Give Gen-Z what our grandparents had, and they'll jump at the chance.
This is what it should look like:
* A lifetime job with inflation adjusted income. Work around the tax code by providing a company vehicle or whatever. Wages don't need to be that high, just decent. Gen-Z isn't trying to accumulate stacks of cash.
* No college or trade schools. Just train them in the job. Keep retraining them as the industry changes and technology advances.
* Stay-at-home moms! If both parents have to work, it's not worth it.
* Decent working hours. 40 hours a week max. If work is slow, cut hours back (but not salary of course.) Let them work 4 10s or whatever so they can spend time with their kids. Or let them spend time working on side-projects for the company. Maybe work overtime from time to time, but it better be compensated and rare. Maybe 2 weeks overtime in a year.
* Live near the job with minimal commute. Or better yet, telecommute. They know that driving into downtown city USA is pointless. There's no reason to have your company located there.
* Get a house on less than one year's wages. No mortgage. They don't need a million square feet. A 3 bedroom house with decent sized bedrooms so you can put in bunk beds is sufficient. A nice living room with a kitchen so the family spends their time together. Ultimately, most of the free time Gen-Z will spend is going to be on the computer anyway.
* Some way to accumulate real wealth over time. By the time the Gen-Z employee retires, he wants something he can pass to his kids. He doesn't mind living with a little less than his parents and grandparents in retirement, but he doesn't want to jeopardize his kid's future either.
It really isn't too much to ask. Gen-Z isn't interested in money and pointless expressions of wealth, again. They are looking for quality of life and immaterial things that money can't buy. They want to build family and community. They don't want to sacrifice everything for a company only to be kicked to the curb.
If they could trust the company to be loyal to them, they just might be loyal to the company.
Raises should be based on performance, base rate should go up/down with inflation.
>Just train them in the job.
OMG, yes. Fucking Elon talking about "no skilled workers"; then fucking train some! Schools/individuals have no idea what your specific company wants, so tell them.
>40 hours a week max.
This really only works in White Collar work, anything trades needs to work to the job. That said, overtime needs to be enforced.
>This is a side effect of lifetime employment; if I expect to work at the same company for the next ten years, it's worth it to me to buy a house close to work. If I'm going to be job hopping, I'll necessarily have to commute (or live in a van).
>A 3 bedroom house with decent sized bedrooms so you can put in bunk beds is sufficient.
Houses are all at least this big and, frankly, it doesn't make sense for them to be small; if you have land you may as well use it. What we actually need (and no one wants to hear it) are apartments that are big enough to raise families in.
>Some way to accumulate real wealth over time.
Not even accumulate, but if families could collaborate on a single piece of owned property big enough for a dozen people, and use it for their retirement, it would be enough to just maintain it.
Families should live on land owned by their ancestors with the expectation that their kids will inherit it. That way, they will make long-term investments in the land with their labor and resources.