The dairy industry has for a long time been challenged to recruit sufficient people to fill vacancies and to meet the needs created by natural attrition.
Generation Z (Gen Z) are people born after 1995. The relevance being that Gen Z are aged up to approximately 20 years (as at 2017) and are starting to join the workforce, therefore are considered the workforce of the future. Either having recently commenced their working career or still within the education system, the characteristics and priorities of Gen Z when considering employment are largely undeveloped and will evolve and mature in time.
The objective of this research project was to identify if misalignment exists in the priorities of both perspective employees (Gen Z) and employers. Surveys were used to explore and gain insights as to the characteristics of employers and Gen Z, further to understand what they each prioritised when considering employment from their respective positions.
After compiling and analysis the information there was not a lot of misalignment between what employers and Gen Z when considering Gen Z’s top three priorities for employment. However, there is misalignment between what Gen Z prioritise and the realities of a career within the dairy industry where long hours and poor rosters exist. This is creating a real barrier to the dairy industry being the career of choice.
Tony Dowman
