Generations Y, “Millennials,” and Z, “Zoomers,” have grown into the dominant forces in today’s employee market. Indeed, Millennials and Zoomers compose over half the entire US population. Therefore, to attract and retain new talent, employers must create wellness programs that cater to these individuals’ wants and needs. While young workers’ concerns occasionally overlap with those of previous generations, notable divergences exist, including mental health concerns, accessibility of services, and social wellness aspects. It’s critical that organizations have researched and designed wellness options in accordance with their employees’ concerns.
Below, we describe the most pressing wellness concerns of Millennials and Zoomers:
Generation Y Employees' Wellness Concerns
First, note that Millennials’ wellness interests extend beyond particular health issues. Generation Y prioritizes how medical professionals provide care to the extent that delivery factors into their top concerns. These include:
1. Need for Accessibility
It’s no secret that Millennials want access to everything through personal technology, particularly smartphones. Indeed, 74% of Millennials prefer virtual doctor appointments to in-person ones for the sake of convenience. Likewise, Gen Yers want online accessibility to explore and participate in wellness programs.
They also value accessible means of tracking their health goals. In a 2020 survey, Millennials comprised 42% of all health app usage, the highest percentage of any generational age group. So, they can use Givhero’s health wellness app to track their steps taken, hours slept, and active minutes among other popular statistics.
2. Well-Rounded Features
Compared to their forebears, Millennials have a greater interest in and enthusiasm for non-Western medicine. They are willing to explore alternative wellness avenues besides the traditional routes offered by a primary care physician. For example, they may seek a holistic health approach that includes acupuncture, chiropractic medicine, and emotional therapy. These ‘whole health’ practices create healthy lifestyles that support well-being and diminish the risk of illness.
Additionally, Gen Y employees are concerned with their work-life balance. While they value a fulfilling career, Millennials view their work as part of their lifestyle rather than a source of income alone. Work-life balance impacts employees’ mental health, so wellness programs must consider it.
61% of Millennials worked from home in 2020, and their concern for work-life balance grew. Yet employees can benefit from supporting one another in shared efforts towards wellness. Companies can engage their employees by creating accessible health goals: reaching a daily step count, drinking a target amount of water, or taking time to meditate and destress.
3. An Action-Oriented Approach
Part and parcel of a holistic approach is an action-oriented mindset. Millennials like to get involved with, explore, and discuss their health concerns. In addition to an expert’s opinion, Millennials research medical questions and draw personal conclusions. Social media platforms bolster this shift by allowing users to share their practices and learn new ones with peers and diverse health professionals.
Workplace wellness apps function in a similar way on a smaller scale. For example, the Givhero platform allows companies to track goals across their organization while individual users can organize themselves into teams. Furthermore, the app delivers announcements and updates through push notifications and its news feed. Plus, organizations unfamiliar with creating such challenges might try a wellness plan template to start.
4. Social Wellness Compatibility
Millennials tend to job-hop more than people in other generations because they want personally fulfilling roles. Indeed, this ambition for a fulfilling career can factor into their satisfaction with workplace initiatives. Millennials are 3 to 5 times more likely than members of previous generations to participate in employee wellness initiatives.
Therefore, you can boost Millennial engagement and happiness in your wellness initiatives by tying your efforts to a charitable donation drive or social wellness program. An ideal opportunity comes around every November in the form of Giving Tuesday, 24 hours during which people worldwide donate their time and resources to a community event or charitable initiative.
Givhero’s platform allows organizations to make charitable giving a reward for wellness program participation. Many clients have used this functionality during previous Giving Tuesdays and enjoyed significant engagement from their staff members. Research indicates that such efforts have an impact, as Millennials’ greatest sources of satisfaction are wellness initiatives that support charitable causes.
Generation Z Employees' Wellness Concerns
If a non-Zoomer knows anything about Gen Z, it’s likely the generation’s concern for their mental health. Research supports this perception: 70% of Zoomer teenagers report anxiety and depression as significant problems among their peers. As a result, Zoomers are more likely to seek counseling or therapy than any other generation.
Prioritizing mental health services in your company’s culture and hiring packages can help you attract and retain employees among this generation. While previous generations kept such concerns out of the workplace, changing times call for new attitudes: assess your employees’ needs, enhance your in-house services, and implement wellness challenges.
1. Accessible and Intuitive Digital Tools
Also referred to as the “digital generation,” Gen Z has never known a world without the internet. Moreover, its oldest members were preteens when Apple released the first iPhone. So, they expect digital health and wellness functionality from their providers.
Your organization’s human resources department or wellness team should incorporate this concern into employee health and safety practices. Offer digital health assessments and a connected platform through which you can run wellness initiatives. When implemented carefully, digital functionality can reduce stress and ease your administrative workload.
2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
American Gen Zers constitute the most multicultural generation in our nation’s history. Our country’s shifting demographics have created a diverse populace, and Zoomers have witnessed such pivotal events as America’s first Black president and the legalization of gay marriage. Therefore, they expect their employers to cultivate inclusive benefits and programs.
Additionally, Generation Z wants more than a comfortable job—they want a socially responsible employer that supports their community. Givhero’s social wellness app can help you realize that by tying participation in wellness programs to charitable giving. Doing so incentivizes employee engagement and offers the fulfillment that Zoomers seek.
3. Competitive Offerings
Millennials and Zoomers share great concern over financial pressures. Large swaths of both generations have student loans to pay off, and they face an expensive and uncertain house market. On top of this, they often find healthcare costs prohibitive and stifling.
Employers can attract Gen Z employees with comprehensive healthcare options and financial wellness tools to help manage costs. Moreover, organizations should consider factors such as the social determinants of health when creating their benefits packages. What suits senior company members may not apply to new hires and vice versa.
4. Socially-Driven Purchases
It follows that a generation who grew up with social media would allow others to influence their shopping habits. Gen Zers pay attention to what others purchase, particularly their friends and celebrity influencers. They’ll also shop around and weigh options, searching for the best.
Therefore, diverse wellness options suit Zoomers. Givhero can provide your organization with a wide variety, as our social wellness platform offers customized charity partners from which users can choose. Their wellness activities can support their selected charity, and users can even team up with coworkers for organizational well-being challenges.
Create Wellness Programs to Support and Engage Up-and-Coming Workers
No one-size-fits-all solution exists for drawing in new employees. Nevertheless, organizations have a better chance of doing so if they design competitive offerings that respond to those individuals’ needs. For example, they can attract Generation Y and Z members by creating health and wellness programs that meet their demands. Givhero’s wellness platform can help them do so through customization and social wellness functionality for users seeking comprehensive care options. Indeed, with Giving Tuesday approaching, the app offers an excellent opportunity to leverage the event for increased employee well-being. For more information on how wellness initiatives can benefit your organization, call us at (240) 801-5927.
