I'm so sorry. I tried to mute at the time that I sneezed and I wasn't quick enough. Um, the career zigzag is so real and what I will add is that I think it's actually a great thing for that to become more normalized and accepted. Uh, I think we're we're all going to be better off if we feel encouraged and able to try new things and to find out what we're really good and passionate about. Again, I just think that's that's my favorite motivation for why I do what I do. And so I think that's true for a lot of other people as well. Yeah, agree. I know me as a manager helping others get to that point ve very fulfilling for sure. Megan, any thoughts from you? I think the one thing I would add is just that, you know, we want to take what maybe we in our generation, whatever it is, finds implicit. Of course, they know that we think they have a future here. Otherwise, we wouldn't be giving them their feedback every year. We would have fired them by now. We sometimes need to make what feels implicit very explicit, right? That we see a future for you here. We would love to keep you here for as long as possible. Let's talk about what it's going to take for that to happen on both sides. I think the more we can just make that implicit explicit and make sure we don't think that that somebody understands that they're valued because they're still employed or that on the other side that somebody doesn't feel, you know, like they're being appreciated um or important, you know, the more that we can explicitly just, you know, have that conversation about what it's going to take and what your career path might look like and the different shapes and how we value those. I think all of those things as we've talked about today um are how we create those really generationally thriving cultures for sure. Love that makes a lot of sense. And before we close out today, I do want to shift gears for a quick rapidfire round of questions so we can get those last nuggets of wisdom out of all of you. So, um no more than a few words for each of these. Um I'm going to ask you two questions. Uh, the first one is, "What is one thing that Gen Z is teaching older generations at work?" So, Kathy, how to use the technology and what emoji means what? I'm learning that, too. Uh, Megan, what about you? I'm going to say how to put back some of the boundaries that have fallen away. Okay, Versa. Uh, squaring your values with where you work. Okay, nice. And what is one thing older generations are teaching Gen Z? So, we'll start with you, Versa. Uh, responsibility. Okay. Megan, what about you? I think how to see the bigger picture. Just not the part you're playing, but how it fits into the the bigger the bigger landscape. Nice. And Kathy, close us out. Patience. We could all use more patience. Well, amazing. Thank you all for such a thoughtful and energizing conversation. I love whenever I can get introduced to new ideas and it's been so interesting uh to learn about this new way to think about succession planning and and really the future of work and how to work better with our colleagues. So for all of you in the audience, remember that it's not just about figuring out who the next leader is. It's about making sure that we're building a workplace where every generation can can really really thrive. So thank you everyone again for joining us. Don't forget to check out the recording and share it with your teams. And I would love to see you all keep the conversation going. So, drop your takeaways, drop any other questions or comments that you have in the chats. I love to see so much interaction today. And if you want any more insights into management and leadership, visit roberalfins insights at roberth.com. I will see you all next time.

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