Category: Generation Z

Certainly different or completely normal?

"Mit Sicherheit anders" ("Safety is different") - this is the slogan of the Bavarian police's current recruitment campaign (Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, Sport and Integration 2021). But does this also apply to Generation Z? Or is this a completely "normal" generation? And most importantly, is "Generation Z", as described in the major youth studies, also found in the police force?

Our article explores these questions on the basis of a master's thesis in which several training seminars (entry-level training) of the Bavarian police were surveyed using a standardized questionnaire. The reasons for applying to the police, the general expectations of employers and superiors and the specific expectations of the police in this respect were examined. In addition, a comparison was made between participants from different stages of training and older candidates. The results of the 2019 Shell Youth Study were used as a basis for comparison.

Click here for the article.

If you would like to find out more about the topic, click here for a Podcast with me and here to my book "Generation Z and Alpha. Understanding, winning, retaining - a guide for the police".

Unable to deal with conflict, dependent, work-shy? You can find my new article on this topic in issue 02/2024 of DP (Deutsche Polizei), p. 38-39. Just follow this link and then scroll.

An exciting Contribution of the Federal Police to the integration of Generation Z into the training and working world of the police in the Police Management Handbook:

The Federal Police is growing. An unprecedented number of new employees is presenting the Federal Police with major challenges at all levels. The new colleagues are rightly entitled to be trained in a targeted manner and "taken along". A joint project with representatives from all areas of the Federal Police, including staff representatives and equal opportunities, is dedicated to this challenge. But how can new employees be integrated sustainably, especially in the Federal Police? This question forms the core of the "Integration of new employees" project led by PD Dr. Schmelzer. The team of authors outlines the structure and process of the project and presents initial project results on the way to uniform minimum standards throughout the Federal Police. Key topics such as the importance of leadership and cooperation in the context of the induction of new personnel are underpinned and illustrated with the survey results achieved to date. Candidates and career graduates as current and future employees as well as existing employees, the "regular officers", play a central role in this.

A few brief impulses from my almost three-hour lecture on the subject in an interview in the magazine of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, Öffentliche Sicherheit: "They just tick differently"
and also recommendable the related article A challenge for management.