After generations X, then Y and finally Z, the Alpha generation is starting to be talked about. A concept created by the Australian demographer Mark McCrindle. It corresponds to children born after 2010, who are the children of the Millennials or Ys. Even if it is difficult to anticipate the exact behaviour of tomorrow’s workforce, we do have some clues as to who will enter the labour market between 2030 and 2035.

Who is Generation Alpha?

While Ys and Millennials have grown up with the digital breakthrough, Alphas have been exposed to new technologies like no one before.

Their way of interacting with the outside world is unprecedented. Indeed, this generation came into the world at the same time as the iPad and Instagram. For them, technology will be much more present in their personal and professional lives than it already is for us.

Completely immersed, the Alphas will have one foot permanently in the real and the other in the virtual. They have already been dubbed the “Glass Generation”, due to the screens that will constantly surround them.

Globally, the Alpha generation will experience greater wealth and more material goods than previous generations. They will buy mainly online and have less human contact than previous generations.

Hyper-connected, this generation will have access to an incredible amount of knowledge. The enormous changes in technology make this one of the most prepared and transformed generations in history.

Their main competitors will be artificial intelligence and the machines that are developing at an insane rate and which, little by little, are replacing humans at work. So the Alpha’s will be the first not to know what the disconnected life is, what is the future for the company of tomorrow?

Generation Alpha in business

Surrounded since birth by ever more intelligent and connected devices, Alphas evolve within merging physical and digital environments.

Accustomed to digital, motion, video format and utra-connectivity, younger generations are volatile. In other words, they no longer respond to the same codes as people from previous generations.

Capturing their attention becomes a real challenge. Alphas get bored quickly as they are used to using multiple screens and scanning information quickly to find what they want. This reduces their attention span considerably.

It will therefore be a question of offering them choice and authenticity. To remain attractive, a company will have to rely on authenticity and diversity. It is about covering a wide variety of topics, styles and points of view in the most realistic and natural way possible.

How to manage Generation Alpha?

The Alpha generation will certainly be more autonomous than previous generations and will create their own pedagogy. Innovative American schools are already offering a reversed method of teaching. There, students do their homework in class and appropriate the lessons at home, thanks to high-tech tools.

The American generational expert DanSchawbel even imagines that by the time they are 10 years old, many of them will already have launched their own start-up. It will therefore be more difficult for them to adapt to a management style that is too directive or authoritarian.

The objective for companies will then be to capture them, to reach them and to rally them to their causes. We can imagine that challenge and innovation will be two key points in the choice of their career path.

The Alpha will want to be recognised in its uniqueness. He will need attention and it is thanks to personalised management that you will succeed in building a relationship with him.

The play aspect has been part of their reality since they were very young. Thus, it is likely that they will appreciate to find a “gamification” in their professional world, even in the feedbacks made by their hierarchy.

In order to be recognised in their unique personality, recruitment and especially the integration of these future employees must be adapted to their personal functioning.

At Apostrof, we rely on the appeal of Alphas for the assessment of skills and potential based on professional situations, namely the Assessment Center for the authenticity and pragmatism of the method.

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