Why Gen Z and Women Have the Potential to Transform Europe's Managerial Roles Women have been tasked with overcoming many stereotypes throughout the business landscape, and broken perceptions of Gen Z and female workers are harming the trust of European employers.

According to employers, the next generation of workers are challenging to work with, while women are consistently overlooked for key C-Suite roles in businesses.

One recent study showed that although almost half of UK hiring managers planned to hire Gen Z employees in the coming months, a massive 96% reported challenges in engaging with them.

Dutch employers would rather hire an employee over the age of 60 ahead of a Gen Z candidate, believing that the younger generation is too easily distracted, and with 48% of more than 300 surveyed entrepreneurs and managers believing that the young employees use too many buzzwords and abbreviations towards customers and colleagues.

Even the European Union has recently renovated its hiring system in a bid to fix its hiring system, which lacks the infusion of younger hires.

This initiative has been reflected throughout European businesses, which have also sought to cater more toward women, many of whom were disproportionately affected in the post-pandemic landscape by falling into the NEET (not in employment, education, or training) categorization of unemployment.

As a result, an analysis of 200 applications in 2023 saw that 52% of EMEA-based applicants were women, as opposed to 50% in North America.

Despite these initiatives geared towards more inclusive hires for Gen Z workers as well as women in general, a widespread reluctance among hiring managers to trust this undervalued workforce demographic appears to be holding them back from senior roles.

Young workers aren't difficult

Are Gen Z workers as difficult as employers believe? In reality, these younger generations have been challenged to contend with exceptional external pressures that have moulded them into more aware and driven individuals who can be an asset to European employers.

It's worth noting that Gen Z is the first generation to grow up in a fully digital environment. Those born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s showcase double the rate of social media usage than all adults in the US, and this has led to far more severe mental health implications and introspection within job roles.

It's for this reason that worrying research that British Gen Z and young millennials miss an average of one day per week in lost productivity due to mental health concerns is likely to resonate more among hiring managers.

Both generations were severely impacted by the pandemic, in terms of the social development of GenZ and the jarring shift towards the 'new normal' approach to working for millennials.

Although a global survey of employees found that 52% of respondents born after 1997 experienced stress in everyday life, a total that surpasses any other age group, research suggests that this forms part of a drive for Gen Z workers to develop stronger skills and perform better at work.

Younger employees are more acutely aware of their weaknesses and believe they have a lot of skills to learn to improve their performance at work, according to research commissioned by Ricoh Europe.

To illustrate this, 55% of Gen Z employees believe they need to improve their face-to-face communication skills, despite just 41% of baby boomers agreeing that young employees need to improve. In fact, older generations are more positive about Generation Z's skill sets than the individuals themselves.

Such research makes it more understandable to see that Gen Z workers in the United Kingdom are working an average of 27 hours of overtime per month, consisting of almost seven hours of unpaid work weekly and an extra 13.5 days per year.

Baby boomers, on the other hand, work an average of 6.97 extra days per year. Younger employees may struggle with stress and accusations of being challenging in the workplace, but they're keen to improve and are certainly not slackers.

Adding value to the C-Suite

By 2025, GenZ will amount to 27% of the global workforce, with millennials increasing their dominance. With around half of this percentage comprised of women, more businesses should be seeking ways to benefit from the rich insights that young female professionals can provide firms.

Despite this, Eurostat data shows that around one in three women hold managerial positions in Europe, and at C-Suite the matter's even more dire. There's a distinct lack of female representation in the C-Suite of startups and scaleups in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, with female CTO presence ranging between 2% and 5%.

Although data shows that the C-Suite role of Chief Human Resources Officer across the surveyed nations shows a far higher level of female representation, Deloitte forecasts show that true gender parity in global boardrooms won't be achieved until 2038.

This lack of representation is a major loss to businesses. According to linguistic analysis conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the propensity for risk-taking among C-Suites consisting of women decreased by 14%. Meanwhile, terms associated with an openness to change grew by 10%.

This suggests that women are an asset when it comes to securing sustainable digital transformation and measured risk assessment at the C-suite.

Fortunately, there are growing examples of inclusivity in the tech landscape where women are finally having their potential recognized.

Around 50% of the leading cryptocurrency trading platform Bitget's workforce is comprised of women.

Today, 75 senior managerial positions within the company are held by women, and more than 49 are GenZ or millennials aged 35 or under. Since Gracy Chen became CEO in May, the company has quadrupled its user base, and the increase in female employees may have contributed to this growth, as "women business leaders bring a more collaborative approach to the job."

As the first female CEO of a major crypto exchange, Chen has experienced the challenges young women face in their careers. She recalls a venture capitalist once stating, "We like your project, but we don't invest much in female entrepreneurs, especially those recently married and without children."

In January 2024, Bitget conducted a study on gender bias in blockchain startup funding, revealing that only 6% of funds go to female-led projects. Bitget's success under female leadership serves as an inspiration for women and companies aiming to foster diversity, focusing on improving the career prospects of the next generation and women in business.

Inspiring the next generation

Despite negative perceptions among employers, Gen Z workers represent a unique opportunity for businesses to onboard high-value employees whose motivations lie away from the pursuit of higher salaries.

According to a BBC survey of 4,000 13- to 16-year-olds in the UK, the majority of respondents (27%) prioritized happiness as the most important consideration for a job, while 25% wanted to feel good about what they do. Just 20% prioritized money, suggesting that employers may need to focus more on factors like workplace benefits and sustainable commitments ahead of salary when it comes to job listings.

Another key appeal for employers is that new data suggests Gen Z are ready and willing to learn. In a Udemy report on Gen Z in the workplace, research found that 65% of young workers were the most motivated by their professional development.

This calls for more businesses to rethink their proposition to young workers. With more of the next generation expressing a keen interest in learning, offering on-site training and the building of competencies could be a key means of driving engagement.

Gen Z employees are more socially conscious, and the age of social media has brought a new emphasis on wellness among younger employees. With female Gen Z workers more likely to accept roles within companies that show a commitment to diversity, building conducive ESG strategies can help to onboard more motivated and engaged women.

Building a collaborative future

Both Gen Z and female workers in Europe and beyond have been on the receiving end of bad press in recent years, but statistics suggest that a driven young workforce can help to drive efficiency and fresh perspectives for companies willing to adapt to welcome young talent.

At the forefront of this societal change will be women, who have been shown to have stronger risk-management capabilities while featuring a propensity for change.

In achieving digital transformation, welcoming Gen Z women into C-suite roles can help pave the way for better sustainability and fresh perspectives for businesses.

For ambitious employers, the ongoing perception of Gen Z as 'challenging' could open an opportunity for unrivalled access to a global talent pool packed with potential. Those willing to adapt to welcome the next generation today will be best positioned to reap the rewards long into the future.