Gen Z Wants Employers to Help Them Build Their Personal Brands

After growing up on social media and a steady diet of influencer content, it’s no surprise that Gen Zers feel especially compelled to develop “personal brands.” But, as with most things, this trend doesn’t exist in a vacuum. 

New Morning Consult research highlights how Gen Z’s fixation with self-promotion may impact companies looking to attract members of the young cohort moving forward: Our latest survey finds that a clear majority (61%) of Gen Z adults expect employers to offer tools and training focused on personal branding. 

And while internet-influenced work trends may seem inane or fleeting, more and more are resulting in very real employee action. Companies that aren’t actively monitoring youth culture risk falling out of favor with up-and-coming talent. 

Personal brand-building as a benefit 

Traditional benefits like equitable pay, opportunities for promotion and work-life balance still rank as the most important for all respondents — including Gen Z adults. But the nice-to-have status of personal brand support shouldn’t dilute from its potential to attract talent, especially with U.S. worker satisfaction rates continuing to decline.

Though self-promotion is largely a young person’s game, the appeal of personal branding perks at work is still quite broad: 2 in 5 U.S. (40%) adults said they believe companies should support employees’ personal brand endeavors. 

Personal branding has even made its way into the C-suite in recent months and years. Many leaders now view advertising their individual expertise as essential to promoting that of their companies — and a cottage industry of thought leadership content agencies has emerged in response. 

However, some firms are opting to keep this type of production in-house, which Morning Consult’s data suggests may be prudent. 

Office or production studio? 

More than 3 in 5 (62%) U.S. adults said they would be interested if their employer offered opportunities to learn about personal brand content creation. Similar shares said the same about dedicated content creation time during the workday and access to audio or video recording studios.

Of course, enthusiasm for the tested perks was once again highest among Gen Z adults. And though it may sound counterintuitive to offer such benefits — particularly as questions of worker productivity remain salient — they may be effective in accomplishing the increasingly difficult task of engaging young talent. 

Previous Morning Consult research found that most Gen Zers like to share videos and photos of themselves on social media, so encouraging them to create content on the job (where appropriate) could make work more meaningful for the cohort. After all, career advancement and personal development are perennially popular internet topics, and most Gen Z adults (69%) believe they should be free to post work-related content online. 

Brands for all

Ultimately, Gen Zers’ penchant for personal brand building is poised to alter corporate culture in many ways. Ping-pong tables and on-tap cold brew won’t be enough to satisfy this savvy set; they expect employers to allow them full ownership over — and help amplify — their unique skill sets. 

While certainly not the be-all, end-all for talent attraction and retention, supporting personal branding efforts can be a powerful way to show Gen Z employees that their interests matter. Companies that get comfortable with employees posting content around their work will likely enjoy some goodwill among a younger generation entering the workforce hungry for this kind of autonomy.