Recent sociological trends are creating a new generation of workers with different needs than the people hiring them, something cooperative societies must recognize in order to capture the best young talent. This is according to Kim Lear, a keynote speaker, during the World Council annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
She said one trend influencing Generation Z workers is the close relationship most of them have with their parents.
“So, we found that there’s some organizations where, when they create an offer, they’re really focused on what that candidate wants. So, there’s a focus on career trajectory, growth and development opportunities, sometimes business resource groups and culture—things like that. But then they go and show their parents the offer, and their parents are like, ‘what’s the dental plan?’, or ‘what is the retirement plan?’, things like that. And so, we’ve seen organizations that have shifted, where, you don’t want to infantilize the candidate, but you do want to proactively address what their number one influencers might want to know, and often times that is mom and dad,” explained Lear.
Having access to a bigger worldview due to the internet and social media is also something new with Generation Z, according to Lear, which has also led younger workers to crave a local connection to their community.
“But I do think that for credit unions (saccos), the face of that local community piece is really strong, is a real selling point,” said Lear.
DIGITIZATION
“We need to solve financial inclusion, and digitization is the way to do it. The model of credit unions is so critically important. We are happy to embrace the international standard setters, that (guidance) filters down to the national-level regulators. The proportionality that is included in that, that is where it helps you do what you do,” said Andrew Price, WOCCU Senior VP of International Advocacy and General Counsel.
