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Every generation has a signature look. Generation Z'ers wear sneakers/ jeans, and a shirt. They don't seem as interested in fashion as the millennials .

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Miley Cyrus, a late millennial, yes, but also a Generation Z style avatar. Credit Credit Matt Sayles/Invision, via Associated Press

You think baby boomers, and you picture "hippie," or maybe "disco." You think Generation X, you think "grunge" or "metrosexual."

Every generation, it seems, can be boiled down to a signature look or two, at least in the hindsight of a few decades. But what of Generation Z?

Most members of this generation are still in high school (if not elementary school), so it may be a little early to say. So far, the prevailing style for many still tends toward the timelessly teenage: jeans, cool sneakers and messy hair for boys; jeans, cool sneakers and neat hair for girls.
Read More: Move Over, Millennials. Here Comes Generation Z.
Marketing gurus are trying to position this nonlook as a trend in itself: anti-style as a generational instinct. In a recent report called "Meet the Centennials" - another name for Generation Z - the Futures Company, a global marketing consultancy, reported that 47 percent of the youths it surveyed (ages 12 to 17) say they "care a lot about whether their clothes are in style," compared with 65 percent for millennials surveyed in 1999.

"Young people feel much more emboldened to express their own sense of style rather than mimicking a peer-accepted uniform or dress code compared to previous generations," said Rob Callender, the company's director of youth insights. "In short, there's a strong 'you do you' ethos among teens today."

Maybe.

But there is also a robust global industry of youth-oriented apparel brands, along with fashion magazines and style blogs, dedicated to the time-honored premise that cooler-than-thou clothes are, as always, up there with food, water or oxygen as staples for many teenagers.

While it may be too early to settle on a defining look for Generation Z, here are some styles making noise among the younger-than-Bieber crowd.

GENDER NEUTRAL: In a world where Jaden Smith, the 17-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, can establish himself as a Generation Z style icon by showing up at his prom with a skirt, as he did in the spring, accompanied by Amandla Stenberg from "The Hunger Games," it's fair to say that the X/Y chromosome distinction seems a little passé for at least some of today's teenagers.

"This group seem much less attached to traditional gender binaries or linear definitions of sexuality," said Lucie Greene, a trend forecaster at J. Walter Thompson, the advertising giant. "It's all about individualism and the right to be whatever you want."

Ms. Greene cited fashion brands like Telfar and 69 Worldwide, recently featured in a New York Times article, as exemplars of the trend. Lucky Blue Smith, the ice-blond 17-year-old male model who, at a distance, could pass for the 1992 version of Linda Evangelista, could be the poster child for the look.

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Lucky Blue Smith, the 17-year-old male model who could be the poster child for the Generation Z look. Credit Jp Yim/Getty Images for Michael Kors

NEO-RAVE: Generation Z is largely the spawn of Generation X, so it's not entirely surprising that it seems to have inherited a taste for the rave look, a 1990s staple. Shop Jeen, the popular web retailer, is brimming with Pop Art-style skirts printed with a giant Coca-Cola logo, tie-dyed maxidresses and rainbow chokers, all of which seem to beg for a spin of Dad's old Prodigy CD.

And then there's Miley Cyrus, a late millennial, yes, but also a Generation Z style avatar. As host of MTV's Video Music Awards in August, this Hannah-Montana-gone-bad turned the telecast into a virtual runway show of '90s-club-kid retro chic, with her rhinestone sunglasses in the shape of peace signs, fake dreadlocks and polka-dot jumpsuits. All that was missing was a cameo from Deee-Lite's Lady Miss Kier.

ROCKER REDUX: Whether you call them Generation X, Y or Z, teenagers are still teenagers. No wonder the punkish signifiers of rebellion for their parents' generation are making a comeback. Brandy Melville, the explosively popular retail site for teenage girls, features Nirvana T-shirts and Kurt Cobain-esque plaid shirts, perfect for tying at the waist. Teen Vogue's beauty trend report for spring cited vintage Patti Smith-style shag haircuts and ripped-fishnets-era Courtney Love scarlet lipstick as trends for 2015.

The generation also has its own rockers, like Bea Miller, a 16-year-old from New Jersey hailed by Rolling Stone as a "punky, angsty, rock-tinged new voice." She certainly dresses the part, hitting the streets in a leather motorcycle jacket and hair dyed blue-green. It's a look that is a little bit Joey Ramone, a little bit 1990s Tower Records clerk. Either way, it rocks.

Rolling Stone called Bea Miller, a 16-year-old from New Jersey, a "punky, angsty, rock-tinged new voice." Credit Michael Buckner/Getty Images

NORMCORE: What started as an in joke for Brooklyn hipsters (or, perhaps, a media creation) just may possibly kind of sort of be catching on with teenagers in 2015, at least according to young style bloggers who are seeing a shift among some teenagers toward nonstyle that is right in line with the Futures Company's findings.

Evita Nuh, the 16-year-old Indonesian behind the popular fashion blog The Crème de la Crop, who has been held up by Elle as a "next Tavi," as in Gevinson, sees a dawning moment "when you are actually fashionable by looking like you don't care about fashion at all." For those who opt for oversize sweaters, baseball caps and jogging pants, "it's basically the laundry-day look," she said.

Evita Nuh, teen fashion blogger. Credit Maharani Nuh

The look has some celebrity endorsement. When Kendall Jenner, the 19-year-old model is not striding the runway, she pops up on Pinterest boards wearing #normcore mom jeans and cropped sweatshirts. It's a look that seems to cross age boundaries, and borders. Hollie Williamson, the British teenager behind the blog Ditzy and Whimzy, sees a surge in plain-jane white Reebok sneakers and '90s jeans too recent to be "retro." "Ugliness," she said, "is, like, a trend."

Continue enjoying fashion and lifestyle coverage on the new Styles Facebook page. Sign up to receive our NYT Living newsletter, a roundup of lifestyle news from the Style section and across the Times delivered to your inbox twice a week.

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You think baby boomers, and you picture "hippie," or maybe "disco." You think Generation X, you think "grunge" or "metrosexual." Every generation, it seems, can be boiled down to a signature look or two, at least in the hindsight of a few decades. But what of Generation Z?

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get Customers for life?

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get Customers for life?

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PAX Labs is introducing a new electronic cigarette. The company targets teenagers. The company changed it's age target to over 35

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Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth. Credit Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times

The e-cigarette company says it never sought teenage users, but the F.D.A. is investigating whether Juul intentionally marketed its devices to youth.

Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth. Credit Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO - The leaders of a small start-up, PAX Labs, gathered at a board meeting in early 2015 to review the marketing strategy for its sleek new electronic cigarette, called Juul. They watched video clips of hip young people, posed flirtatiously holding Juuls. And they talked about the name of the gadget, meant to suggest an object of beauty and to catch on as a verb - as in "to Juul."

While the campaign wasn't targeted specifically at teenagers, a former senior manager said that he and others in the company were well aware it could appeal to them. After Juuls went on sale in June 2015, he said, the company quickly realized that teenagers were, in fact, using them because they posted images of themselves vaping Juuls on social media.

The former manager said the company was careful to make sure the models in its original campaign were at least 21, but it wasn't until late 2016 or January 2017 that the company said it decided the models in all Juul ads should be over age 35 - to be "better aligned" with a mission of focusing on adult smokers. Only in June of this year did the company again change its policy, this time to using only real people who had switched from cigarettes to Juul.

The company recently modified the names of its flavors - using creme instead of crème brûlée and cucumber instead of cool cucumber. Juul said it "heard the criticism" that teenagers might be attracted to the flavors and "responded by simplifying the names and losing the descriptors."

