hiring gen z: how to attract young talent to your manufacturing company.

Successful manufacturing companies rely on a careful balance of experience and talent to keep customers satisfied and productivity high. Compared to other industries, manufacturing is usually fairly traditional. Employees often stay in their roles a long time, which is an asset when the company has to deal with an ever-changing production process and market outlook.

However, organizations that don’t renew will face challenges with an aging workforce. Gen Z may still be entering the job marketplace, but they’ll soon make up a large share of the total number of jobseekers — and companies that don’t adapt their recruitment practices will struggle to thrive in the future of manufacturing.

If you want to ensure your organization remains competitive in the search for talent, this article aims to help. Let’s take a look at what Gen Z looks for in an employer, before moving on to what you can do to win their confidence.

understanding gen z in the workplace.

who is gen z?

Generation Z is most commonly defined as the generation of people born between 1997 and 2012. The youngest ‘Zoomers’ are still in school, but the older end of this cohort may have already completed their education and been in the workforce for a number of years.

what motivates gen z in the workplace?

As always, it’s vital to treat employees like individuals, not just as members of a generation. Different people have different motivations and career ambitions, and an individual’s birth year can’t tell you everything you need to know about their work style or personal qualities. However, research and surveys have shown that Gen Z does stick out from other generations on a group level when it comes to their approach to work.

In short, Gen Z has five key priorities that distinguish them from their Millennial, Gen X or Baby Boomer colleagues:

• meaningful work — Gen Z is more likely than any other generation to list ‘meaningful work’ (or a lack of it) as a reason for taking, staying or leaving a job.
• work-life balance and flexibility — more Zoomers would reject a job that didn’t offer flexibility than older workers
• empathetic employers — 40% of Gen Z workers say their employer “doesn’t understand their generation” — but only 21% of Baby Boomers would say the same.
• relevant roles — Gen Z is attracted to brands and industries they recognize from their personal lives to a much greater extent than other generations.

advancement and development — Gen Z are the most outspoken about the value of learning and development in the workplace.

myths and misconceptions about gen z in the workplace

As Gen Z has become older and started taking its place in the workforce, negative stereotypes have developed about Gen Z’s poor work ethic. Just like any other sweeping statement about a large group, these stereotypes aren’t rooted in facts. On the contrary, figures show that Gen Z workers may be even more motivated than some of their older colleagues:

• 46% of Gen Z says their generation is more ambitious than others — higher than any other age group.
• Gen Z managers are actually better at providing feedback than managers in any other age group, according to a large dataset of hundreds of thousands of employees.
• Research has shown that while preferences and interests vary across generations, the existence of major differences in personality traits or work performance between generations simply aren’t backed up by the data. In other words, employees from different generations are more similar than they think.

The real threat to your organization isn’t the underwhelming performance of Gen Z workers. Instead, it’s generational prejudice that creates tension between generations and undermines the teamwork that is necessary for success.

how to make your manufacturing company interesting for gen z.

focus on your employer brand to attract gen z talent

Having a strong, recognisable and attractive employer brand is key for enticing top talent to your company, regardless of their age. However, it’s even more important for getting the attention of Gen Z candidates.

On the whole, there is little evidence that shows Zoomers are actively rejecting careers in manufacturing. However, anecdotal evidence shows employers in the industry struggle to convince young candidates. The stereotype of manufacturing companies as traditional, hierarchical and inflexible doesn’t match with what Gen Z looks for in a workplace.

For that reason, communicating the reality of your business and breaking through these stereotypes is critical. By focusing on qualities like your expertise in cutting-edge technology or the importance of your products for modern society, you can build an employer brand that makes Gen Z realize the upsides of a career in manufacturing. 

play to your strengths

Gen Z values flexibility highly, and this is a challenge for manufacturers. According to Randstad research, 48% of Gen Z consider some degree of remote work to be “non-negotiable”, a significant proportion when compared to only 35% of baby boomers. This may be feasible for white-collar workers at manufacturing companies, but it’s hard to work from home in a production role.

Instead, focus on the things you do better than anyone else — such as sustainability. Gen Z values sustainability very highly, and manufacturers have been at the forefront of the sustainable transition for years. The European automotive industry, for example, has managed to cut its total emissions by 31% since 2005 by embracing new energy sources, technologies and business models. We already know that Gen Z prioritizes meaning when looking for work — so by emphasizing your meaningful sustainability initiatives, you can make a career in manufacturing much more attractive.

take a new approach with development

Despite the stereotypes, Gen Z feels strongly about developing their skills and advancing in their career. Four out of five Gen Z respondents to our 2024 Workmonitor survey listed learning and development as a top career priority, compared to three out of five Baby Boomers. And Gen Z workers are more likely to leave a job because of poor development prospects than a low salary.

In this respect, the scale and level of specialization in the manufacturing industry is a unique selling point for Gen Z. Compared to other industries, there's real opportunities for talented employees to learn on the job, develop world-leading skills and advance up the hierarchy. But to really take advantage of this strength, manufacturers may need to start looking at advancement slightly differently.

Companies outside manufacturing have realized this. The training and development program at Bank of America, for example, doesn’t just focus on pushing young employees down a linear career path. Instead, it aims to teach core financial skills that can be used across the company’s many departments, giving employees the tools to succeed and allowing them to define their own path. For things that it can’t teach in-house, it offers vouchers for external training programs that strengthen employees’ skills even more. 

Manufacturing companies need to be skilled in fields as diverse as logistics, R&D, quality, sustainability and finance — so there’s big opportunities to adapt your existing learning and development practices to Gen Z and start attracting the most talented recruits. 

get the checklist for recruiting gen z in manufacturing.

If you’re ready to adapt your hiring process and start recruiting more Gen Z talent, download our checklist. It offers a long list of tips for making your company more attractive to Gen Z, broken down into the key priority areas that Gen Z values in an employer. It allows you to assign colleagues and monitor the status of tasks, and works as a great starting point as you adjust your recruitment practices.