The tides are turning in workplaces worldwide. Generation Z – born between 1997 and 2012 – is expected to make up more than a quarter (27%) of the workforce by 2025. But the UK trades are yet to see a significant shift. For example, under-25s make up just 9% of workers in the construction sector.
Last Friday was ‘World Youth Skills Day’, an initiative from the UN focusing on the importance of engaging young people in the workforce.
Leaders should look for ways to make their businesses attractive to the next generation of talent to avoid being left high and dry as Gen Z washes in.
- Research from Digital Futures reports that “Gen Z feels technology helps them in all areas of their lives (81%) and that they expect it to create job opportunities for them (69%).”
- And Deloitte found that “the most digitally advanced small businesses earned two times as much revenue per employee and were almost three times as likely to have created jobs compared with the previous year.”
The rise of the tech-enabled trades – from job management systems to SaaS solutions
The UK’s trades industries have shown they’re ready and willing to take advantage of the opportunities technology offers. BigChange research found that, on average, leaders expected to spend 52% more on technology in 2022, than in 2021.
Mobile workforce management software can meet the needs of this emerging generation in several ways:
App-enabled workflows: The businesses best placed to attract new talent have moved on from paper-based working, to embrace the benefits of digital workflows. With BigChange, all the documents a worker needs to get the job done are easily accessible on one mobile app.
Powerful automation dispels back-office drudgery: Monster.com found that over a third of Gen Z (39%) are motivated to choose a job by the challenges it offers. They are not inspired by repetitive tasks such as double-keying data collated on paper reports from the field. BigChange automates data entry across scheduling, reporting and invoicing, freeing up your staff for more high-value work.
Digital training helps Gen Z reach new heights: GWI, the polling agency, reported that 63% of Gen Z say learning new skills is important to them. BigChange is a plug-and-play platform – meaning new starters can learn what they need to get going in minutes, not days. Further training available through the BigChange University and expert support can help you discover how BigChange can help your business grow stronger – and meet the needs of a generation hungry to learn more.