The sales campaigns for Juuls - now hugely popular with teenagers across the nation - are at the heart of a federal investigation into whether the company intentionally marketed its devices to youth. The attorney general of Massachusetts, also investigating the company, contends that Juul has been luring teenagers to try the product and has introduced many to nicotine. Her investigation will examine Juul's efforts to audit its own website and other online retailers that sell its products to see how effective they are at preventing minors from accessing Juul or Juul-compatible products. (Federal law prohibits sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18.)

"From our perspective, this is not about getting adults to stop smoking," the Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, said in an interview. "This is about getting kids to start vaping, and make money and have them as customers for life."

And Cult Collective, the marketing company that created the 2015 campaign, "Vaporized," claims on its website that the work "created ridiculous enthusiasm" for the campaign hashtag, part of a larger advertising effort that included music event sponsorships and retail marketing. A spokesman for Cult Collective declined to comment.

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Examples of Juul's advertising from 2015. The company's current marketing is far more sober-looking, with a less colorful, more adult design.

The company, now called Juul Labs, denies that it ever sought to attract teenagers. James Monsees, one of the company's co-founders, said selling Juuls to youth was "antithetical to the company's mission."

The original sales campaign was aimed at persuading adult smokers in their 20s and 30s to try an alternative to cigarettes, but it "failed to gain traction on social media and failed to gain sales" and was abandoned after five months, in the fall of 2015, said a company spokesman, Matt David.

Mr. David said sales didn't take off until 2017, after Juul had improved its sales and distribution expertise, and, by then, had a more sober online marketing campaign.

The former Juul manager, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition that his name not be used, saying he worried about facing the ire of the company, said that within months of Juul's 2015 introduction, it became evident that teenagers were either buying Juuls online or finding others who made the purchases for them. Some people bought more Juul kits on the company's website than they could individually use - sometimes 10 or more devices.

"First, they just knew it was being bought for resale," said the former senior manager, who was briefed on the company's business strategy. "Then, when they saw the social media, in fall and winter of 2015, they suspected it was teens."

The Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating Juul's marketing efforts in April. Juuls and other e-cigarettes are regulated by the F.D.A. as tobacco products because nicotine derives from tobacco leaves. E-cigarette users inhale far fewer toxins than do smokers of traditional cigarettes. The nicotine inhaled while vaping is less a concern for adults than these toxins, but it remains a serious health issue for teenagers, whose brains are still developing.

The Juul story highlights a central dilemma in public health. Cigarettes remain the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 people a year. But will it be possible to get people who are addicted to cigarettes to switch to e-cigarettes, which are less harmful, without enticing a new generation or non-smokers to try them?

Juul, in a letter responding to the F.D.A.'s demand for documents, said it had converted one million smokers to Juul, but the company data is drawn from self-reported surveys on its website and is unverifiable.
[Here's how schools are dealing with the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes.]
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who heads the F.D.A., declined to comment on the agency's investigation of Juul. But he has long been hopeful that e-cigarettes or other similar devices, properly regulated, will prove a safer alternative to smoking and help people quit the deadly habit. Before becoming F.D.A. commissioner, he served on the board of directors of Kure, a retailer that sells e-cigarette products.

"Two-thirds of adult smokers have stated they want to quit," he said. "They know it's hard, and they've probably tried many times to quit. We must recognize the potential for innovation to lead to less harmful products."
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But Eric Lindblom, a former F.D.A. tobacco official who heads the tobacco control program at Georgetown Law, said Juul's internal concerns about teenage use demonstrate they are in some ways "no different than the cigarette industry."

"They are going to maximize their sales and profits any way they can," he said. "They are going to do that within the law, but they are going to press the gray areas as much as they can."

Over the last three years, Juul has had a meteoric rise. It has become the dominant seller of e-cigarettes, now controlling a remarkable 72 percent of the market, according to Nielsen data. In July, the company completed a round of fund-raising for $1.2 billion, putting it in rarefied air. From a virtual standing-start in 2015, it is now valued by investors at $16 billion.

Across the country, Juuls have become so popular that "Juuling" has indeed become a verb, and officials from several state governments have sent alerts to schools warning them about the problem.

A survey of adolescent drug use last year found that 11 percent of 12th graders, 8.2 percent of 10th graders and 3.5 percent of eighth graders had vaped nicotine in the previous 30 days.

Juul's other co-founder, Adam Bowen, said that he was aware early on of the risks e-cigarettes posed to teenagers, and that the company had tried to make the gadgets "as adult-oriented as possible," purposely choosing not to use cartoon characters or candy names for its flavors.

The F.D.A. has ordered Juul to turn over the company's research and marketing documents, including focus group data and toxicology reports, to determine whether it intentionally courted the youth market.

The day after receiving the F.D.A. letter, Juul announced it would spend $30 million to combat underage vaping and recruited Tom Miller, the attorney general of Iowa, who helped lead the multistate 1998 master settlement with tobacco companies, to run an advisory board to counsel Juul on its efforts. Mr. Miller said recommendations might include more controls on social media marketing and better surveillance of retail outlets, but the ultimate decision on how to spend the money remains with Juul.

Mr. Miller says he sees huge potential in e-cigarettes. He believes Juul and other e-cigarette companies have already helped lower the adult smoking rate to 13.9 percent in 2017 from 16.8 percent in 2014. "The only plausible explanation is e-cigarettes," he said.

A report from Citigroup, citing Nielsen data, said that sales of traditional cigarettes dropped 6 percent in the first quarter of this year and "it's impossible to say what has caused the change for sure but the most obvious case is Juul."

Juul recently deleted months of social media posts, including ones with images of cool-looking young people vaping Juuls. This spring it made major changes to its website, which had prominently displayed a Juul surrounded by luscious-looking images of fruit and the words "Mango, it's back." The site is now a more sober-looking affair, featuring video of adults vaping with a tagline "For smokers. By design." Across the top of the page, visitors are invited to "learn about our youth prevention efforts."

Mr. Bowen, 42, and Mr. Monsees, 38, the company's founders, met in 2003 in a graduate product-design program at Stanford University, bonding over brainstorming sessions and cigarettes. Both had been smokers since their teens, and both have since quit; Mr. Monsees regularly uses a Juul.

The culmination of the program was a masters thesis, and both had struggled to find a worthy subject. In 2004, about six months before the thesis was due, they got to talking about their smoking habits and, within days, were excitedly sending emails back and forth about developing an alternative to cigarettes.

Big tobacco companies were experimenting with e-cigarettes, but there was no real market for them until around 2010, when NJoy, an Arizona company, became the industry's first darling. By 2013, e-cigarettes were a $1.7-billion-a-year business, still only a small fraction of the $90 billion cigarette business.

But then NJoy gambled on an e-cigarette that looked virtually identical to a cigarette. It was a mistake, said Craig Weiss, the chief executive who pushed the so-called cigalike strategy and now consults for Juul. As NJoy's fortuned flagged, he said he realized that people didn't want a product that looked so much like a cigarette that it still left them with the stigma of being a smoker. NJoy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016, later re-emerging.

Juul initially developed a product in 2010 that looked like a fountain pen and distributed it in specialty vape shops. Its sales grew to a modest $30 million by 2015.

Then the company found its current design, a sleek stick that looks like a flash drive, and largely stumbled onto a new way of delivering nicotine: it mixes nicotine with a chemical called benzoic acid. The result is that when Juul users inhale, they get a very quick and powerful burst of nicotine. This gives smokers a more cigarette-like experience, but medical researchers say it also makes the product more addictive for youth.

