What’s Different About 2019’s Workforce?

March 27, 2019

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While your workplace likely won’t experience cosmic shifts in 2019, there are changes coming. In order to keep pace and ensure you are delivering what the modern worker is looking for, it is important to understand the things that will likely be different about 2019’s workforce.

Goodbye Boomers, Hello Generation Z

The first wave of baby boomer retirement came in 2011, and we are now reaching the end of the line. As this generation continues to exit the workforce, there will be continued knowledge and experience gaps in the workplace, leading to hiring struggles. As boomers take their leave, Generation Z makes its entrance. This generation is graduating from college and will comprise 36 percent of the total workforce by 2020. Gen Z is similar to millennials in their desire to feel connected to their work and their thirst for feedback, but they are also a little different. Gen Z does not thrive in the open office environment that has become popular in recent years. They prefer private workspaces and the option to work from home. These workers also do not wish to be confined to a traditional nine-to-five schedule. They want independence, flexibility and access to cutting-edge tools to facilitate remote work.

Increased Ghosting and Job Hopping

Millennials have been blamed for an increase in job hopping over the last several years and that trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, job ghosting – the practice of not showing up and not returning calls – is on the rise nationally, and experts struggle to predict just how long this trend will continue.

Money is often at the center of job hopping and ghosting. Between student loans, the rising cost of healthcare, housing costs and other pressures, people aren’t satisfied with mere three percent salary increases. Even happy employees are keeping their eyes peeled for a job that pays more or offers more robust benefits. To improve retention, it will be necessary to offer competitive compensation packages.

Nontraditional Skill Building

Historically, people have learned skills in the classroom or through on-the-job training. Prior to the mobile revolution, these were really the only two options. Today, people can open their laptops and learn skills ranging from word processing to new languages to computer programming and everything in between.

Hyperspecific learning programs, like those found on Udemy, Lynda and Coursera, offer online instruction in hundreds of skills at a fraction of the cost of traditional college course, and they are extremely popular with younger talent. In order to find the best people, employers need to understand how to evaluate this type of learning. Someone with a degree in English – or no degree at all – but a long list of skills gained through online learning shouldn’t necessarily be written off in the hiring process.

Are You Ready for the New Workforce?

For more strategies on how to keep pace with the workforce of 2019, reach out to the experts at PrideStaff today!