How to turn Gen Z into management material
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Generation Z is about to step into management. Born between 1995 and 2010, many of those working are now in their mid-twenties. Around 4.3mn have entered the UK workforce — with high expectations and little hesitation in voicing them.
As digital natives, they are the first generation raised with the internet, smartphones and social media. Used to connecting with pretty much anyone with a tap or a swipe, they are well-informed and have been through a lot. Few escaped the disruption of Covid or the surge in living costs, and many belong to “Generation Rent”, doubtful they will ever own a home.
Gone is the dream of the corner office. Only 6 per cent of Gen Zs say their main career goal is a senior leadership position, according to consultancy Deloitte’s annual global study of generational attitudes, now in its 14th year. Instead, purpose dominates: 89 per cent say purpose-led work is vital to their job satisfaction and wellbeing.
“They’re motivated by the trifecta of money, meaning and wellbeing,” says Elizabeth Faber, Deloitte’s global chief people and purpose officer. “Balancing these three important components sets the foundation for their overall happiness and is key to their success.”
Mental health is equally critical. In 2024, 40 per cent of Gen Zs said they felt anxious or stressed most of the time, with work often a factor. Around a quarter (26 per cent) feared their manager would discriminate against them if they raised mental health concerns.
With so much to contend with, companies are rethinking management training to prepare young workers for leadership. Fast-food giant KFC is among them. “Young people are a huge part of KFC — we’re one of the largest youth employers in the country and more than 65 per cent of our workforce is under the age of 25,” says Sam Westwood, people experience director at KFC UK & Ireland. “We’ve had to design our training and development programmes with young people in mind, centred around the types of workplace cultures they want to be a part of and their learning styles and preferences.”
Core to this for any business should be “clarifying the connection between an employee’s role and the company’s mission”, says Laura Hassner, who teaches at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “It is crucial to onboarding and keeping this talent.”
Michael Kienle, personal care group L’Oréal’s global vice-president of talent acquisition, has experienced first-hand the shift Hassner outlines. He says Gen Z employees are entering the workforce with “more self-confidence than previous generations” and are far more vocal. “They have a readiness to ask, ‘Why should I join you?’ It’s a total reversal of the power dynamic I’ve experienced through most of my 26-year career where candidates were always asked, ‘Why do you want to work for us?’ That’s not a question we ask anymore.”
To meet employees’ expectations, L’Oréal has revamped its management training scheme. Standardised globally, it is now called SeedZ and rotates candidates through roles over 12-24 months. Frontline experience remains essential, but the focus has shifted from hierarchy to accelerated learning.
Young managers, says Kienle, are “less interested in titles and more in skill-building. They’re smart not to rush into managing people after two years — they want breadth first.” The programme develops 12 core skills, including empathy and learning agility. Results are promising: participants advance faster and stay longer than peers outside the scheme. Kienle likens it to “life insurance for the group’s leadership pipeline”.
At technology group Siemens, a similar evolution is under way. Its “READY” programme, mandatory for all new leaders, focuses on the “10 moments that matter” in an employee’s career, such as their first promotion and the first time they have to have a difficult conversation with a direct report, such as redundancy. The UK version includes scenario-based learning on emotional intelligence and managing difficult conversations. The company has also pledged 50 hours of learning per employee annually in the UK by 2030, with an emphasis on digitalisation and sustainability.
“Digital disruption, AI and the speed of technological change have changed everything employers demand in terms of skill, leadership and organisation,” says Rachel Wilson, head of people and organisation at Siemens UK. “We don’t want knowers; we want our people to be learners able to adapt to fast and wide-reaching change. And our young people are particularly adaptable.
“But we see upskilling as a core priority for everyone, not just one generation. The ability to learn is like a muscle: it makes you strong, but you have to use it or it wastes away.”
Yet career progression for Gen Z is far from assured. A recent survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) in the UK found 42 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds felt overlooked for projects and promotions, compared with 15 per cent of those aged 55 and over. Among young managers (aged 16 to 34), 21 per cent admitted they lacked confidence in their leadership abilities.
At KFC, Westwood underscores the importance of confidence-building in young workers. “For young people starting out, building confidence is key to their development, which is why we give young people responsibility as early as we can to show them the impact they can make, and provide them with motivation to keep learning and progressing,” he says.
The results, he says, speak for themselves: “Every year, around 2,000 people are promoted within KFC, including more than 80 who progress from our restaurants into above-restaurant roles — for example, in our head office.”
“There’s a clear challenge for business leaders to ensure young talent is recognised, supported and encouraged to be ambitious and put themselves — and their ideas — forward,” says Petra Wilton, director of policy at the CMI.
One solution is reverse mentoring. “Partnering more and less experienced colleagues across age groups and divisions can really help bridge knowledge gaps, instil trust and lead to increased collaboration and innovation. It works all the way up to board level,” says Alyson Meister, professor of leadership and organisational behaviour and director of the Future Leaders programme at IMD Business School in Switzerland. L’Oréal has long used reverse mentoring and found it beneficial across all levels, says Kienle.
While no generation fits neatly into a box, unlocking Gen Z’s potential as future leaders depends on ensuring they understand why their roles matter, and fostering a corporate mindset that prizes agility, skills and continuous learning.
‘A collaborative spirit drives me’
Thomas Wakefield, 24, from the Wirral, north-west England, is progressing quickly at construction group Balfour Beatty. After leaving school at 16 for an engineering apprenticeship, he joined the company two years ago and was recently selected for its Ones to Watch leadership development programme, which focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and building stronger networks across the business.
Working in the business improvement team, Wakefield travels nationwide to help construction teams boost efficiency. He collaborates with senior project teams — colleagues often in their thirties, forties or fifties — where influence and indirect leadership are crucial.
“I often work with people who are older or more experienced than me,” he says. “They’re directly responsible for their projects, and my role is to bring people together, draw on their expertise and help identify the best way forward.”
Conscious of building trust rather than overstepping, Wakefield applies techniques learnt while achieving both Incorporated Engineer and CMI Chartered Manager status — such as stakeholder mapping — to balance authority with approachability.
Wakefield credits his line manager, whom he considers a mentor, and Balfour Beatty’s inclusive culture for his development. “I like how the company gets everyone involved in a project into the same room and encourages people to share their opinions and ideas,” he says. “That collaborative spirit really drives me.”
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