The company launched its new product in June 2015, with starter kits costing $35, and packs of four nicotine refill cartridges selling for $16 - each roughly the equivalent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes. According to Nielsen, sales in the first month were roughly $1,500 and reached over $1 million that December. It began a steady climb, and then experienced explosive growth in the beginning of 2017, with sales rising 627 percent in the four weeks ending June 17, 2017, according to Nielsen and Wells Fargo Securities.

The company said that toward the end of 2016 and around the beginning of 2017, it changed its social marketing campaign and guidelines to require all models to be over the age of 35.

In the last two months, Juul has removed the flavor focus and now uses only "real people" who have used Juul to switch from smoking cigarettes, the company said.

Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that he was prepared to be a fan of a product like Juul if it is responsibly marketed and shown to help adults quit smoking. But he cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that in 2017 2.1 million high schoolers and middle schoolers used e-cigarettes - "and the reports about high school students using Juul are rampant," he said.

Mr. Myers observed that Juul "delivers nicotine so much better than any comparable product on the market," and so its popularity means that "both the hopes of the e-cig fans, and fears of those concerned about e-cigs and kids, rise exponentially."

On Jan. 23, The Boulder Daily Camera published a front-page story about the growing concerns of local educators in Colorado about student use of Juuls.

Five days later, Carrie Yantzer, the principal at Nederland Middle-Senior High School, received an email that immediately struck her as suspicious. The writer introduced himself as Bruce Harter, a former educator working with Juul to develop an anti-vaping curriculum for schools.

[Here's why public health experts believe vaping may lure teenagers into smoking.]
"I read about the challenges you're having with Juul," Mr. Harter wrote. He offered a free, three-hour curriculum provided by Juul to discourage teens from using e-cigarettes by teaching them about their brains and giving them mindfulness exercises.

"What we've found from focus groups with teenage Juul users is that young people don't understand the dangers of nicotine addiction," the letter read. "They sometimes feel 'pushed' by friends to use e-cigarettes. We also found that they don't have operative ways to deal with stress and the emotional ups and downs of their lives right now."

Ms. Yantzer was angry. "It sounded preposterous," she said, and the company "deceptive."

She wasn't the only school administrator to get such a letter. The Boulder school district and, ultimately, the state of Colorado condemned the offer as a brand-building exercise that was tone-deaf at the very least.

"The way we see this is a fox guarding the henhouse," said Alison Reidmohr, tobacco communications specialist for the Colorado Department of Public Health. "A company that stands to profit from, and currently profit off, youth using a product can't be trusted to prevent use of this product."

Ashley Gould, Juul's chief administrative officer, said the company, because it has not built management around former tobacco-industry employees, was unaware the tactic had been used by cigarette companies. However, Juul's board of directors includes experienced investors, including Nicholas Pritzker, a billionaire whose family controlled one of the country's largest chewing tobacco companies, Conwood, which was acquired in 2006 by Reynolds American for $3.5 billion.

For its part, Juul said it was still deciding what to do with that school program. Ms. Gould said the company did not realize the curriculum would offend or that the idea harked to a tactic big tobacco companies used decades ago. "We didn't know," she said. "We should've known."

Juul has a new innovation in the works, a Bluetooth-enabled version of its e-cigarette that it hopes could push more smokers to switch without risking youth uptake. Mr. Monsees called it a "smart" e-cigarette.

The Bluetooth-equipped Juul might provide a way for adult vapers to measure their nicotine use. It also might discourage teen use by disabling the device unless it's in the presence of its adult buyer, perhaps by linking it to the buyer's cellphone. The solution would still require effective controls on sales to minors at brick-and-mortar stores and online retail outlets.

Juul officials contend their ability to offer such innovations is hamstrung by regulatory policies. The company is building a high-powered operation in Washington to help it navigate such issues. It's run by Tevi Troy, a political strategist who worked with Dr. Gottlieb, the F.D.A. commissioner, at the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush and who wrote an opinion article with him for The Wall Street Journal.

The company has also hired Jim Esquea, who was an assistant secretary at the health department during the Obama administration, and Gerald Masoudi, a former F.D.A. chief counsel.

The company is also ratcheting up its lobbying efforts. It has reported spending $450,000 on lobbying so far in 2018 - substantially more than the $120,000 reported spent for all of 2017. It also recently started a political action committee, although no donations have yet been reported. In June, Kevin Burns, Juul's chief executive, gave $50,000 to the Republican congressional leadership fund.

The centerpiece of Dr. Gottlieb's tobacco control strategy is a plan that would potentially greatly benefit e-cigarette companies, including Juul. It would require tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes so much that they were no longer addictive. The proposal is still in the early discussion phase, with the tobacco industry strongly opposed. But it would potentially make Juul, a potent nicotine delivery device, far more appealing to smokers.

Mr. Monsees, a Juul co-founder, says he believes that e-cigarettes are a key to reducing smoking, and can be profitable without sales to teenagers.

"Yes, I want to make money," he said. "I'm on the board with a fiduciary duty that obligates me to make money."

But he added, "The best investor return in the long term comes from more adults turning away from combustible cigarettes."

Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Investigators Ask if Vaping Ads Tried to Hook Teenagers for Life. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get 'Customers for Life'?

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The e-cigarette company says it never sought teenage users, but the F.D.A. is investigating whether Juul intentionally marketed its devices to youth. Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth.

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Opinion, Weekend Reads: Those Terrible Teenage Years.

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Opinion, Weekend Reads: Those Terrible Teenage Years.

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The middle school years are an anxiety ridden time.The growing brain is the cause of much of this. In he end, everything will be okay.

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Thinking about the lives of young people today and what they need most.

By Kathleen O'Brien

Ms. O'Brien is a staff editor for the Opinion section.

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Elsie Fisher as Kayla in the film "Eighth Grade." Credit Credit Josh Ethan Johnson/A24

I watched the superb movie "Eighth Grade" this week, a film about the awkward inner life of a girl about to finish middle school. Her agonies made me squirm and recall my own emotional roller coaster at that age. The mom in me wanted to let her know that everything would be O.K.

So this weekend I wanted to share some favorite recent pieces on the fraught teen years. Several I found revolved around the anxiety many teens feel. What can adults do to understand what they are going through? What should we remember as we try to guide them through rough times? These might be a starting point for answers.

Other writers were grappling with issues like racial bias and the cultural forces that contribute to school shootings. All I could think was that our young people deserve a better world than the one we're leaving them - and I hope we can create it. One of my favorites in this collection argues for lowering the voting age to 16. A little power at the ballot box could go a long way.

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Credit Anna Parini

Teenagers are struggling with anxiety more than any other problem, perhaps more than ever before, the psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary writes. There's a good chance that it is anxiety that is driving teenagers (and the rest of us) to escape into screens as a way to flee fears.

There is a darker side to adolescence that, until recently, was poorly understood: a surge during teenage years in anxiety and fearfulness, the psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman writes. Largely because of a quirk of brain development, adolescents, on average, have a harder time learning how not to be afraid than either children or adults.

Also from Laurence Steinberg: We lament the delayed entry of young people into adulthood. But prolonged adolescence, in the right circumstances, is actually a good thing. It fosters novelty-seeking and the acquisition of new skills.

Josephine Sittenfeld, a photographer, was sorting through her high school bedroom and created this poignant photo essay about what she discovered. "My takeaways from a weekend visiting my former self? I was boy-crazy. I worked really hard in school. I yearned for a bigger, more exciting life."

After the March for Our Lives rally, the historian Jon Grinspan wrote about times that young Americans changed the country's politics, even in periods of bleak partisan divide. Will they do it again?

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Opinion | Weekend Reads: Those Terrible Teenage Years

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Thinking about the lives of young people today and what they need most. By Kathleen O'Brien Ms. O'Brien is a staff editor for the Opinion section. I watched the superb movie "Eighth Grade" this week, a film about the awkward inner life of a girl about to finish middle school.

