Managing Gen Z: Flexibility, Mental Health, and Relational Leadership | Atalie Farnsworth

Learn what Gen Z employees value at work, from flexibility and mental health support to strong relationships, healthy boundaries, and purposeful leadership. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Vanderblumen Ladies Leadership Podcast, where we help Christian women grow in confident, calling leadership. If you want to excel in your career while staying true to your faith, you're in the right place. Thanks for being here. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Vanderblomen Ladies Leadership Podcast. And I have a special guest today, although every week I say I have a special guest. This is Adelie Farnsworth. And she was just given notice that she was going to do this with me about 42 seconds ago. So that speaks to her flexibility. Hi, Adelie. Welcome. Hi, thanks for having me. You're very welcome. So Adelie is one of our newest hires here at Gander Woman. And you've been here, gosh, is it a month, a month and a half? Five weeks. Five weeks. Okay. So Adelie, you are you're quite young. You just graduated from Texas AM. And you're currently getting your master's degree. Yes. When are you getting your master's degree?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I am planning to graduate in December of 2026.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

And what will your degree be in? It'll be in uh Masters of Science and Psychology. Ooh, so right now Adelaie is trying to figure out what my brain is thinking of. Um, Ellie, I thought that you'd be a really good guest because a lot of the people listening to this podcast are in your age range. So this is basically your first full-time position. You've worked part-time positions, but Vanderbiltman's your first basically full-time career after college. So what have you, what's been most interesting to you or what's been most how about this? What's been most surprising to you from being at a full-time job?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah. I was really worried going into a full-time job, especially as a full-time student right now as well. The flexibility of scheduling and being able to handle going to school and also working a full-time job. Since I've only experienced part-time jobs before, they've been very flexible working later or working earlier like that. And so um I've been very lucky in this position to be able to be flexible with my schedule. You know, I go to class on Mondays, Monday nights from 4 to 10 p.m. And this um full-time job has allowed me to work seven to three so that I can still get my 40 hours and be able to work and just progress my career, but also be able to just have that flexibility for my own personal life and then just in general be able to go home a little bit earlier as well. So I can have my evenings to relax, do some homework here and there, but have that time to just relax as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I would say a lot of people, a lot of people in their 50s and 60s who are managing younger generation. Are you Gen, what are you, Gen Q? What's your generation? I think Gen Z. Um, and the question is, how do we manage Gen Z well? And I think what you hit on there is something that is really critical, which is the flexibility. And you're not the first person to say that, but if you're hiring someone that is just coming out of college, something that's a common theme is the focus on work-life balance, right? And mental health. And if you're not able to provide a little bit of that flexibility for Gen Zers, they're not going to want to work at your company. So I think something like a good recommendation for people hiring Gen Z is that flexibility, um, maybe being aware of meeting their emotional needs as well as their work needs. Can you talk a little bit about that, Adelie? Like work-life balance. How do you see your job fit into your personal life?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, of course. As a psychology student, that's a huge thing for me. Um, we learn a lot about just how, you know, mental health is something that has become very apparent, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, being home alone. A lot of people realized how important it is to take care of yourselves and your brain. And um, sometimes a work-life balance is not something that every company is able to handle um well. And so those companies that were having these younger generations come in and they are prioritizing their mental health. There's this kind of backlash that's going on right now, trying to um handle, like, hey, I'm used to this work-life balance. I've learned about how important it is to take care of myself, but this company isn't going to let me do that. And so I'm gonna find a company that is going to allow me to take care of myself just personally and mentally. And so I think that's something that this generation understands a lot better and has been taught and brought up that way. And um, just with social media as well, has understood that a little bit better. And since it's become so mainstream, it's something that I think companies definitely need to um be aware of, especially with just them coming into the workforce now.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

I'm I'm in my 40s and then people older than you are baby boomers. I think I'm Gen X or something like that. But we were always told that career is most important and the the work-life balance thing, you know, maybe you can get that when you're when you're older. But as a young person starting out, you need to be career first. And that's really different from the generation that's that you're in right now that's coming up. And I think I never really thought about that COVID-19 having a big impact on it. Were you one of the grades where you had like remote, you you probably were at college or in high school, maybe even during COVID, and you had to do that remotely?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, it was my um, it happened sophomore year, my um of high school for spring break. And then I had my entire junior year online, and then I came back my senior year.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Wow. So, what do you think the people that grew up remote in COVID for school, like what do you think that impact has been on them?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

It's definitely been a huge impact. I used to babysit some younger girls who COVID happened whenever they're in elementary school, and you can just see the um the setback that they had academically. Um, they had a hard time learning how to read, and then they ended up having a hard time with homework, and teachers had to catch up with that because they had like a year or two off of school trying to understand that. And then it goes back down into like middle school and high school and college. They also were impacted in that as well. The teachers are having a really hard time getting back into that um that groove, just catching them up from where they were struggling with that. And I think middle school and high schoolers had a lot of time to just self-reflect and having my social isolation that ended up impacting a lot of people's mental health. I know that there's a huge mental health rise, um, just cases and stuff feeling just lonely, especially if those people didn't have close family or friends that they were able to uh spend time with during the time. And so those um that just became a lot more apparent for them and they started to realize it more.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

