In mid-2018, a whopping 61 million members of Gen Z entered the US workforce, making there five generations in the workforce at once. During a panel entitled “The Inherent Rebellion of Gen Z” at this week’s 3% Conference, Alain Sylvain—the founder and chief executive officer of strategy and design consultancy Sylvain Labs—makes the case for employers to ask how they can work with the TikTok-loving cohort, instead of asking how Gen Z will work for them.

Sylvain’s case study, which highlights how Gen Z’s tech-savviness will catalyze social progress and a workplace revolution, has important implications for brands looking to understand and appeal to Gen Z.

A little rebellious, very socially conscious and more digitally connected than any other group, Gen Z is perhaps the savviest generation when it comes to risk, creativity and invention, argues Sylvain. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, people revolted against innocence and authority, respectively. Later, Gen X would lead an anti-establishment rebellion, embracing all things alternative. For millennials, it was about shunning the conventional idea of adulthood and the milestones that came with it, such as getting married or buying a house at a certain age.

Unlike the generations before them, Gen Z—digital natives born during times of crisis spanning the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 recession and now, COVID—have a vastly different perspective than others, and therefore is not anti-anything, but rather pro-change.

“Gen Z only knows a world where things aren’t making sense or things are falling apart, and they’re looking to the rest of us to do something about it. Add to that they’re looking at it through the lens of technology,” Sylvain says.

From Gen Z’s reliance on technology was born a new humanity, one characterized by a collective connectedness, enabling Gen Z to have a greater sense of awareness thanks to information about anything being just a smartphone tap away. Because of their ability to connect with people from every corner of the globe, Gen Z feels a sense of responsibility to care for their neighbor, which Sylvain notes is inducing Gen Z-created businesses and content that simultaneously benefit society and challenge norms. 

“If millennials shunned the system in pursuit of their own personal purpose, Gen Z is hacking the system in pursuit of collective progress. For them, work is a medium used to solve their desire to change the world. Work is an extension of that pursuit.”

The truth is, Gen Z, having reimagined what rebellion can actually be, is a political force to be reckoned with, according to Sylvain. In one savvy act of rebellion, Gen Z activists in Hong Kong used Animal Crossing to stage a virtual anti-government protest, featuring characters holding torches and signs that read “Free Hong Kong.” As a result, the game was banned in China.

Gen Z’ers also have higher standards for the companies they work for. In fact, a recent study by Girls With Impact found that 45 percent of Gen Z want to work for a company that makes a positive difference in the world, while 65 percent wish to personally create something world-changing.

To reach the group not afraid to call it like it is, Sylvain recommends employers act as allies toward Gen Z by listening, and being supportive and humble in their interactions with them.

When COVID-19 thrust organizations into working from home, a new set of challenges emerged for leaders, including how to support introverts and extroverts in a virtual environment and compensate for a lack of in-person interactions.

Two leaders with opposite personalities— Publicis Sapient creative director of experience Greet Jans, an extrovert, and Publicis Sapient group experience director Eiko Kawano, an introvert—shed light on the lessons they learned while managing teams from afar, during a panel at the 3% Conference, “Rethinking Inclusivity.” Their experiences, and feedback from their teams, contradicted the assumptions they made at the onset of their teleworking journey, opening their eyes to the reality that vulnerability and experimentation beget an inclusive remote work environment, one free of Zoom fatigue and the pressure to constantly be on. 

As an extrovert, Jans, who co-leads a team of 70 people in London, believed the increased connectivity that comes with teleworking would energize her. Half way through, however, Jans’ meeting fatigue kicked in: after a long day of calls, Jans felt too drained to partake in virtual happy hours and trivia nights, sometimes asking colleagues to attend on her behalf. Her reluctance to join, and decision to enter meetings audio-only, also stemmed from the embarrassment she felt, and seeming unprofessionalism, of having her three-year-old constantly around.

“The things that made me normally go, kept me sane and energised did not do the trick in this lockdown. But when you’re very open about it, your team feels empowered to make their own choices in the moment—video on/off and only attending work vs. all fun stuff,” Jans said.

Jans suggests leaders recognize when they feel burnout, and accept it’s okay for feelings to fluctuate in lockdown. The experience, she says, made both Jans and Kawano more vulnerable, very authentic and ultimately, better leaders.

Remote work also took its toll on Kawano, who manages a team of 30 from Toronto, and whose management style embodies personal connection. To understand how her and Jans’ team members were handling this new way of working, they surveyed members and managers about where they fell on the range of introversion and extroversion, and about their managerial styles, daily schedules and how they were caring for themselves and others. Fifty-six percent of respondents identified as introverts, 15 percent as extroverts and 30 percent as both.

The results revealed teleworking was impacting everyone differently.

“Linking the new ways of working to introvert vs. extrovert was not the answer. Be mindful and inclusive to all types and mindsets, and adapt to the changing environment. You simply can’t please everybody at the same time, and that’s okay,” Kawano said.

Kawano found it harder to replicate the informal and spontaneous interactions she valued before the pandemic and noticed some of her team members started turning off their video or stopped showing up altogether. This affected presenters, who, unable to see faces and rely on digital cues, lost confidence and felt isolated.

Both agree nothing replaces the serendipitous moments and short face-to-face check-ins, and that for remote work to thrive, constant experimentation, piloting new opportunities and being willing to fail are key.

The axiom that you can’t change what you can’t measure feels especially true as agencies and brands try rooting out system racism within their workforce, products and services.