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Millennials have changed the composition of the work force.
Gen Z will change it again. The Gen Z workers are being compare to the Baby Boomers, which has high regard

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I've had so many calls from frantic HR managers and executives about millennials, that it's become routine. "Over-entitled, lazy, tech-obsessed, lacking dedication, impatient" these are some of the typical complaints I get about the largest generation in U.S. history, who also happen to be "the most educated generation." With the impact millennials are having on the rising costs of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, and attrition due to turnover, it's no wonder that businesses are starting to worry. Many of us have been warning of the shift in values that millennials bring to the workforce for over 10 years. If you're just starting to panic now, you're behind the times! What's more, millennials are about to become old-school. Yep, brace yourselves, because the next generation, Gen Z, is about to enter the workforce with a value system all their own. That means, you're going to have to adapt again -- and quickly. Let's explore the burgeoning data on Gen Z and get a heads up on how businesses can adjust to meet the needs of the newest members of our workforce, and thrive in a brand new business world.
Related: 5 Ways Millennials Are Like No Generation Before Them
Every generation has a unique impact on the workforce, both positive and negative. In order to get a handle on how the latest generation of workers will be different, Essentials LLC, in one of the largest studies of its kind, surveyed nearly 70,000 high school students. In the study, all students took an identical 200-item assessment that described key behaviors such as proactivity, endurance, self-control and follow-through. The study's Gen Z subjects were compared to Baby Boomers surveyed at the same age using a similar methodology. Findings show that there are some striking differences in proactivity and exhibition scores that will have an impact on your business culture.

Shift in proactivity.

Proactivity is associated with the drive for individual achievement, which predicts how much your workforce will focus on meeting goals and achieving promotions. For the past several generations, this score has been high, but according to the study, it's substantially lower for Gen Z, which means these individuals are less driven and not as goal-oriented. While it may seem odd, that the most educated generation in history would score low in the proactivity category, there are logical reasons for this. Our educational system has shifted from focus on individual achievement to emphasizing and rewarding teamwork and cooperation. In addition to this our internet culture makes instant sharing and connectivity the norm. In the study, the Gen Z students who do the best in school are those with a balance of achievement-oriented behaviors (measured by proactivity, order, self-control, follow-through) and socially-oriented behaviors (measured by networking, change and exhibition).

In order to address this shift,your company will need to recognize that for Gen Z workers, the balance between social and achievement-oriented traits is highly regarded. Adapting your culture to take this fact into consideration, and use it to your advantage, will go a long way toward your continued success. I'm already hearing from many companies that shared decision-making and group-oriented achievement have emerged as traits for millennials. Expect this trend to gain even more momentum as Gen Z hits the workforce. Plan for your strategies- from incentives to performance-reviews to promotions to decision-making methods to leadership training to accommodate this shift in values.
Related: How to Motivate Millennials, By Millennials
Shift in exhibition.

For Gen Z, the need for attention and to be seen, has grown substantially, compared to Baby Boomers surveyed at the same age. While this makes sense, given the selfie craze and the ability to always be virtually connected to friends and family, the impact on work culture will be significant. Imagine all of your employees needing the spotlight, constantly craving attention from their managers and peers. What's even more interesting about this behavioral scale is that according to the study, when the need for exhibition is high among students, it negatively affects their GPA, indicating that this group will place less emphasis on achievement.

What this means is that we'll likely have to return to the managerial methods of 20 years ago. The managers of today, since they're managing mostly high-performers, have been given significant individual contributor responsibilities on top of their management responsibilities. With the advent of Gen Z, who are demonstrably less achievement-oriented, we'll need real "managers" who spend most of their jobs actually managing employees.
Related: Why 'Gen Z' May Be More Entrepreneurial Than 'Gen Y'
The silver lining.

With the continual improvement in productivity over the past few decades, we have come to expect high output from nearly every employee, but is this necessarily a good thing? With individual achievement as the core competitive advantage within organizations, we do see negative fallout. Employees are stretched thin. Stress and stress-related illness is rampant. The shifting values from millennials and Gen Z, can actually be a balm to what is likely an unsustainable trajectory for our businesses. We will no longer be able to rely on individual achievement as the core factor for getting things done. Leaders will need to learn how to be more collaborative, share decision-making, give attention to their employees and coach them to become more productive. We will likely see a shift to a more supportive work environment, with full-time coaches within organizations and more managers who spend most of their time managing, rather than contributing individual work. Are you ready for Gen Z? How will you need to adapt?

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I've had so many calls from frantic HR managers and executives about millennials, that it's become routine. "Over-entitled, lazy, tech-obsessed, lacking dedication, impatient" these are some of the typical complaints I get about the largest generation in U.S. history, who also happen to be "the most educated generation."

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Gen Z is the Loneliest generation, and it's not just because of Social Media.

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Gen Z is the Loneliest generation, and it's not just because of Social Media.

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The loneliness of Generation Z reflects not just rising social media use but a broader decline in interactions with neighbors, co-workers and church friends.

At a time when we're supposedly more connected than ever, there are an awful lot of lonely people.

"Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out," according to a new survey from health company Cigna. One out of five Americans has no person they can talk to.

And the loneliest generation? That would be Generation Z, defined in this survey as those 18 to 22. Their average loneliness score is nearly 10 points higher than the least lonely generation - the Greatest Generation, those 72 and older.

While it's tempting to blame Gen Z's reliance on smartphones and social media, the data don't bear that out: The survey didn't find a significant difference in loneliness levels between those who used social media often or infrequently.

More: Aziz Ansari lesson: Women should feel free to hurt the guy's feelings

More: Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg is right that Millennials are key to #MeToo

Given the worrying consequences, the loneliness of Gen Z - and other generations - should be taken seriously. In fact, Cigna, citing a 2010 Brigham Young University study, says "loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity."

One initiative to encourage Gen Z should be #WalkUpNotOut, a movement that urged high school students to reach out to students perceived as socially isolated after the tragic high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Regardless of your position on gun control, it can only help to have students focus on being kind and welcoming to each other, particularly when the pervasiveness of social media has made it increasingly easy to bully both on and off campuses.

Plus, this encourages face-to-face interaction - and the Cigna survey found a huge difference in average loneliness scores between those who had daily meaningful in-person encounters and those who didn't. (Astonishingly, one of five Americans surveyed reported having such encounters less frequently than once a week.)

It's also important for Gen Z - and other Americans - to take "social capital" seriously. Thanks to the erosion of neighborhood communities, the fracturing of many families and the decline in church attendance, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for finding new friends or developing meaningful relationships. And that puts even more pressure on students. Imagine being unhappy at school and having no other community to turn to.

According to a 2017 report prepared for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, several factors show the decline in our interaction with each other:

► Monthly church attendance fell from the early 1970s to the present, with 50% to 57% attending in the past compared with 42% to 44% now.

► In 1974, a third of Americans spent time socially with their neighbors several times a week. Now, only 19% do.

► We're also spending less time schmoozing with our co-workers, going from an average of 2.5 hours a week in the mid 1970s to just under an hour in 2012.

► Families are also becoming smaller, and the percentage of children raised by a single parent or no parent has doubled, from 15% to 31%.

More: Liberals need to close the Millennials funding gap
POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media
Given these declining numbers, it makes sense that more Americans are falling through the cracks, losing ways to get to know other people.

And if Gen Z is using phones instead of in-person interactions, that could be contributing to these young adults' loneliness. In an Atlantic article last year, psychology professor Jean Twenge highlighted how teens were less interested in driving and getting out of the house than past generations.

