How can employers improve soft skills for Gen Z?

While teaching English to college students on campus, I noticed a significant change in student behavior circa 2015. When I walked in the room at the beginning of class, very few students greeted me. When I gave students assignments to share work or collaborate in small groups, they seemed very hesitant, quiet, and even awkward. What had happened to my talkative, outgoing Gen Z students?

I asked my fellow faculty members and campus staff members whether they noticed this shift. They did, but no one knew what to do about it. Helping Gen Z students who struggled with communication, collaboration, conflict management, problem-solving, and decision-making exhausted me! And it troubled me.

A few years before I noticed this change in student behavior, smartphones started selling like hot cakes, and mobile access became the norm not just for Gen Z, but for most people worldwide. Gen Z is typically defined as digital natives born after 1995 and before 2015. By 2015, universities were officially saturated with digital natives.

The soft skills connection

When Gen Z students began spending more time online than interacting with others face-to-face, their soft skills started to atrophy. And it’s not just Gen Z; anyone who doesn’t practice soft skills loses them. That’s just how it works. Soft skills are a combination of talent and ability, and like any talent or ability, it’s imperative to practice to maintain performance level.

Let me explain. Relying on channel lean communication versus channel rich communication opens us up to miscommunication, which typically leads to conflict. But if we’re not regularly communicating with others face to face, resolving conflict feels crippling. In addition, other soft skills decline when we rely too heavily on electronics, digital communications, social media, and online resources in lieu of face to face, in-the-flesh interaction. We see this soft skills gap most clearly in Gen Z because they typically spend the most time online and using devices. People who spend lots of time online discover it becomes difficult to ask real people for help. Researching online becomes the norm instead, and students often feel frustrated when they can’t find solutions. Also, Gen Z tends to collaborate only when required to do so. Those who do not spend enough time interacting with others often experience increased social anxiety and hate the notion of networking. Without regular communication practice, we lose the ability to introduce ourselves clearly and confidently, to participate in professional meetings, to contribute to dialogue in a calm, rational manner, or to enjoy time with peers, even people we like.

While the problem was beginning to become evident seven years ago, it’s at pandemic proportions now. Now that we understand why a soft skills gap exists for Gen Z, what can we do about it?

How employers can help

First, do not assume that because you don’t regularly interact with high school or college students, you cannot make a difference. You can. With early recruitment trending and employers recognizing the need to brand themselves more evidently on campus, you have ample opportunity to help.

Here are practical ways employers can help Gen Z students and grads who are struggling with soft skills mastery.

Engage.

Remember, students, interns, and recent grads often mimic their hiring managers and more experienced colleagues. Set them up for greater success in the workplace by modeling strong soft skills yourself. This isn’t limited to managers. If you have any interactions with Gen Z in the workplace, your own behavior is definitely being scrutinized and possibly mimicked by Gen Z.

Disconnect.

From your electronic devices and screens, that is. Find as much time as possible to visit with Gen Z employees face-to-face. If you work remotely, don’t avoid Zoom and phone calls. Email is certainly convenient. You may not find it necessary to hop on a call or on Zoom, but consider how a younger, less experienced employee feels who has very few channel rich interactions.

Gen Z was recently identified as the loneliest generation—surely we aren’t surprised. We can help them feel more connected by providing facial feedback, allowing them to see us and all our flaws, or just by laughing with them. Start small—just switch one email check-in with a phone call. You might enjoy it, too.

Mentor.

Did you know that over 1/3 of employees who don’t receive regular mentoring will look for start looking for other employment within one year? And that corporate training programs which include mentoring are proven to improve productivity by 88%, as opposed to those programs without mentoring at only 24%?

Obviously mentoring works. It does take time and energy to mentor Gen Z interns and full-time employees, but you can reap huge dividends. Not only do you feel you’re making a difference, but your mentees will notice increased confidence and improved soft skills.

Value.

Place premium, tangible, and even monetized value on soft skills. Don’t just mention a few soft skills in the job posting and never bring them up again. Find ways to recognize and reward those who display strong communications skills, conflict prevention and management skills, collaboration strengths, great work ethic, or excellent decision-making skills. This doesn’t have to be a very expensive or highly complex effort. Create some simple way of nominating and recognizing a Soft Skills Superhero each month (hint: social media is free). Or rotate between four key soft skills quarterly. You figure out what works best for your organization. Just be sure you truly recognize those who practice great soft skills.

Train.

Offer soft skills and career readiness training for your Gen Z interns and recent grads. If you have someone in-house who’s a soft skills or career development expert, assign this task to them. If not, outsource this training need. One way or another, find a way to offer training opportunities specifically related to the soft skills you’ve identified as essential for the roles Gen Z fills.

No matter how you do it, do something to help Gen Z students and recent grads who struggle with soft skills mastery. When your employees become better, you win, too.

—Bethany Wallace partners with mission-minded organizations to build better workplaces through soft skills solutions, including soft skills and career readiness training, career coaching, and executive coaching.