WASHINGTON–There are three trends credit union leaders need to be paying attention to when it comes to a new generation of workers and potential hires, according to one person.
Speaking to a Filene breakfast in conjunction with America’s Credit Unions’ GAC, Kim Lear, who leads Inlay Insights and who is a researcher and expert on generational trends, shared with her audience how their own views may have been influenced and how they may need to be adjusted if they want to connect with a new generation.
But first, Lear, who said the formulative years for any generation are formed from the teenage years to early adulthood, looked at four current generations and what she said is “interesting” about each:
Baby Boomers (1946-1964, 80 million members)
This is a generation that saw a big improvement in life from prior generation, noted Lear, adding that Boomers have more optimism and idealism than those who had come earlier. The generation has a “young at heart” spirit with aging, and does many things differently from traditionalist parents.
Generation X (1965-1979, 60 million members)
According to Lear, this is a generation marked by the emergence of 24-hour media, such as CNN and MTV. Lear said Gen X’ers represent a rise in skepticism as a result of being sold to constantly. In addition, she observed of Gen X’ers:
- When a member of Gen X is lied to they are usually lost forever as a customers.
- They are averse to traditional sales tactics, and other traditions such as marriage, and are a fiercely independent generation.
- Now in C Suite, they have created an honest, more direct form of communication, such as “radical candor.”
- Gen X is also a sandwich generation with aging parents and younger children.
- “The best gift for people in this life stage is the gift of their time back,” said Lear. “We have to think about how we handle the time sensitivity of these members.”
Millennials (1980-1995, 82 million members)
Technology has played a big role in the generation, with the expansion of the Internet and the dawn of social media, according to Lear. She said Platforms became a haven for the youth experience, with 2011 the height of techno-activism and the launch of collective leverage.
“On the other side is violence, such as Columbine and the impact on the public school system and money into schools for things like guidance counselors who were trained in trauma,” said Lear. “Think about the generational difference. I talk to my dad and ask if he was bullied in school would he talk to a guidance counselor, and he says, ‘what’s a guidance counselor?”
Lear said Baby Boomer parents and Millennial children have unusually close relationships, “relationships they typically did not have with their own parents.”
According to Lear, the biggest life stage pieces to explore with Millennials as they move up in the management ranks and the “bring your whole self to work” movement, as well as a new generation of fathers.
Generation Z (1996-2010, 76 million members)
There are three trends to watch with Gen Z, according to Lear.
The first is the “expansion of the family dynamic, the parent/child friendships, which are much closer.”
In many cases, she said, parents and children have similar interests and experiences. And she further pointed out that when Baby Boomers entered Facebook, it coincided with a Millennial exodus. The opposite is true on Tik Tok, indicating more “collaboration,” Lear said.
What does this mean to credit unions?
According to Lear, the market is already seeing Gen X parents and Gen Z kids are highly influential over each other’s spending and financial behavior. Gen Z members when they receive a job offer first show it to Gen X parents, who may want to know about the dental plan, she said. To that end, she said while job offers are often written to appeal to Gen Z, they should also be written to appeal to parents.
“This generation is yours to lose. We don’t see the same revolt we saw from other generations,” she said.
Two: The Wellbeing Revolution
This is the idea that if you don’t make time for wellness, you will be forced to make time for illness, which Lear said has become a modern mantra.
It’s a mantra that has affected marketplace and workplace behavior, Lear said, adding that with the latter it manifest sin “what am I willing to sacrifice for my job?”
Lear said it’s a generation that also has big issues with behavior gaps between who you say you are and what you do. “I think this is an opportunity for credit unions,” Lear said.
Three: Always be Optimizing
Lear noted Gen Z grew up with backdrop of optimized technology, with optimal meaning something should be made it as perfect, as useful, as effective as possible.
This trend means two things for credit unions, according to Lear:
- It’s about properly leveraging technology to allow individuals to make a optimal decision for themselves.
- On the workplace side, many who have been through the pandemic come to workplace where they often feel things are sub-optimal, Lear said. She encouraged credit unions to take the Time to review, procedures, processes and norms and to ask how to make those more useful and effective.
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