Describing one unnamed 13-year-old, Twenge wrote: "She spent much of her summer keeping up with friends, but nearly all of it was over text or Snapchat. 'I've been on my phone more than I've been with actual people,' she said. 'My bed has, like, an imprint of my body.' "

That's not healthy - and if these are the habits Gen Z is developing in these crucial years, it doesn't bode well for this generation becoming less lonely in the future.

The American writer Flannery O'Connor, a Catholic, was fond of a prayer that included these lines, "Raphael, lead us toward those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us: Raphael, Angel of happy meeting, lead us by the hand toward those we are looking for."

You don't need to be religious to realize that we both need - and are needed by - others, and that our own lives grow in meaning through many of our interactions with others.

It's easy to toss out opinions on Facebook or on bumper stickers, but at the end of the day, one of the most powerful things many of us may do to change the world could be our "hello" to someone, our reaching out to that person who seems in danger of being on the fringe, making eye contact and sharing a smile with a homeless person even if we don't have change. Let's look up from our phones a little more often - and start acknowledging the people right in front of us.

Katrina Trinko, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is managing editor for The Daily Signal. Her views do not necessarily represent The Heritage Foundation, her employer. Follow her on Twitter: @KatrinaTrinko

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Gen Z is the loneliest generation, and it's not just because of social media

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CLOSE The loneliness of Generation Z reflects not just rising social media use but a broader decline in interactions with neighbors, co-workers and church friends. At a time when we're supposedly more connected than ever, there are an awful lot of lonely people.

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Boys kissing boys. Girls saying #MeToo. Political debates over bathrooms.

Imagine being a kid. Decades of slow cultural change in gay rights and women's rights and a burgeoning internet age seem to be culminating in front of you, just as you're starting to get your first crush - and trying to pass English. The post-Millennial Gen Z-ers, people born between 1997 and 2016, in grade schools are forming their views on love now, and we wanted to know what they are thinking. So, the USA TODAY Network sat down with students across America to talk about dating, marriage and family. Watch what they had to say.

"When I'm in love with somebody, my heart just can't stop throbbing because they just mean everything to me." - James Cunningham, 14

Expect the next generation to deepen the cultural shifts prominent among Millennials. Take this: Children today are more open to dating people who don't look or think like them. Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation, research firm 747 Insights found, and interracial marriage is on the rise. About four in five children say they'd date outside their race, notes youth marketing firm YPulse, and a majority of 13-to-17-year-olds said they'd date someone with different religious or political views. Yet, despite all this openness, our interviews found dating isn't any less awkward.

"Gen Z will likely follow suit with Millennials, who have postponed many of the traditional milestones such as buying a home, getting married, and even having children." - Michael Wood, president of generational research firm 747 Insights.

The man proposes. Or, the woman pops the question. Wait - maybe they don't even marry. About 80 percent of teens are open to getting married one day, YPulse found. This despite the fact about half of U.S. adults are married, notes Pew Research Center. And yes, they overwhelmingly (66 percent) back marriage equality, research firm 747 Insights confirms. But as for that proposal, the kids we chatted with had thoughts.

A stay-at-home dad, a breadwinning mom. YPulse data show a majority of teen boys disagree with long-held assumptions about them: that they don't want to settle down, have families, do housework or cook. In fact, Pew Research found dads in 2016 spent roughly three times as much time on child care than fathers 50 years ago.

Yet this doesn't signal a soon-coming Gen Z baby boom. Future mothers are expected to continue the decades-long trend of having children later in life. Gen Z moms and dads might also flip traditional timelines, welcoming babies before marriage, Wood said. It's a shift that's already more accepted as about a third of U.S. children live in homes with unmarried parents, Pew notes.
Contributing: Matt Sobocinski, Ramon Padilla, Jim Sergent, Alex Gonzalez and Josh Hafner of USA TODAY; Kaila White and Thomas Hawthorne of The Arizona Republic; Rachel Denny Clow and Beatriz Alvarado of the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times; Siobhan McAndrew and Jason Bean of the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal; and Bryon Houlgrave and Zach Boyden-Holmes of The Des Moines Register.

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Generation Z predicts the future of love, marriage and gender roles

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Boys kissing boys. Girls saying #MeToo. Political debates over bathrooms. Imagine being a kid. Decades of slow cultural change in gay rights and women's rights and a burgeoning internet age seem to be culminating in front of you, just as you're starting to get your first crush - and trying to pass English.

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How Generation Z Will Change The World According To Experts | TIME

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Millennials vs Generation Z -How do they Compare.

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Millennials vs Generation Z -How do they Compare.

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Millennials vs Generation Z - How Do They Compare & What's the Difference?

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Why is Generation Z less Christian than ever?

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Why is Generation Z less Christian than ever?

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Christian teens are unprepared in life. If teenagers attend Church then their faith would become stronger. Gen Z needs to know that Christians care about them and their future with Christianity.

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Gen Z-the generation following the millennials-is the least Christian generation to date, according to a new Barna study - 34 percent of Gen Z's religious affiliation is either atheist, agnostic or none. In fact, teens 13-18 years old are twice as likely as adults to say they are atheist. And just three in five 13- to 18-year-olds say they are some kind of Christian (59 percent).
Creating Disney World-like Environments in our Churches is not Preparing Gen Z
As Christian parents, pastors, educators, and leaders, we want what's best for our kids. We want to see them grow up and follow Jesus for a lifetime. Yet, we all know young people who have become disillusioned or drifted away from the faith. It doesn't have to be this way: no student should "outgrow" their faith.

As my friend David Kinnaman, the president of the Barna Group, put it while we were working on this Gen Z study together, "Is it possible that many churches are preparing young Christians to face a world that no longer exists?" Based on my experience working with students, the answer to this question is yes.

Many Christian teens are simply unprepared for the world that is waiting for them. With the best of intentions, we bubble wrap our kids and create Disney World-like environments for them in our churches, and then wonder why they have no resilience in faith or life. Students are entertained but not prepared. They've had a lot of fun but are not ready to lead. When the pressure to conform is turned up, Christian teenagers tend to wilt if they do not have the confidence that only comes from knowing why they believe what they believe. As one teenager told me, "following Jesus today is hard because sometimes you feel like the only one."
Culture is Changing Fast and Teenagers are Confused
Gen Z has been discipled by their smart phones, taught sex ed by Google, and conditioned to assume that just because they believe something makes it true.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Christianity is not a fairytale for grown-ups invented to make ourselves feel better. Followers of Jesus have nothing to fear from tough questions, honest doubts, and challenging conversations. Gen Z needs to know that Christians care about truth.

Our culture is changing fast and teenagers are confused-morally and spiritually. At Impact 360 Institute, we've been studying Gen Z alongside the Barna Group for the past year and a half and the research and focus groups confirm this trend. For example, only 34 percent of Gen Z agree that lying is morally wrong; 24 percent say what is morally right and wrong changes over time based on society, and 58 percent of this least-Christian generation agree that "Many religions can lead to eternal life; there is no 'one true religion.'"
Let's Stop Pretending
So why is the fact that Gen Z is less Christian than ever good news again? Because we need to stop pretending and start living in reality.

We need to stop pretending that if we entertain teenagers then they will stick around after they graduate.

We need to stop pretending that if we protect them from everything they won't question, doubt, or walk away.

And we need to stop pretending that a few minutes of a moralistic, watered down Bible lesson on a Sunday morning will prepare them to stand firm in their faith.

In short, teenagers need a grown-up worldview, not coloring book Jesus.

We can do better.

