Bridging the Generational Gap in the Workplace
Bridging the Generational Gap in the Workplace
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
The disconnect between younger and older generations in the workplace is a tale as old as time.
But when it’s becoming increasingly difficult to bridge the gap without appearing ageist, it’s time to switch gears.
Here’s what’s on the agenda:
🧑💼 How to work with Gen Z
💻 Leaders continue to call for regulations amid AI’s “profound” potential
🏘️ What mortgage servicing could look like for the rest of 2023
💼 Briefly — our quick news roundup
⏱️ Up & coming
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Bridging the gap in today’s workplace
A recent survey from ResumeBuilder revealed just how annoyed most managers are with Gen Z.
Here’s the scoop:
74% say Gen Z is harder to work with than any other generation
49% say Gen Z is difficult to work with all or most of the time
65% say they had to fire Gen Z workers more than any other generation
Managers cite Gen Z’s lack of technological skills, motivation, and effort as the top reasons for their frustration.
While these are legitimate concerns, ResumeBuilder’s chief career advisor, Stacie Haller, reminds readers that “the responsibility goes beyond Gen Z.”
According to Haller, educational institutions need to prepare students properly, and managers and business leaders have to learn how to work with Gen Z.
“Bias against younger workers is unacceptable and no different than the ageism that we typically see against Baby Boomers,” she says in the report.
What does Gen Z really want?
Deloitte Digital found that there’s a disconnect between what Gen Z wants at work vs. what their bosses think they want.
First, there needs to be an understanding of the challenges of entering the workforce in a post-pandemic world.
Beyond that, here are the key points from the report:
Gen Z places strong emphasis on empathy in the workplace, while their bosses do not rank this as an important trait
Gen Z doesn’t feel they get the mental health support they need
Gen Z doesn’t view their work as a significant part of their identity, while their bosses do
How to bridge the gap
The promising news is that more than 7 in 10 bosses are excited about how Gen Z will influence the workforce. They are the “digital generation,” after all.
But bridging the gap will take effort to connect and understand.
Here’s how:
Get curious about what your employees want
Be intentional about connecting the various generations in your workplace
Encourage a culture where older generations and Gen Z both have opportunities to mentor each other
The bottom line: Most people (regardless of their generation) want to be heard, understood, and supported, while still being offered the space to thrive and grow within an organization.
Gen Z is no different — they just have different needs than previous generations.
If you want more, here’s Forbes’ take on how leaders can more effectively manage Gen Z.
Leaders continue to call for AI regulations
AI’s potential is massive. In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai says he believes it is “more profound than fire or electricity.”
That’s why Pichai and Elon Musk are among the leaders who are continuing to call for AI regulation before things get too out of hand.
What does “out of hand” mean?
Musk recently said in an interview that AI is a danger to the public.
While that may sound dramatic, Musk warns that since most government regulations aren’t put in place until after something bad has happened, in the case of AI, it may be “too late” by then.
“AI may be in control at that point,” he said.
In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Pichai said they would need to develop algorithms similar to those that detect spam on Gmail, mostly due to “deep fakes” that can cause harm to society.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates says pausing AI would not solve the challenges. Instead, we have to “identify the tricky areas.”
What are we supposed to do in the meantime?
Musk is far from the only person to call out AI’s dangerous potential, but the intent behind it isn’t to spread fear or halt AI indefinitely, just to encourage leaders to take notice and take action.
Like any technology, if it gets into the wrong hands, it could be used for the wrong purposes.
As leaders grapple with how to rein in AI, the rest of us can simply use it the way it’s intended: to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and boost productivity.
How one mortgage company is navigating borrower expectations
New American Funding won the most recent J.D. Power Servicing Award. Chief Servicing Officer Roger Stotts recently spoke with HousingWire about navigating borrower expectations and how the rest of the year may look.
When asked what Stotts thinks his company does that others don’t, here’s where he said his main focus lies:
Treating the customers right
Treating employees right
Selecting vendor partners that care about the clients and will help you solve problems
Anticipating changes that could be stressful or traumatic for borrowers and being proactive about them
Believing a customer shouldn’t have to wait on hold for more than 30 seconds
Stotts acknowledged that while borrowers want “information and answers in real time,” they also don’t want to talk on the phone and prefer online or email communication.
He stressed that the best way to get insights about what the customers do and don’t want is from the loan officers.
Overall, he believes the current challenges mortgage professionals are facing are similar to those “good servicers” have always faced:
Doing the right thing for the customer
Protecting the interests of the investor
Doing things compliantly and in the most cost-efficient way possible
What would you add to Stotts’s list?
Briefly
🤥 Mortgage News Daily unpacks fact vs. fiction on the changes to the Loan Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs), which go into effect May 1
🤖 Watch how entrepreneur Jensen Tung attempts to make a YouTube channel using only AI
👮 The CFPB says a now-former employee forwarded the personal information of more than 250,000 consumers to a personal email account, raising concerns about the CFPB’s security practices
🏘️ Survey: 82% of sellers feel “locked in” by their low interest rate
Up & Coming
The New York Times explores what’s next for banks in the weeks since the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, including “the repercussions of it for years to come.”