A national chord was struck this week when the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner made an offhand comment about how much praise different generations needed in the workplace.
On Thursday, in Senate estimates, Commissioner Reece Kershaw spoke with regard to the future of the workplace at the AFP.
He said Gen Z needed praise three times per week from their bosses.
"I think this is interesting, we learnt that Gen Z, the younger generation, need three times a week praise from their supervisors," he said.
"The next generation only need three times a year and my generation only need once a year."
The comments made headlines across the country and the next morning the AFP issued a statement making clear that Commissioner Kershaw was not making those comments personally.
"Reports that AFP Commissioner believes different generations require different levels of praise are incorrect," the AFP said.
"The Commissioner was referring to information recently presented to a policing forum."
That policing forum, which included other guest police commissioners from around the world, was addressed by motivational speaker and trend forecaster Michael McQueen, who Commissioner Kershaw said had passed on the insights into the younger generations.
Mr McQueen said the research he presented was "looking at how often different generations wanted praise and coaching or feedback from their bosses at work".
He said there were always "generalisations" in studies, but reiterated to the ABC that Gen Z "wanted praise three plus times per week".
"So, a lot more of that encouragement, you know, 'you're on the right track', 'you're doing a good job' – not necessarily empty flattery," he said.
Mr McQueen said he got the data from American pollsters Gallup in a 2022 study, conducted in conjunction with Irish-based software company Workhuman, of recognition between generations in the workplace.
But the findings of the study were different and more nuanced than the comments made by both Mr McQueen and Commissioner Kershaw.
The study found Gen Z and younger Millennial employees (born 1989 or after) were 73 per cent more likely to say they wanted recognition "at least a few times a month", in comparison to Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964).
"Simply put, most younger workers crave frequent recognition, whereas about half of the Boomers and Gen X want recognition at least a few times a month," a summary reads.
The study found as employees age through the workforce, they "crave" recognition less frequently.
But it also found that Baby Boomers and Gen X employees were nearly twice as likely to be senior leaders, perhaps doing away with the need for as much recognition because they have more responsibility and control over what happens in the work environment.
Based on the study's findings Gallup goes on to recommend a course of action for employers wanting to manage their younger employees.
"It's wise to err on the side of providing more recognition than less, but these data suggest the real magic is in discovering how each employee wants to be recognised."
Do younger people actually want more praise?
Gen Z member, 21-year-old Daniel Notarangelo, has just started his first full-time job in sales.
He said praise from his boss was encouraging, but not something he personally needed three times a week or multiple times a month.
"I think most people would be able to recognise whether it's just a formulaic thing to try to increase your productivity, as opposed to actual praise, where you're being congratulated for actually doing good work," he said.
"I've worked with people older and the same age as me and I think everyone's around the same — they generally just want to do a good job, whether that means they're getting congratulated or not.
"I don't think it's something that you can just pin down to age."
Twenty-one-year-old Tiara de Silva is a youth board member for youth service ReachOut.
She said the misquoted comments at Senate estimates represented a "big generalisation" that young people were all the same.
"It's important to note that there's nuance and we all come from different backgrounds. have different contexts," she said.
"I think young and old people alike need acknowledgement for their efforts or praise for their efforts.
"What's wrong with praise? What's wrong with some positiveness?"
When a smiley face doesn't mean you're happy
In addition to his comments on praise for different generations, Commissioner Kershaw also shared with the Senate estimates committee what he had learnt about Gen Z's use of emojis.
He said there were emojis that his generation used that could be considered "offensive" to those of a younger generation.
Questioned over what emojis he meant, he offered the example of a smiley face, which some younger people believe comes off as passive-aggressive.
"A happy face can actually mean the opposite in Gen Z-land," Commissioner Kershaw told the committee.
While identifying the correct use of individual emojis could be unlikely to become required learning for managers, Mr McQueen said it was important that companies understood their younger workers.
"Gen Z, they're going to be 27 per cent of our workforce within the next few years — so now's the time to really understand what makes them tick so we can get the best out of them," he said.
