In my customer research I often look at different personality types and decision making styles. I notice when I give someone a personality test they sometimes respond, “Do I answer according to my personality at home or at work?”
Listening to a recent Brené Brown podcast, she ran into something similar in her research. When asking people about values, respondents asked whether she meant their values at home or values at work.
With all this talk of integrity and authenticity, people still feel like they can’t bring their true selves to work. There is a difference between who they are and who they need to be to get a paycheck.
While this is always problematic, with Gen Z’s focus on their personal values this issue of matching (or not matching) values is more important than ever.
Nearly half (44%) of Gen Zers indicated in a 2025 study by Deloitte that they’d turned down job opportunities because they didn’t align with their personal ethics or beliefs.
And what happens if they think there is an alignment, but find out that’s not the case once they start working at the company?
Where is the disconnect for your employees?
How do your employees have to alter their values when they are at work vs. at home? What accommodations do they need to make in order to get ahead or secure their job?
This is about more than the quotes and mission statements on your wall. What happens in every day interactions?
Here’s an example…
I worked for a company who recently hired a new CEO with a different vision for the direction he wanted to go. He made changes that many customers were NOT happy about. I worked on the front lines with these customers, so in a meeting I asked what language/wording they wanted us to use when discussing these changes with customers.
My manager laid out two options that were, basically, lies. A younger employee spoke up and said she told customers straight up the changes were because the new CEO wanted to mold the company according to his own personal preferences.
Now, she wasn’t wrong. But boy howdy did the manager lay into her.
I’m sure you are not asking your employees to bury the truth or outright lie. But what other ways might people feel they have to adjust their values in order to be successful?
Questions to ask:
What are your core values? How can you look at every process and interaction to see where those values, processes, and behaviors are not in alignment?
What does it look like to violate one of those values?
Ask your employees “What are your values? Are those values different at home vs. work? Do you have different priorities?”
When your organization has clear values, boundaries and priorities, it works better not just for Gen Z but for everyone involved.
