Can companies keep Gen Z and boomers happy? EY is working to perfect the formula

How much do the needs of a business — and the needs of its employees — change over time? 

Leslie Patterson has spent 29 years at EY, and she's seen firsthand how much organizations and the people that power them evolve. Throw in a global pandemic and the most multi-generational workforce in recent history, and the landscape can feel like tough terrain for plenty of leaders. 

"I have personally been in the workforce through the various life stages of our people, if you think about it across the generations," says Patterson, who serves as diversity, equity and inclusion leader for EY Americas and U.S. "I was single when I first started and wanted flexibility for different reasons. I got married, and then I had three children under the age of three, and now I'm caring for aging parents. I'm acutely aware of how my personal priorities and needs changed over time." 

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EY recently conducted a survey of 3,000 workers across enterprise organizations to understand just how those needs have changed, and to shine a light on generational preferences when it comes to workplace culture, benefits and values. Gen Z and millennials put a premium on corporate culture and a commitment to inclusion — 39% of both generations said culture has a "great impact" on whether or not they stay at an organization. Relatedly, 49% of that younger workforce said their loyalty to an organization is impacted by the company's position on social values. 

For Patterson, these generational considerations all fall under the umbrella of inclusion, and stand as proof that DEI efforts must be part of a company's DNA to foster true connection with an intersectional workforce. That's something she and her team are continually working to deliver to EY's 55,000 U.S. employees. Patterson recently spoke to EBN to discuss the evolution of today's workforce, the policies and perks that employees value, and how to find both the budget and the time to demonstrate a true commitment to programs that serve every member of an organization. 

Courtesy of EY

Based on EY's research, what are different generations craving from the workforce? 
Gen Z is most likely to cite flexibility in terms of where and when they work as one of the most meaningful things for an employer to offer. If we need to bring people to the office, we want it to be for what we call moments that matter — meaning, don't bring people into the office so they can sit and do isolated work. 

Baby boomers, when it comes to looking for new employment, also had flexibility at the top of their list, and I don't know that I would have thought that. But we heard a lot of folks say that, prior to COVID, they hadn't had dinner with their family for 30 days straight in a very long time. And they don't want to go back to not doing that. 

At EY, how does that new focus on flexibility translate to benefits that serve different communities? 
Because of the nature of our work at a professional services organization, we're pretty on top of the traditional benefits. So we've been focused on what has changed over the course of the pandemic and how we can meet those new needs. 

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We've created things like a well-being fund that our employees get annually to help cover things like vacation, lodging, travel, even gaming consoles or a new Peloton — it won't cover the whole Peloton, but it can get them on their way to getting one. We've also doubled the number of no-cost counseling sessions and made them available to our employees and their family members. We instituted the EY WOW fund — EY Way of Work — to help cover commuting costs, and we've seen a huge win around our efforts to support pet care. 

There were some benefits we previously offered that our people weren't using, so we said, why not repurpose those dollars for something they will use? That's how you can make the math work. 

Those flexible programs can be a huge help in serving a diverse workforce. How are you seeing employees differentiate between organizations that talk a good DEI game and those that actually have inclusive policies and cultures?
People are really able to cut through: Is this words, or action? Gen Z in particular, their expectation is that, if an organization does not match their value construct and their desire to give back to their community, that's just not an organization they're going to be with long-term. And they really will leave! There was no way I was going to ever leave a job and not have something else lined up, but Gen Z really is that mission driven, and we should commend those who raised them because they're holding onto that as they go into the workforce. 

How can an organization work to make DEI part of the everyday culture? 
We are moving away from formal programs and baking our DEI efforts into strategy. Programs have a start and an end. And that is not necessarily part of your culture. Your DEI strategy should not, in my opinion, be a collection of programs. Our professional networks, which are like employee resource groups, provide our people with opportunities to form a community and to connect inside and outside of work. It helps them create informal mentoring relationships and strengthen their leadership skills. It's grassroots, and it creates a real back-and-forth between our communities and leadership.

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How can you take that feedback and create lasting opportunities for DEI growth? 
Mentoring, as an example, has been around forever. But we developed something called Mentor Connect where people can find a mentor who identifies with them in a meaningful way, whether through gender, race, ethnicity, background, if they're a part of the LGBTQ community, etc. For example, an employee could say: I'm a third-year in the organization, and I'd love to find a mentor who is a partner from Alabama, and who went to an HBCU. 

When I started at EY, there was not a partner who looked like me. There were very few female partners, and there were no partners of color that worked in my office. I didn't know it was possible to reach those levels. Now, our people can see and connect with role models they never had before.

What does it take to get people to not just engage in these programs, but continue to embrace them? 
We have the infrastructure in each of our business units where we have someone that wakes up every single day focused on the diversity, equity and inclusion for that business unit, as well as a very strong talent team that's able to jump in and support people in whatever way possible. That helps us to understand and share all of the resources available to our people. You communicate something once and you think you're done? You can't do that, especially with an organization of our size. So we have to be creative and keep building and keep it at the center of the culture of the organization.