Waikato Business News August/September 2021

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2021
21
What your youngest employees need
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
> BY SENGA ALLEN
Managing Director, Everest – All about people TM
www.everestpeople.co.nz
For those unfamiliar with the term Gen Z
(Generation Z) these are your youngest
employees, born between 1997 and 2012.
I bet our current millennials (b. 1980-1994)
are feeling a tad old by that stat!!
Before we launch into
what Gen Z needs in
the workplace – just
a few fun facts for you. The
average Gen Zer received their
first mobile phone at age 10.3
years. Many of them have
grown up playing with their
parents’ mobile phones or tablets.
They have grown up in a
hyper-connected world and the
smartphone is their preferred
method of communication. On
average, they spend 3 hours
a day (pfff I think it’s more
than that!) on their mobile
device. Members of the Gen
Z were just beginning their
career journeys when we went
into lockdown last year – and
those in school were suddenly
confined to their homes. Collectively
this group is experiencing
the greatest national
trauma since the Great Depression
and World War II. Ultimately,
workplaces need to be
equipped to move forward and
thrive and employers will need
to address the fallout resulting
from Covid on their youngest,
and future employees.
How can we support Gen Z
employees?
Workplace culture is hugely
important to Generation Z
employees as they care less
about the brand or reputation
of a business, and more about a
sense of community and wellbeing
(things like paid time
off and a focus on healthier
lifestyles and mental health).
They feel highly connected to
social issues and want to make
a difference in their jobs, as
opposed to climbing the corporate
ladder. In fact, 30% of
Gen Z employees would take
a pay cut to work for a cause
they care about, craving in-person
connection and wanting to
feel they belong. With all that
in mind, Gen Z employees
are entering a very uncertain
time in the workplace, and so
to attract and engage them,
businesses must connect their
work to purpose, practice
modern leadership, and focus
on wellbeing. They must also
train leaders on modern leadership
skills like mentorship,
coaching and teaching, as well
as having a robust recognition
programme.
Stress management.
For more than a decade,
researchers have noted an
alarming trend: Gen Z reports
higher levels of anxiety and
depression than other generations.
Studies also tell us that
childhood exposure to significant
stress can impact brain
development and affect mental
and social development. If Gen
Z’s baseline already shows
high levels of stress, what will
the impacts of this pandemic
be when it comes to their work
and careers? Many companies
are unaware that unaddressed
employee and anxiety can
result in higher levels of absenteeism,
turnover, and lowered
productivity. For Gen Zers
many started their career with
higher levels of anxiety exacerbated
by Covid and business
owners should be acutely
aware of what impact that may
on their business.
Emotional intelligence.
Research tells us that emotional
intelligence; consisting
of self-awareness, self-regulation,
motivation, empathy, and
social skills, is a critical element
of effective leadership —
and can be taught and learned.
In having to cope with a lockdown
life at such a young age,
many Gen Zers have experienced
a massive interruption
in their ability to discover what
motivates and fulfils them.
Because of this, they’ll need
more time in their young adult
years to undertake this self-exploration.
You might consider
helping to fill this gap by offering
training that helps build
emotional intelligence from
the outset of their careers -not
once they hit 30. Employers
will benefit from Gen Z’s
entering the workplace with a
greater level of empathy and
adaptability, qualities that are
critical components of emotional
intelligence.
Right now, businesses have
a great opportunity to help
Gen Zers become authentic
and inspirational leaders.
Having been tested at a very
young age, they will bring a
special blend of resiliency and
humanity to the workplace.
Just what we all need in our
Covid ridden world.
Five pillars to connect
with your digital customer
TAXATION AND THE LAW
> BY HAYDEN FARROW
Hayden Farrow is a PwC Partner based in the Waikato office.
Email: hayden.d.farrow@pwc.com
The speed of technological change is both an opportunity and a
challenge for businesses. Customers experience your company
through products and services and this, combined with a
constantly evolving digital landscape, has had a dramatic impact
on the way businesses need to approach digital transformation.
Adapting to the expectations
of the digital
customer (individual,
enterprise, vendor, partner,
and distributor) is crucial to
success. Most organisations
have already digitised to some
degree and are seeing productivity
gains as a result. In the
PwC 2021 CEO surveys, 81%
plan to increase long-term
investment much more that
can be done. in digital transformation
initiatives over the
next three years as a result of
COVID-19.
Here in New Zealand, we
see this challenge first hand.
Many big box retailers can
operate online at different
levels of lockdown, however
the ability to execute the endto-end
sale and delivery of
the goods is challenged by a
non-digital supply chain. This
leads to higher overheads and
brand challenges when they
are unable to fulfill and deliver
on an order.
Businesses need to have
digitisation across their endto-end
process. Having a website
can be a start of a digital
journey, but it’s only a channel
and a window into your organisation.
It’s the whole backend
solution that’s important to
truly understand and get right.
Here we look at the five
key pillars essential to connect
with the digital customer.
Evolve your business - form
and implement a digital strategy
that aims to connect with
customers and ensures a positive,
dynamic customer experience.
Focus on customer experience
design, multichannel
integration and streamlining
operations.
Create new value - generate
innovative ideas from within
the business and priortise the
fast identification of products.
Test these in the market
and use feedback to improve
the product, mitigate brand or
operational risk, and to identify
new revenue streams.
Protect - with the increased
reliance on digital assets,
ensure that you protect
your business and
reduce the risks associated
with online security
and cyber crime. Consider
performing compliance
assessments, security assessments
and developing risk mitigation
and breach response
plans.
Accelerate - leverage cloud
infrastructure and mobile,
social and web solutions to
streamline operations and processes.
For example, low code
automation tools require very
little coding knowledge and
enable a business to develop
customised applications.
Know your customers - use
available customer data to
understand your customers’
expectations. You can use this
to formulate a digital strategy
that connects with the customer.
This isn’t a set and forget
though, feedback should
be used to ensure continuous
improvement.
Change is expensive and a full
systems pivot may not be an
option. Start with a balanced
approach that addresses shortterm
pain points and plans for
long-term digitisation strategies.
For example, leveraging
low code automation tools can
Th
be an effective way to alleviate
immediate inefficiencies,
while the business can perform
systems reviews and consider
next steps in the implementation
of change.
You cannot transform a
business through technology
alone, and neglecting the needs
of people is often the single
source of failure for technology
transformations. Keeping
your people and your customers
at the heart of everything
you do, will enable you to successfully
embark on your digital
transformation journey.
The comments in this article
are of a general nature and
should not be relied on for specific
cases.
e rapidly evolving digital customer
Having a website
can be a start of a
digital journey, but
it’s only a channel
and a window into
your organisation.
It’s the whole
backend solution
that’s important to
truly understand
and get right.