{"id":59284,"date":"2025-03-07T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=59284"},"modified":"2025-03-10T14:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T19:26:28","slug":"embracing-gen-z-in-our-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/practice-management\/embracing-gen-z-in-our-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Gen Z in our firm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As an elder millennial<\/a>, I sit somewhere between boomers and Gen Z. For the most part, it\u2019s a rather privileged position, having benefited from the type of boomer parents who told us we could do whatever we put our mind to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s note:<\/strong> Check out “Gen Z perspectives and my path to Dark Horse<\/a>” by Zachary Stoner for a unique POV from a Gen Z.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is the Gen Z?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started my career in public accounting in 2009, at the expense of a few who were hired a year before my starting class in the Big Four and laid off so that our job offers didn\u2019t have to be rescinded. I was able to buy a house and pursue the American Dream. However, I wasn\u2019t happy or fulfilled in my work. In fact I was borderline depressed, but I didn\u2019t face the challenges that many newly minted grads (yes, those Gen Zers) are confronted with. They face an overwhelming amount of student loan debt, unaffordable housing, a truncated college experience as a result of the pandemic<\/a>, political turmoil, and a system that\u2019s been designed to extract their labor and tax dollars to enrich the elder generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more is that the millennial generation was a guinea pig to the pitfalls of social media<\/a> and other technologies that created social isolation and an overall abnormal adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you pause to consider the environment Gen Z has grown up in, it\u2019s highly unsurprising<\/em> that they have different values, behaviors, and wants than previous generations. So if you\u2019re approaching them with judgment or disdain, you\u2019ve lost the script. There is no point in lamenting what you think should be<\/em> versus what is<\/em>. You can\u2019t change this generation, but you can harness its unique strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What firms can do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this generation feels a diminished locus of control in their lives outside of work due to not being able to build a life in the same ways their parents did, they crave purpose, autonomy, and growth in their career in ways previous generations haven\u2019t. This, alone, should make you optimistic about Gen Z in the workforce because many of them are looking for a work home they can be fully engaged in and bring their best self, too, versus clocking a 9-to-5 and living for the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart employers, including tax and accounting firms<\/a>, are building their companies around a mission, a shared purpose, and a sense of belonging. It\u2019s not just a Gen Z thing; it\u2019s a human thing. Who among us doesn\u2019t want to have clarity of purpose, pride in performance, autonomy and agency (and the trust that comes along with it), alongside a community of people working to leave the world a better place than they found it? The people who value none of the aforementioned are not people you want working at your firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re saying to yourself, \u201cThat\u2019s great for certain types of firms, but my business is different,\u201d  I argue that you can<\/em> build purpose into any company; it just needs to be authentic or it will fall flat on its face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider your options<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the mission is to provide dependable employment with good pay to those who society often casts aside? Maybe it\u2019s about providing a locally owned service to your community instead of getting it from a nationally owned syndicate where the profits aren\u2019t reinvested into the local economy. Maybe you pride yourself on providing a niche<\/a> no one in your local area or region provides. The point is that if you\u2019re passionate about your business (hello, you are an entrepreneur!), you can translate that same passion into a meaningful mission that lives within your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart employers are also building aligned incentive structures that get employees to think and act like owners. It\u2019s not just about the softer side of the business; it\u2019s also about the Benjamins. After all, purpose and mission, alone, don\u2019t pay the bills. The smartest of employers embed aligned incentive structures into the fabric of their business in support of the mission. Maybe your firm can compete against larger local, regional, and even national firms because it\u2019s comprised of employee-owners who are incentivized to provide superior service at competitive prices. They  are creatively solving problems vs. just blindly following a checklist from headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re thinking about creating a workplace that attracts and retains Gen Z (and Gen Alpha<\/a> at some point), you\u2019re thinking beyond just the end-client your business serves. You\u2019re thinking about how to best take care of your people so that they can best take care of your clients<\/a>. If every level of an organization is focused on serving the people they lead, I can assure you that clients will feel this in a way that spurs word-of-mouth growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve read this article and thought to yourself, \u201cThis is common sense; the best organizations in the world are run by servant leaders where incentives are aligned,\u201d then maybe it\u2019s time to consider what Gen Z really wants is a return to the fundamentals of what makes a great business. This is something  a lot of us in elder generations have lost sight of in the name of procuring and protecting our piece of the American Dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s note:<\/strong> Dark Horse, have been featured in several white papers, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n