Melanie Ridgard, Liezel Massyn
Abstract
As Generation Z enters the workforce, understanding their unique characteristics and preferences becomes crucial for effective talent management. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with onboarding Gen Z employees into the contemporary workplace environment. Traditional orientation programmes, while valuable, often fall short in fully engaging and integrating this cohort. This study adopted a qualitative research design and purposive sampling was employed to sample the participants. The study was conducted at a university at a Centre for Teaching, who employs a large number of this cohort. A sample of 20 was selected for the study. The sample size was thirteen Gen Z employees between the ages of 18 and 25 and seven Gen Z supervisors’ participants, who supervise Gen Z employees, were between the ages of 25 to 40. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and a thematic analysis were used to analyse the results. Evidence from the interviews reveals the expectations and challenges of both the Gen Z employees and the Gen Z supervisors and how these experiences differ. Additionally, this research explores participants’ understanding and experience of participating in an onboarding programme and what a potential onboarding programme could look like.