Gen-Z wants to feel good by being seen as virtuous and helping others. The military needs to show how they are directly giving back to their local communities.

Solution: Through co-working and co-living, the military can better integrate with the various communities it supports.

An area of the economy that has grown exponentially during Gen Z's rise has been the sharing economy. Also described as "gig-work" such as ride services like Uber and apartment rentals like Airbnb, Zoomers are accustomed to interacting freely with strangers. Over 30% of U.S. adults aged 18-29 report having done some gig work.[1] Furthermore, a majority report spending less than 10 hours in a typical week performing these tasks. This increase in fluid interactions has promoted a much more interconnected community. While the tenet that "every person's home is their castle" still rings true in the American psyche, a more modern, Z-adapted view of communal life would be that "a castle can't exist without a group."

Z is the first actual "co" generation where popular trends like coworking and co-living are becoming the norm. The local communities where they're from, where they choose to live, and where they work are meaningful to them because, now more than ever, young people rely on the larger community to achieve their daily goals and tasks. It follows that serving these communities is something that Z values intensely, and many Zers expect their jobs to have some level of community service. It has become a social mark of approval to be a Zer who "gives a s###” and does community service. Gen-Z wants to feel good by being seen as virtuous and serving others. First by increasing contact between the military and civilian sectors, and then by having the military serve the civilian communities that they interact with; the military can show how they give back to their local communities to attract more recruits…

[1] Atske, Sara. “The State of Gig Work in 2021.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Pew Research Center, December 8, 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/12/08/the-state-of-gig-work-in-2021/.

Matthew Weiss is currently an Intelligence Officer in the United States Marine Corps. His book, “We Don’t Want You, Uncle Sam: Examining the Military Recruiting Crisis with Generation Z” is available on amazon in paperback, e-book, and audiobook format.