What do you think, Edlie, if you were giving advice to managers in their 40s and 50s about how to manage your generation? What do you so flexibility we talked about is really important. Is there anything else mental health-wise or supportive-wise, that you think that managers could do to kind of be really good managers to that generation?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, I think resources are really important to have for your employees. Um, having an access to, you know, whether it be like a helpline or maybe even like somebody like an HR professional or someone who may be able to handle um if there's any conflicts going on, just having that person that's like, hey, if you're struggling, this is someone that I can reach out to because not every employee is going to feel comfortable going to their bossing. I'm really struggling at home with this X, Y, and Z going on right now, but I'm not able to present myself as my best self as my employee because of what I'm struggling with. And so, you know, someone who's struggling a lot at home is also going to struggle in their workload as well. So employers can offer those resources, like this is the person that you can go to, this is the helpline that you could go to, or also just meeting with them regularly, checking in on their own employees and saying what's like having that um kind of relationship with them where they can know what's going on in their life, if they're open to sharing that, and then just being able to meet them kind of where they're at, not giving them the extra stress load of things going on and being like, if you need to take a day or two off, you're in there just to get um whatever's happening at home under control, then you can come back and be your best self at work.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

It sounds like Adela, you're saying manage the whole person, not just the work person, because some people tend to compartmentalize. And I think that might be something in my generation that we do, but compartmentalizing this is work and this is personal. But you're saying a good manager to Gen Z would be kind of handling the whole person. Yeah. So checking in on them emotionally, physically, mentally, work-wise, like everything, and have them feel like they're being supported. Yeah. Something that I really like that we have at many women is our gym membership. So we have a wonderful gym up on the sixth floor, which is free to everyone that works here. So that's a really good option for people. And I've noticed that our younger employees tend to take advantage of that quite a bit more than our older employees. Yep. Um, Adley, one other question for you on this topic is how do you see your career? So, do you see your career as the be all, end all, and I'm working super hard to achieve it? Do you see it as like just part of a healthy lifestyle? How do you think about your career when you're thinking about I'm an operations assistant at Vanderblemen? How does that fit into the whole Adley Farnsworth page?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, I think about it as a big goal for myself. I don't think about it necessarily as who I am as a person. I um a class I'm taking right now is career counseling, and we learn about how we hold a lot of different hats. And that is different parts of our personality and our characteristics.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

And so, you know, I hold Adley, what if in this class you realize that you're not meant to be an operations assistant and I wouldn't that would never happen. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

But I learned that, you know, I hold a role as a daughter to my parents. I hold hold a role as a friend, a sister. I also hold a role as an employee here. But I hold a lot of different roles in my life, and all of those roles are different versions of myself. And so working here, this is uh a role of myself. And it's a part that I like to just strive to be the best version of myself and learn as much as I can. I think it's always important to learn and to keep growing in yourself. And so as an employee, I just um take my career as a place for me to just learn more and to just grow.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

You know what I think is interesting about that though, Adalie, is that other generations or, you know, other people may think that the careers be all end all. And so if something goes wrong in their career, that's devastating to them. But what I really like about what you said is if you're wearing a bunch of different hats, maybe at one point Adalie in the sister hat isn't like going super great, but Adelaide at the work hat is going really well. So it also allows you to kind of have more balance across your whole life rather than putting all of your energy, attention, and expectations into one area. That's really neat. What's another class you're taking that's interesting?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

