Abstract

In recent years, Human Resource Management has increasingly been playing an important role in contemporary business. The current study addresses approaches that aim to effectively attract and retain members of Generation Z within public sector entities, in light of several challenges that modern public organizations are nowadays confronted by. Such challenges pertain to demographic transition, digitalization, innovation, data analytics, business performance, organizational culture, and sustainable competitive advantage, with particular emphasis placed on the co-existence of four generations in the workplace. According to Stuckey (2016), a significant proportion of leaders and managers lack the necessary insight to effectively manage the work needs and expectations of Generation Z in comparison to those of previous generations, including Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials (Kupperschmidt, 2000; Gaidhani, Arora, & Sharma, 2019; Acheampong, 2019).To this end, the study aims at identifying effective strategies in order to attract, recruit and retain Generation Z cohort members, considering core and workplace values, job selection and retention of Generation Z individuals in the Federal State of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany, focusing on the town of Düsseldorf. A questionnaire served as the main survey instrument, with items adapted by previous related studies (e.g. Acheampong, 2019; Bos, 2021; Fodor & Jaeckel, 2022; Schnetzer, 2023; Wright, 2022). The questionnaire was distributed to a broad sample of individuals employed in or expressing interest in the public sector within the Federal State of Nordrhein-Westfalen. Based on the findings, the study suggests respective strategies in order to attract, recruit and retain Generation Z when it enters the workplace and provides implications to HR specialists, public sector managers and policy makers alike.