By the time teenagers should be owning their faith, we've already lost their attention and the culture has captured their imagination.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Christian faith is not blind. Christianity is not a fairytale for grown-ups invented to make ourselves feel better. Followers of Jesus have nothing to fear from tough questions, honest doubts, and challenging conversations. Gen Z needs to know that Christians care about truth.
Attendance Is Not Enough
We need to reject the idea that if teenagers just attend church enough they will build a strong faith. The attendance model is not working-training is necessary.

As one of our students shared with me this past summer, "I know why I am a Christian now...I know it's true. I am able to defend my faith and live my life out for him [Jesus] in ways I wasn't before." Training makes all the difference.

Whether we are in the majority or being marginalized, our charge as followers of Jesus is to be faithful to pass on our faith to the next generation.

As our post-Christian culture increasingly marginalizes Christianity, it is critical for those of us who care about Gen Z not to take a business-as-usual approach to their formation. If we do nothing they will be shaped away from life with God. We have the opportunity to reimagine what passing on our faith to the next generation looks like in this unique cultural moment. But first, we must stop pretending.

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Why Generation Z is less Christian than ever -- and why that's good news

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Gen Z-the generation following the millennials-is the least Christian generation to date, according to a new Barna study - 34 percent of Gen Z's religious affiliation is either atheist, agnostic or none. In fact, teens 13-18 years old are twice as likely as adults to say they are atheist.

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Gen Z are teenagers are perceived as lazy and unmotivated. However, they really want to be the best in their fields. Social media is very influential in the lives of Gen Z.

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Which Generation has the most debt and the worst credit scores?

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Which Generation has the most debt and the worst credit scores?

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The average credit score of Generation Z(Age 18-20) is 634, the average credit score of Millennials(Age 21-34) is 638, he average credit score of Generation X(Age 35-49) is 658, the average credit score of Baby Boomers(Age 50-70) is 703, and the Silent's Generation(Age 70+) is 729. Most of this is due the rising costs of a college education. Generation Z is going to find it harder to be financially stable

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Generation X continues to struggle with debt while Millennials and Baby Boomers are making positive strides, according to a new report.

Experian's State of Credit report paints a relatively healthy picture for Americans, with the average credit score rising from 673 to 675 over the 12 months ending last June, the highest since 679 in 2007, before the Great Recession began. Consumer confidence is up sharply and the Federal Reserve said this week that credit card debt hit a new record in November. That's a good sign for consumer spending but could spell trouble down the road if the economy and labor market weaken.

More: Minneapolis tops list of cities with best average credit score, Greenwood, Miss., at the bottom

More: Retirement crisis: 37% of Gen X say they won't be able to afford to retire

More: Credit card debt hits new record, raising warning sign

More: Why carrying a credit card balance isn't a bad thing

More: The credit move that can bump up your score in 30 days

Some age groups are handling debt and managing their creditworthiness better than others, according to the credit reporting agency. Here's a rundown. ( Note: the precise range of generations is often debated. This story reflects how Experian defined the ranges for its research).

Generation Z (Age 18-20)

Average credit score: 634

This group is just establishing credit but is off to a good start. They have an average of just 1.44 credit cards per person, less than half the U.S. average, and a typical credit card balance of $2,047, less than a third of the national average. Yet they seem to be taking on more student loan debt than prior generations at their age as college tuition costs continue to ratchet higher, says Kelley Motely, Experian's director of analytics.

Millennials (Age 21-34)

Average credit score: 638

Many graduated from college during or shortly after the Great Recession, which ended in 2009. That forced many to take lower-paying jobs, setting back their careers. But they're digging out. Their average credit score climbed four points from 2016 - the most of any generation - to 638 and they shaved their overall average debt by 8% to $222,000. They've also increased their average mortgage debt by 6% to $198,303, giving many who had put off home purchases an opportunity to build wealth.

"The economy has improved and they are positioned to improve their financial standing," says Rod Griffin, director of public education for Experian.

Generation X (Age 35-49)

Average credit score: 658

They're saddled with the highest average mortgage debt of all the age groups at $231,774. Many probably bought homes at the peak of the housing bubble, including expensive houses in higher-income neighborhoods that boasted good schools for their kids, Griffin says. Home values plummeted during the housing crisis before recouping much of those losses in recent years. This group also has a high rate of late debt payments at 0.54% and the most average non-mortgage debt at $30,334. Still, they too are making gains. Their average credit score rose 3 points from the prior year to 658.

Baby Boomers (Age 50-70)

Average credit score: 703

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They still have substantial mortgage debt at an average $188,828, but that's less than Gen X as many Boomers pay off mortgages or downsize their homes. They're also in pretty good financial shape, with a low late payments rate of just 0.3%. The group's average credit score increased to 703 from 700 over the year.

Silent Generation (Age 70-plus)

Average credit score: 729

Their average mortgage debt is surprisingly high for their age at $156,705 but other debts are low, as is their late payment frequency of just 0.12%. Their average credit score of 729 is the highest.

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Which generation has the most debt and the worst credit scores? Hint: It's not Millennials

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CLOSE Generation X continues to struggle with debt while Millennials and Baby Boomers are making positive strides, according to a new report. Experian's State of Credit report paints a relatively healthy picture for Americans, with the average credit score rising from 673 to 675 over the 12 months ending last June, the highest since 679 in 2007, before the Great Recession began.

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Digital Terrorism in 2018- Generation Z has arrived.

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Digital Terrorism in 2018- Generation Z has arrived.

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For 24 years, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has released an annual "Digital Terrorism and Hate" report providing stakeholders, law enforcement and the media a snapshot that illustrates how extremists leverage online platforms to promote their insidious agendas.

Over the course of this time, we've witnessed a frightening evolution in the sophistication of the tools they use and professionalism by which they go about their work. Today, we're on the verge of a tipping point.

The post-millennial Generation Z has grown up with a smartphone in its hands and is reaching adulthood with an unprecedented ability to organize, fundraise, and, if so inclined, to create hateful content and distribute it through fragmented, but interconnected media channels.

Here are the principal 2018 takeaways, all tying back to the common theme that we are dealing with more agile and increasingly capable adversaries:

Here is the good news: While far from perfect, most major social media providers, led by Facebook, are removing hate and terror postings.

Here is the bad news: With 3 billion people online, committed bigots and terrorists still have little trouble mounting sophisticated marketing campaigns and propaganda onslaughts against their enemies.

Online hate is increasingly targeting African Americans and Jews, mirroring real-world FBI hate crime statistics that confirm blacks and American Jews as the top victims of hate crimes in America.

Here are only a few examples:

--The caliphate's zip code may be shrinking in the Middle East but ISIS' online presence and impact continues to surge. Evocative imagery rallies the faithful and gullible - especially lone wolves - to target innocents in Europe and North America with stabbings, car rammings and other acts of violence. While some counter-measures have become more commonly deployed, social media remains terrorists' most potent and effective weapon.

--Extremists are deploying off-the-shelf encryption apps to effectively mask communications and evade authorities' efforts to track their whereabouts.

--The Alt Tech phenomenon is gaining traction. Extremists in the Alt-Right movement reject the rules laid out by social media companies and others to curb online hate. As a result, they increasingly use platforms where there are few if any rules and, when necessary, start their own online funding efforts. Taking their inspiration from far-right gains in Europe, the U.S.-based extremists are recasting neo-Nazism, xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and white supremacism with a new vocabulary (e.g. "It's OK to Be White," "Stop White Genocide"). An entire subculture of hate is taking shape online ranging from Pepe the Frog's icon to gaming apps to t-shirts-all using insiders' vocabulary.