On the heels advertising’s acceptance of the global Black Lives Matter movement, two black advertising professionals set out to hold ad land accountable and remind it of the importance of measurement in fulfilling racial equality when they penned an open letter to US advertising agencies calling for change.

During the “Making Racial Equity A Reality” panel at the 3% Conference this week, Nathan Young and Bennett Bennett—the founders of 600 & Rising, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the advancement of black talent in advertising for 3,500 black employees across different agencies—shared with vice president of talent, equity and inclusion at 4A’s Foundation Reema Elghossain the inspiration behind forming a coalition they hope will set a standard on the way leadership measures diversity in advertising.

The 4A’s Foundation, a nonprofit arm of 4A’s, supports a multitude of diversity initiatives to support the industry at large including its multicultural advertising intern program, or Maip, a 22-week diverse talent development program that began over 40 years ago. During Black Lives Matter protests, Maip alumni Young and Bennett sent a survey to black professionals in their network to learn more about their experiences in the industry, what would form the basis of their open letter.

Within two months, 602 black workers from different sectors of the industry, including freelancers and employees from Wieden + Kennedy, VaynerMedia, The Martin Agency, among others, signed their names to buttress Young and Bennett’s mission.

“This wasn’t expected. Bennett and I aren’t diversity, equity and inclusion experts. We’re just two black guys who have gone through a career in advertising, and it turns out when you ask 600 black folks what their experience is, it’s remarkably similar. That’s when we knew we had something. [It was] unanimous. You never see that,” Young said.

Part of the letter’s opening reads:

“As loud as these protests are, it is impossible to overstate the pain that has been felt by your Black colleagues as the still-fresh wounds from Ferguson, Baltimore and countless other flashpoints of racial violence were once again re-opened.”

Young, Bennett and the hundreds of signatories demand “urgent action” from agency leadership whose shortcomings on race stem, in part, from the flawed belief that hiring a chief diversity officer is enough. The first action includes making a specific, measurable and public commitment to improve black representation at all levels of agency staffing, especially senior and leadership roles. Others include tracking and publicly reporting workforce diversity data annually, funding employee resource groups for black employees and implementing a wage equity plan to ensure that black women, men and people of color receive fair compensation.

“The most important step is data transparency. You can’t change what you can’t measure. I want data to be at the center of everything we do from here on out. I don’t care if you commit millions of dollars–I care how much you move the needle in terms of recruiting, training and promoting diverse talent within your agency and into senior positions. That’s what matters. And the data is going to tell that story,” Young added.

For months, the industry has been busy deciphering how to COVID-proof brands, budgets and remote work. Now with a resurgence of cases across the country and the development of multiple vaccines underway, marketers must once again shift their paradigm if they’re to survive the new normal, which is anything but new at this point.

During a virtual panel at this week’s 3% Conference, three international leaders described their first-hand experience of the pandemic, including how remote work has impacted their organizations’ creativity levels and how lockdowns changed the way they expect to do business going forward. Ahead we’re sharing key takeaways from the panel, which featured chief executive officer of Havas Media Group Italy Stefano Spadini, executive creative director of Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai Vivian Yong and chief talent officer of Publicis Groupe Australia New Zealand Pauly Grant.

“Agility is the new black. As human beings, we’ve been flooded overnight with all sorts of emotions, but as business leaders, we need to remember we own our emotions, [and] it’s up to us to control them,” Havas Media Group Italy CEO Stefano Spadini says. As a result, the CEO, he argues, must now act as a “chief enabling officer,” one who acknowledges their team’s commitment to the company and ability to remain nimble during this turbulent period.

The shift to teleworking affords a host of work-life balance benefits, including increased focus, flexibility in schedule and less time lost to traffic. Still, Spadini says technology cannot replace certain pre-pandemic activities, like major client presentations, annual conventions and holiday parties, because “we’re human beings, not just a bunch of pixels.”

Safety concerns around COVID-19 have forged creative resilience in Italy, Spadini notes. “Because of COVID, public beaches took a giant leap in services. It’s now possible to book your own specific spot on the beach. You get a QR code and can access it via mobile, something that was literally impossible to foresee just a year ago.”

On the other side of the globe, Vivian Yong and her team at Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai were busy helping lift spirits through a public awareness campaign called “You Can’t Mask a Smile.” The team photoshopped pictures of their lighthearted facial gestures onto protective masks, captured in photo booth-style images that they affixed to the building to spread cheer to passersby and the adjacent hospital. #YouCantMaskASmile reached over 1 million on Chinese social media platform Weibo, and inspired local businesses to partake including GAP, Bose and Alibaba.

Yong says working from home didn’t impact her team’s creative productivity, leading her to wonder if employees would benefit from enclosed office spaces and the option to work from home.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Publicis Groupe ANZ CTO Pauly Grant was busy convening a task force responsible for the execution of remote production and studio projects. Publicis Groupe, she says, was equipped to make the switch to teleworking, for in 2019, it launched a flexible work program called Publicis Liberty, which 40 percent of staff accessed in the first half of 2020. Hence the reason it took the company just three days to mobilize everyone to work from home.

Part of Publicis Groupe’s success with COVID-19 lies in its artificial intelligence-driven platform Marcel, which it launched in 2017 as a place where its 80,000 employees worldwide could collaborate, find jobs and gain industry insight. Thanks to Marcel and another job security initiative called The Bench, which allows staff from different agencies to work on various projects across the company, Publicis Groupe has saved around 1,000 jobs in the US and 800 around the world amid COVID-19.