Young people are taking over the workplace, and that’s a problem for bosses

Gen Z workers are expected to outnumber baby boomers in the U.S. workforce this year. If only their bosses could understand them.

Companies find their youngest employees the most difficult to work with, surveys show. Now executives are making efforts to engage them more. They’re arranging mentorship for employees who entered the workforce remotely during the pandemic; they’re giving guidance on how to communicate and when to keep their thoughts to themselves; and they’re offering new kinds of perks, like an onsite therapist.

Each new generation coming up in the workforce tends to confuse corporate management, at least initially. Members of Gen Z—generally defined as born between 1997 and 2012—are no exception. Dozens of board members from public companies gathered in June at the Sheraton hotel in Palo Alto, Calif., to discuss the questions this latest cohort raises. Christine Heckart, who has worked as an executive in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years, told the audience that younger generations want meaning, mentorship and a sense of purpose.

The message didn’t go over well with everyone in the room. One board member in attendance asked why any of those things should be the company’s responsibility.

Heckart, who says she has been heckled in the past on the subject, still makes the case that companies will benefit from helping to fulfill the needs of younger workers because then they’ll be better employees.

“They want security and this chance to matter,” said Heckart, who advises companies. “When they’re not heard, when they don’t have an opportunity to grow, when they’re not appreciated, then they check out pretty quickly.”

“A lot of employers are recognizing that Gen Z is going to be such a huge part of the labor economy—it already is—that they have to respond,” said Cat Ward, who works with big employers to improve workplace practices as a vice president at the nonprofit Jobs for the Future. “Employers are trying to make sure they maintain relevance.”

‘Nobody told them how to be’

Some of the dissatisfaction, executives say, stems from how younger generations entered the workforce.

During the pandemic, many Gen Z employees completed internships entirely remotely. They missed out on the side-by-side learning that helps early employees acclimate and thrive in new jobs. With hybrid schedules and offices still half empty, many younger workers are finding that they lack genuine relationships at their companies.

At Booking Holdings, which operates travel sites such as Priceline, the average age of an employee is about 37. Chief Executive Glenn Fogel said he has noticed that the newest generation of professionals needs additional guidance about workplace norms. Some younger employees have been known to give presentations with more than 40 pages of slides. Executives have had to stress that less is more.

“This is one of the first jobs they’ve ever had. And nobody told them how to be,” Fogel said.

During Booking’s virtual all-hands meetings, managers have reminded workers not to leave snarky comments while people are speaking. Despite that younger workers don’t always know what is constructive versus inappropriate, Fogel said he is careful not to generalize them as softer or less motivated.

“In every room, there’s always going to be incredibly hardworking, self-driven maniacs, and we have a whole bunch of them,” he said. “And then there are people who are just showing up.”

Free therapy

Last summer, credit-card issuer Synchrony Financial asked dozens of new Gen Z hires at its headquarters in Stamford, Conn., to tell executives what benefits and culture they hoped to find in an employer.

The answer surprised Synchrony’s executives: Some in the cohort of about 100 people said they wanted free, on-site therapy at work.

“Maybe 25 or 30 years ago, it would have been a gym,” said DJ Casto, Synchrony’s chief human resources officer. “Now, it’s someone to help me figure out how to have the right mental wellness.”

The company earlier this year began offering free in-office sessions. On Synchrony’s Stamford campus, the therapist, Jennifer Nielsen, works from a serene space behind frosted glass on the first floor of a little-trafficked building. Initial appointments last an hour; she then offers 45-minute follow-ups.

Nielsen is employed by a third-party firm, an arrangement designed to help Synchrony employees feel more comfortable confiding in her. Though Gen Z staffers expressed a desire for the benefit, employees of different ages are using it. “It really is across all age groups,” Nielsen said.

Not so different

Hilton executive Laura Fuentes says Gen Z and Millennials might not be so far apart from their older counterparts; at times they’re simply more vocal about what they want.

Younger hotel employees expressed an interest in being paid after each hourly shift. Hilton made that an option, and older workers now use the benefit, too. “We’ve tried to pick up on the things that actually end up being good for everyone,” said Fuentes, Hilton’s chief human resources officer.

Maria Amato, a senior client partner with Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm, says that many of her clients are concerned about attracting and retaining younger employees. And yet every time there’s a new generation emerging in the workforce, companies worry about not being able to understand or accommodate them.

“We started having this conversation 25 years ago but then we were concerned about Gen X,” says Amato.

She advises companies not to apply approaches based purely on generational differences in part because older employees might want many of the same things, including more flexibility and career development opportunities.

Living on feedback

At the semiconductor company SiTime, instead of annual reviews, managers meet with their employees individually once or twice a quarter to check in, share feedback and find out more about the employees’ long-term goals. This is in addition to what are known as “problem-solving” one-on-one meetings, which are more time-sensitive and focused.

“The younger crowd lives on feedback,” said Rajesh Vashist, SiTime’s CEO.

The company launched a program that takes the top 20% to 30% of individuals within teams and offers them additional mentorship opportunities. The program is also meant to help ensure that high-performing junior employees can see that they’re having an impact.

“What they want is this meaningful way of working,” said Vashist. “Even though we pay very handsomely,” he added, “it’s not enough to do that.”

The design-software developer Canva has put supervisors through a leadership coaching academy in the past year, aiming to reinforce that younger employees expect clear goals and guidance on how to develop new skills, said Jennie Rogerson, the company’s global head of people.

Rogerson said Canva is already reaping the benefits of giving Gen Z employees in particular more conversations around their long-term goals, and how their work plays into the company’s purpose. Managers frame conversations around: “What are the goals that we’re going to take on together?” she said. “How do you contribute towards that?”

Write to Katherine Bindley at katie.bindley@wsj.com and Chip Cutter at chip.cutter@wsj.com