I'm taking judgment and decision making right now. So I learned if my decisions that I make at work are actually good or not.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Okay. Well, and in your role, you maybe don't get to make a ton of decisions. But something, Ellie, that I've noticed about you is that even though you're low man on the totem pole, little woman on the totem pole, you still are able to really impact the office culture. And you're really you're doing an excellent job of supporting the leadership. You've already been given a promotion of being Williams executive assistant. So you're still able to do that, even though your bottom on low man on the totem pole, you're still able to impact the whole culture. So this might be a hard one, Emily, but can you talk a little bit about what young people can do in order to still be a positive influence? Like instead of just sitting back in your office and waiting for direction, you really are very proactive. You're taking on a lot more than you would have to take on. And you're also you always take on things with a really good attitude. So if if I ask you to do something, if William asks you to do something, you have a really positive attitude. So, what are some things maybe that younger people newly in their career can do to not necessarily stand out, but to improve their workspace?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I think you kind of touched on it that um just taking every task with positive attitude. I think one of the most important things that anybody, no matter what your age is, that you can do in a workplace is just having being a person first, being a like just having all of your coworkers, talking to them to them as a person, making those relationships with them and not just completely work driven, because that way that when you make those relationships, that also goes back into the mental health and everything like that. You have those relationships and they're gonna understand if you're not performing as you normally would, you're not gonna be completely just kicked down in the totem pole like you're talking about because you you have that relationship with that person. And then there's kind of just that understanding, mutual understanding that, you know, you're working really hard. You might have something going on at home. And so that's what's going to be affecting you, but you're still gonna try and come um and be your best person in that way. And so something that I personally do in all my workplaces that I've ever worked at um and I try to do here since I've started is just make those relationships with everybody that I can and anybody that I talk to, try to have this just like positive conversations. If they ask me to do something, I'm gonna say, of course, I'll try to do whatever I can in my best ability to do it to make somebody else's job easier. And if I need to ask questions, that's I have that relationship with them. So it's not a scary thing for me to ask those questions and to move forward with them.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Ellie, people could be learning so much from you here. We have a bunch of million atelies around. That'd be really great. Uh, I was gonna ask you on the relationship side of it, what about boundaries? So something that I've seen with the young generation coming in is sometimes they're they build really strong relationships with people in the office, but it gets to be almost like too personal. And then there can be negative fallout with gossip and drama. So, what's a good, like, how do you keep boundaries? You need those good relationships, like you said, in order to help the whole culture. But if you don't have boundaries, it can very easily disintegrate into drama and gossip and a negative workplace. So I don't know if you've ever even thought about that, but what are your thoughts on maybe that boundary situation?

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Yeah, I think that is something very important to think about. And I think that's something that you just kind of have to realize yourself. You need to know that it's not appropriate to talk about drama or gossip at work, um, especially like during work hours. Yes. Bringing that outside of the office too is not like important or productive for anybody as well. And so it's just like take take the things that you learn at work, keep it to yourself. It's not that important to be able to, it doesn't get you any further in your relationship. It just kind of taints other relationships. And I like to think about it. I'm like, if this information was me, would I want somebody else that I wasn't aware of talking about it? And if the answer is no, then keep it to yourself.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Well, I think Adelaide, your hat's description really helps here too, because since you're not all of your relationships aren't at work. So it's easier to keep boundaries because you have those other relationships in other parts of your life. And again, it can just be part of the big hole. Adelaide, ask me a hard-hitting question. What's the hard-hitting question you have as a young lady in the workforce?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Okay, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

You can ask me an easy question, that'd be good too. Because I've I really have learned a lot from you and your time here, Adley, even in just five weeks, and you're very easy to work with. I appreciate that. Yeah. So, what would you ask if you could ask someone that's been in business twice as long as you are old? No, maybe that's not quite great.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Have you like, have you learned? Um, like you said, you've learned from work from younger generations now. What have you kind of changed since being in a managerial position with the younger generations and the older generation?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

That's great, Addie. So, my my experience, most most of my business experience is at Lush Cosmetics, and I managed people that were all your age and and even younger, so maybe like 17-year-olds to 24-year-olds. So I grew up managing people that were always quite a bit younger than me, which I think has put me in really good stead. And something that I think I do differently than other managers that's probably been effective is that relationship. So, what I've seen from older managers is that they they're not as relationship heavy. They're more um objective heavy, I would say. So, Adelaide, I need you to do X, Y, and Z. And I'm paying you to do this, so go do that. Whereas what I've learned from working with younger people, and just from being a human, is if you have that relational equity, then when you ask someone to do something, they're they're doing it in a much more positive fashion because they feel like they're valued. Something that I think that older managers maybe do a little bit more than younger managers is that older managers commoditize people. This is a very big generalization, but I've worked for managers that are older and they see people as cogs in a wheel who are interchangeable. And as soon as you see people as interchangeable and you lose that relationship, you lose that connection, all of a sudden those employees are not gonna work hard for you anymore. And maybe they believe in your vision, and so maybe they're gonna work hard for you, work hard for the vision, but they're not gonna work for you. And I think the current Gen Z, the younger generation, you want to work for what I've learned about them is that you guys want to work for a cause, but also for someone that you value and respect. And that you might not work as hard or even want to continue to work in a place where you don't believe in the vision, or you don't believe that you're valued by your manager. That's everyone, is that correct or not? Correct? That sounds that was almost like that's more than a question, Ali. Um, but I think, yeah, I think the relational equity part of it is really important. And if if managers can even take from this conversation that one thing that you, that younger, the younger generation is really a whole and they're not seeing career as their be-all end-all. And the relational equity that you place in in your relationship with them will allow you to manage them much more effectively.

unknown 17:01

Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. You're an amazing person. We're very glad to have you at Beander Bloom, and I hope you're still here many years from now.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Thanks. Then having a great time here. Thanks for joining us. Have a blessed week and lead on the