The workplace Gen Z employees are entering has changed significantly from the one previous generations experienced at the start of their careers.
For example, how they are managed, receive feedback, and progress in their careers. For managers, this means rethinking some of the traditional approaches to developing and supporting junior employees.
To help millennial-generation managers with their Gen Z employees, Frances Li, Founder of Biscuit Recruitment, has shared her advice on how managers can adapt their approach to support younger workers and get the best from their teams.
- Teach Gen Z how to use AI, rather than pretending they won’t
For millennial managers leading Gen Z teams, Frances recommends encouraging employees to use AI for appropriate tasks while making it clear that critical thinking and human judgement are still expected.
Frances believes this is one of the most important changes managers can make.
“Trying to keep younger employees away from AI altogether is going to become increasingly unrealistic,” she says. “The better conversation is around how they use it. AI can be brilliant for taking repetitive work off somebody’s plate, organising information or helping them get started, but employees still need to understand what they are producing and be able to challenge it. You want someone using AI as a tool, not outsourcing their brain to it.”
The numbers suggest formal workplace training may not yet be keeping pace with the technology.
ONS analysis published earlier this year found 55% of employees reported using AI for work or education, while around 35% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported using at least one AI technology.[1]
Separate government research also found just 11% of employers had undertaken AI training during the previous 12 months, while 21% expected demand for AI skills to increase.[2]
Frances adds: “That gap is exactly why managers need to get involved. If employees are already experimenting with these tools, giving them sensible boundaries and training is far more useful than finding out six months later that everyone has developed their own unofficial AI policy.”
- Give feedback while it’s still useful
When it comes to providing feedback, Frances recommends replacing the occasional big performance review with shorter, more regular sessions.
Frances says: “I don’t think this is really a Gen Z thing. Most people want to know how they’re doing without having to wait for a formal review.”
“The benefit of giving feedback little and often is that nothing has time to become a big deal. If something needs tweaking, you can have that conversation early and move on.”
“It works the other way too. If someone has done a really good job, tell them while it’s still fresh rather than saving it up for a review three months later.”
“That doesn’t mean checking in every five minutes or praising someone for doing the basics. It’s just about making feedback feel like a normal part of working together, rather than something people only hear when there’s a problem.”
- Make career progression less mysterious
Giving employees a clear picture of the skills, experience and achievements required for promotion is another step Frances recommends.
Frances says younger employees are likely to disengage if progression feels vague or entirely dependent on time served.
She says: “One of the quickest ways to frustrate someone is to tell them they’re doing well but never explain what they actually need to do to move up.”
“People want to know what the next level looks like in practical terms. Is it taking on bigger projects? Managing clients? Leading meetings? Building a particular skill? The clearer you can be, the easier it is for someone to work towards it.”
“That doesn’t mean promising a promotion by a certain date. Sometimes there simply isn’t a role available yet. But you can still be transparent about what someone needs to demonstrate when that opportunity does come up.”
“It also takes some pressure off the manager. If the expectations are clear from the start, career conversations become much more useful than a vague ‘keep going, and we’ll see what happens’.”
- Give junior employees something real to own
Millennial managers should also consider giving younger employees meaningful responsibility earlier, whether that is presenting work, leading part of a project or taking ownership of a client task.
Frances supports the idea, provided responsibility comes with appropriate support.
She adds, “You learn a lot faster when you actually have something that is yours to own. Sitting in on meetings and shadowing people has its place, but at some point you need to be the person doing it.”
“The key is making sure ownership does not turn into being left to figure everything out alone. Give someone a proper brief, be clear about what good looks like, and then give them enough space to have a go.”
“It is also a really good confidence builder. When someone realises, ‘actually, I handled that client call’ or ‘I presented that work and it went well’, that tends to stick with them.”
“Managers do not need to step in at every wobble either. Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is let someone work through a problem, knowing you are there if they genuinely need you.”
- Let mentoring work both ways
A Gen Z employee might provide insight into AI, social platforms or emerging digital behaviour, while the senior colleague shares commercial experience, leadership skills and industry knowledge.
Frances suggests millennial managers consider reverse mentoring, which pairs a younger employee with somebody more senior, with both expected to teach the other.
She says: “I like reverse mentoring because it gets rid of the idea that the most senior person in the room automatically knows the most about everything.”
“Someone who has been in the industry for 20 years will have experience you simply cannot shortcut, but a younger employee might be the one saying, ‘Have you seen this tool?’ or ‘This is how people are actually using that platform now.’ Both are valuable.”
“It can also give younger employees a bit more confidence to speak up. If you are actively asking someone for their perspective, they are much more likely to share what they know rather than assuming it is not their place.”
“The best version of it does not feel like one person teaching and the other listening. It feels like a proper exchange, where both people leave having picked something up.”
- Give employees an “innovation hour”
One of Frances’s more unusual suggestions is setting aside an hour each month for employees to experiment with AI, test new ways of working or investigate an idea unrelated to their immediate to-do list.
“We talk a lot about wanting people to be curious and innovative, but then give them absolutely no time to try anything new.”
“An hour a month is small enough that it does not disrupt the week, but it gives people permission to test something without feeling like they should be doing their ‘real work’ instead.”
“Some of it will go nowhere, and that is fine. The point is to create space for people to experiment without every idea needing to have an immediate business case.”
“And now and then, someone will find a tool or a better way of doing something that saves the whole team time. That is when a fairly small investment starts to become genuinely useful.”
Does Gen Z actually need a different management style?
While Gen Z’s expectations of work continue to attract debate, Frances says managers should be careful about turning generational stereotypes into management policy.
She concludes, “I don’t think there is a secret formula for managing Gen Z, because there is no single type of Gen Z employee.”
“A lot of what younger workers are asking for is actually pretty reasonable: clear expectations, useful feedback, opportunities to grow and some trust to get on with the job.”
“They may be more comfortable saying those things out loud than previous generations were, and that can sometimes get labelled as entitlement when really it is just a different way of communicating what they want from work.”
“For managers, the more useful question is not ‘how do I manage Gen Z?’ It is ‘what does this person need from me to do their best work?’ That keeps the focus on the individual rather than the stereotype.”