--Online hate is increasingly targeting African Americans and Jews, mirroring real-world FBI hate crime statistics that confirm blacks and American Jews as the top victims of hate crimes in America. There has been an explosion of anti-black imagery and discussion groups validating base racism. The Jewish community finds itself targeted by multiple enemies. These include: imams at mosques on both sides of the Atlantic delivering theological and genocidal dictates; alt-right fanatics recycling classic anti-Semitic screeds that blame Jews for society's problems; extreme anti-Israel and anti-Semitic campaigns led by groups like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions); as well as state-sanctioned anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial led by Iran.

--A culture of online conspiracy theories is flourishing on social media. These range from attacking the legitimacy of the narratives of victims of the Parkland shootings, blaming the 9/11 catastrophes on CIA or Mossad and resurrecting the 'Big Lies' of the long-debunked "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in order to infect new generations of young people with history's oldest hate-anti-Semitism.

Here is the challenge ahead: America needs a consortium to tackle and degrade online hate. The players must include social media companies-both large and small - and our communities, including kids, their parents and teachers, and our elected officials.

This isn't a Pollyannaish suggestion but an urgent call to action. We must use every tool in our own powerful arsenal to reach digital-savvy teens and young adults with compelling messages of inclusion, compassion and love. The recent mass murder in South Florida is but one brutal reminder of the price we all pay for lessons unlearned in the social media age. The only way to fight a smart, organized, effective enemy is to be smarter, more effective and better organized.

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Digital terrorism in 2018 - Generation Z has arrived

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The post-millennial Generation Z has grown up with a smartphone in its hands and is reaching adulthood with an unprecedented ability to organize, fundraise, and, if so inclined, to create hateful content and distribute it through fragmented, but interconnected media channels.

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What the 'Trumpification' of the presidency means to Generation Z.

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What the 'Trumpification' of the presidency means to Generation Z.

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The last 10 months has made it impossible to respect our president. He is keeping every aspect of humanity at war. Trump is paving the way for a new order

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generation z will look at the presidency in a new way (opinion)  - cnn

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What the 'Trumpification' of the presidency means to Generation Z

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Trump has lowered the legitimacy of expertise and deep knowledge that it takes to run the country and replaced it with Twitter attacks, writes Julian Zelizer.

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Gen Z: What to Expect from the New Workforce.

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Gen Z: What to Expect from the New Workforce.

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Generation Z’s life affect the jobs they want , and what’s most important to them.Teenagers are focused on finding steady jobs, mostly in tech and health-care. As the work changes, so will the ways companies seek and hire employees.

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When you hear the word "millennial," you probably think of people in their 20s eating avocado toast and dominating social media. However, the oldest millennials are now actually in their late 30s, with Pew Research Center defining the generation as anyone born between 1981-1996. With most millennials now well into adulthood and transitioning into leadership roles, a new, younger generation is now taking over the workforce: generation z.

Pew Research Center has now turned their focus to g eneration z after over a decade of research dedicated to millennials. But why is g eneration z suddenly so important?

The generation is defined as anyone born from 1997 onward, which means the oldest members ofg eneration z are graduating college this year. While millennials still dominate the market, outnumbering any other generation, we will soon see an influx ofg eneration z workers entering the workforce. Andg eneration z are made up of approximately 61 million people in the U.S. So what can we expect from this new generation in terms of the job market?

Generation z's life experiences affect the types of jobs they seek, and what's most important to them. They highly value success, with professional and academic achievement ranking as most important. Generation z is perhaps even more success-oriented than any other generation, due to the shifting demographics over the years. Baby boomers were more likely to cite family and religion as "central to their identity," whereasg eneration z is all about that personal success.

You may have heard the stereotype that millennials are chronic job-hoppers who can't stay settled down in one job. Don't look tog eneration z for similar habits. They're interested mostly in "future-proof" jobs and job stability, according to studies conducted by Indeed.com. Having grown up in a tumultuous time for economics and politics (they were only four when 9/11 occurred, and grew up during the Great Recession),g en zers are incredibly focused on finding stable jobs, mostly in tech and health-care.

And they're learning from previous generation's pitfalls... Only 11% of gen zers said they'd take on debt in order to cover the costs of higher education. In fact, they aren't even that focused on higher education to begin with. 75% said they didn't consider college the only path to a strong education, and many are choosing to go straight into the workforce. After watching their parents deal with the Great Recession, and seeing the student loan issue play out, it's no wonder gen zers are determined to find stable jobs as quickly as possible, while getting into as little debt as possible.

But companies will still have to put the effort in to hiring this new generation. Studies showg eneration z workers are invested in positive work environments, with 77% saying a company's diversity would be a deciding factor. Company marketing and branding is also crucial, as 70% of prospective employees look at company reviews on sites such as Glassdoor, and 69% are more likely to apply for a specific job if the company manages its brand well.

As the workforce changes, so will the ways in which companies seek out and hire employees, and how these employees engage with the job market. With fewer gen zers prepared to shell out for higher education, we can expect a surge of new employees sooner rather than later. We can also expect a new sort of generation, one more interested in workplace atmosphere and job fluidity ( 75% of gen zers expressed interest in inhabiting numerous roles within a company).

Get ready for generation z - the new workforce is here.

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Gen Z: What To Expect From The New Workforce

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When you hear the word "millennial," you probably think of people in their 20s eating avocado toast and dominating social media. However, the oldest millennials are now actually in their late 30s, with Pew Research Center defining the generation as anyone born between 1981-1996.

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Gen Z is Officially here. How will we Manage?

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Gen Z is Officially here. How will we Manage?

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We've all been there. You're chatting with a younger colleague about popular music, movies or sports, and you wistfully mention Michael Jordan scoring 55 in his comeback game against the New York Knicks, or the twist ending to The Usual Suspects, or seeing Dave Matthews Band tour their debut album. This is when your counterpart says something along the lines of, "No, I actually don't remember that, I was born in 1995."

Oof. What a gut punch! But beyond a clarion sign of your own impending mortality, these moments are good reminders for leaders that while these young professionals comport themselves well and are often very impressive, they come from a different time.

There's a danger in generational reductionism. Publications are often guilty of overgeneralizing and assigning common characteristics to entire generations based on decontextualized data points. "Gen X is disaffected, bitter, and likes flannel. Millennials won't buy houses, get married, or eat mayonnaise."

These blanket statements sell magazines and generate clicks, but people are far more than the years they chanced to be born. Still, it is important to understand the times people exist in. For the Gen Z professional that you, a brand leader, will need to manage, the times they've occupied have been complex and likely will inform their behaviors as workers.

Kathryn Dill's 7 Things Employers Should Know About The Gen Z Workforce is required reading for leaders, but at almost 3 years old it is already a bit dated-which says more about the dynamism of this group and how quickly their expectations are shifting. When Dill authored the piece, most Gen Zers were still in high school. This fall, the first fully-Gen Z crop of grads is hitting the workforce. I personally have interviewed several in recent months.

The most crucial thing that separates this group from their Millennial forbearers is their expectations. Graduating in the midst of the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression with the memory of 9-11 fresh in their minds, Millennials (and many of us Gen Xers, as well) carry a nonspecific sense of dread about our economic and social conditions. They and we toiled during a particularly dour moment in the country's history, one where we were told that recovery would be slow, that we should be happy just to have a job, and that we probably would not enjoy the same quality of life our parents did.

That has an affect on you. As the economy slowly improved, Millennial wages remained mostly flat. More opportunities came, and today if you weathered the worst of it and came out with 5-10 years of experience in your profession, you have your pick of jobs around the world. But if you joined the workforce between the years 2008 to 2014, you're likely still wearing some scars.

Conversely, Gen Z did most of its "grown-up preparation" during a time of unprecedented growth-couched in the recovery that led to a current streak of 94 consecutive months of job creation. They've heard the horror stories from their older siblings, but the reality for them has been the opposite.

To manage them, leaders must keep this context in mind. The freedom these workers feel manifests in their work decisions. This is a shared trait with Millennials, who are famously generalized as " following their passion " in their work. Accepting that no work conditions are ideal, they're attracted to opportunities where they nonetheless have a chance to do what they want. Good managers must foster this instinct, and point it in constructive directions. Make rote tasks mean something; illustrate exactly what the big picture is, and how their role is helping it become realized. Remember, a sense of purpose is paramount.

Generation Z has also come of age in the shadow of Millennials who prize hyper-competence (or at least the appearance of it), which, in my experience so far, has manifested in a strong desire to learn. Specifically, I have noticed that recent grads are less likely to think they "know everything" and are instead keenly interested to know more. More than the preceding generation-or my generation, for that matter-they are seeking out opportunities to add or sharpen skills.

And you need to reward that instinct. Sure, it means they're likely going to take those skills on the open market, and if they don't leave they will likely cost more to retain. But would your rather that motivation wither away? Rather, make the investment in internal multimedia training (this is the first native YouTube generation) and the secondary investment of dedicated time in their schedule to actually do it.

Finally, don't believe the generational generalizing hype. Like almost all generations before them, the ascendance of Gen Z is coming replete with "Gen Z is too _____"-think pieces. This type of bloviating opinionating is almost always wrong.

Already, some "experts" are tagging Gen Z as a cohort of introverts who struggle to make personal social connections. This echoes all manner of assumptions made about "these darn kids" for decades-maybe longer.

Forget the trend pieces and assumptions. When managing your new influx of Gen Z employees, consider the context, and react to that.

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Gen Z Is Officially Here. How Will We Manage?

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We've all been there. You're chatting with a younger colleague about popular music, movies or sports, and you wistfully mention Michael Jordan scoring 55 in his comeback game against the New York Knicks, or the twist ending to The Usual Suspects, or seeing Dave Matthews Band tour their debut album.

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What Gen Z Wants In a Career [And How to Give It to Them].

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What Gen Z Wants In a Career [And How to Give It to Them].

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Entering the workforce for Generation Z is going to take some getting use to by employers. Their main concern is feeling safe and being financially independent. And like all generations, they want to be financially better off their parents.

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After four (or more) years of hard work, young men and women at college campuses across the country have earned their degrees and are looking to enter the workforce. The class of 2018 is unique, however. For the first time in over a decade, the majority of this year's graduates are from a new generation.

Generation Z is defined as anyone born between 1996 and 2010. It is a generation defined by optimism in the face of tragedy, pragmatism in an age of innovation. It is a generation unlike any before it, and as these resourceful graduates descend upon the workforce this year, employers will need to adapt to embrace them.

Our research, as well as recent industry insights, sheds light on what Gen Z seeks in a career and provides tips to help businesses address these desires.
Safety First
Our survey of 400 college students found that 77% of participants said "feeling safe" was their top office environment quality. This is hardly surprising when you consider the amount of violence Gen Z has witnessed. A shooting or spree killing has made headlines almost every year the class of 2018 has been in college.

Young people are often accused of believing they are invincible, but Gen Z has constantly faced its own mortality. Employers need to be sensitive of this fact. Businesses can use the following tips to build an atmosphere of security:

* Tout your building's safety measures on job descriptions and during interviews, and address these policies with your staff on an ongoing basis.

* Ensure your organization has a robust support network in place to deal with threats and harassment.

* Consider implementing an anonymous tip line between employees and human resources, so workers feel more comfortable reporting threatening behavior.
Show Them The Money
When asked what they would like to achieve before they turn 30, 65 percent of Gen Z members said financial independence, according to a report from the Barna Group. Financial independence ranked third among all priorities -- just 1% below finishing school and starting a career. This might come as a surprise considering Gen Z was virtually untouched by the recession, with 76% of college students we surveyed reporting that their parents did not lose their jobs. Before you throw allegations of greed, however, remember this is the same generation that chose safety and security as its top workplace priority.

The Consumer Price Index has increased 2% in the last year alone, and if you don't think young adults born in 1996 have noticed the climbing costs of gasoline since they started driving in 2012, consider this: This generation lives in a world where U.S. adults spend more than 11 hours per day interacting with media. During this time, graduates are often bombarded by dozens of articles about the skyrocketing interest rates of their student loans and inflating rent prices in cities where they are applying for jobs.

Prospective employers can use the following tips to help assuage Gen Z's worries:

* Allot a generous amount of time, and provide housing resources for new hires anxious about relocating.

* Consider having your finance team work with employees new to the workforce on personal finances, so they can make the most of their salaries.

* Provide incentives beyond salary, such as fitness and transportation reimbursement, to lighten expenses.
Better Off Than Their Parents
Despite the barrage of bad news, Gen Z is remarkably optimistic. Half of the college students we surveyed believe in the American dream, and 52% believe that they will be better off than their parents.

While this generation has witnessed its share of tragedy, it has also witnessed some monumental moments of humanity. Barack Obama was elected as the first black president of the United States in 2008. In 2015, the Supreme Court voted in favor of marriage equality across every state.

In addition, Gen Z was the first generation to grow up with social media. Platforms have given life to social movements, and emerging tech like video capabilities on smartphones have brought exposure to injustice.

Seeing the impact of these campaigns and networks has possibly given Gen Z the confidence to make a difference. Employers would be wise to foster this sense of efficacy by implementing the following tips:

* Get to know your employees and what matters to them. Use corporate philanthropy days to work with projects and organizations your workers care about.

* Consider relaxing your standards around social media. Rather than reprimand an employee for making a political post on social media, try to understand his or her point of view.
The 9-To-5 Is More Than Enough
While money is definitely important to Gen Z, only 15% would choose financial security over job satisfaction, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey. Furthermore, 50% of these respondents cited flexibility as a key priority when looking for an employer.

In our research, 88% cited being happy, and 73% cited having good work-life balance as the biggest measures of success. Members of Gen Z also said the most important trait a good boss can possess is respect for work hours. These numbers allude to the idea that as much as Gen Z values security, they also expect a high degree of autonomy in their work.

Employers can accommodate Gen Z's values by incorporating these tips:

* Give junior employees visibility into the timeline of projects, so they can see the value and relevance of their deadlines.

* Provide generous compensation for overtime, if possible, and benefits such as expensed meals and transportation after a certain hour.

* Look into offering on-site services, such as pet grooming or fitness classes, so workers can complete personal tasks and have fun while at work.
The Workforce Of Tomorrow
At approximately 60 million, Gen Z has surpassed millennials to become the largest generation. Savvy and practical, the skills and attitudes they have acquired in the brief span of their lives will impact the future of work. And smart employers will pay attention to them. Quite frankly, they will be difficult to ignore.

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What Gen Z Wants In A Career (And How To Give It To Them)

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After four (or more) years of hard work, young men and women at college campuses across the country have earned their degrees and are looking to enter the workforce. The class of 2018 is unique, however. For the first time in over a decade, the majority of this year's graduates are from a new generation.

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Which Generation has it Worse? [Generation Z or Millennials]

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Which Generation has it Worse? [Generation Z or Millennials]

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which generation has it worse? (opinion) - cnn

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Which generation has it worse? (Opinion) - CNN

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Is Generation X lost? Are Baby boomers narcissistic? What's your generation and how does it hold up?

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Why is Generation Z Taking Longer to Grow Up?

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Why is Generation Z Taking Longer to Grow Up?

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why today's teens are taking longer to grow up - cnn

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Why today's teens are taking longer to grow up

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This generation of teens is delaying the responsibilities and pleasures of adulthood. It's not that teens are more virtuous or lazier. They could simply be taking longer to grow up.