How L’Oréal’s CHRO Thinks Junior Staff Can Shine

For the Gen Z workforce, the idea of making their boss a coffee may reaffirm perceptions of junior status and even hinder opportunities for promotion. 

But Stephanie Kramer, Chief HR Officer (CHRO) of L’Oréal US, disagrees. 

Instead, she believes that small tasks – like fetching a coffee, offering to take notes or organising lunch orders – are often the best way to get noticed by senior management. 

Speaking to Fortune, Stephanie says: “If you’re the one that is going to capture the actions from the meeting and the next steps, and you’re listening and you’re observing, that isn’t necessarily a negative. 

“You are in the room and you are absorbing how those points are coming to be. You’re developing the skills of inference.

“So, just make sure, when you’re discrediting some of those more small tasks, that you’re not discrediting their value they bring to you and your learning. I think about that all the time.”

Stephanie began her career at perfumer Quest Fragrances, before progressing through the ranks at major beauty and fashion companies such as Khiel’s, Chanel and now L’Oréal. However, she credits her early roles for her position today. 

“You just have to start,” Stephanie tells Fortune. “I guarantee that, someday, that’s what you’re going to talk about in your interview.”

Generation Z in the workplace

The working environment that Gen Z is entering – and the way they approach that environment – is markedly different to that of previous generations. 

Many young people are struggling to begin their careers, with competition for roles increasing. 

A recent report from LinkedIn revealed that more than half of workers globally are looking for a new role in 2026, while one million people in the UK between the ages of 16 and 24 are not in education, employment or training (NEET), according to the UK's Office for National Statistics. 

When young people do find roles, they often struggle to perform, with 75% of companies reporting that some or all of the recent college graduates they had hired were unsatisfactory, according to a 2024 report by Intelligent. 

The most commonly-cited reasons for younger hires being unsatisfactory were a lack of motivation, poor communication skills and a lack of professionalism. 

Gaining access

Stephanie believes small changes could make a big difference to Gen Z’s long-term career development. 

In her first role after university at Quest Fragrances, she found that being visible opened new doors for her – with a simple coffee run giving her access to higher-end meetings, as well as time with executives and decision makers. 

Speaking to Fortune about her advice to younger generations in the workplace, Stephanie says: “It might not be the job that you have, or that you’re not necessarily sure that you should take. Right now, maybe it’s a pay cheque or maybe it’s a platform for you to connect with other people so that you can discover what you want to do.

“When people ask me how I ended up in HR, I tell them it’s from middle school, because in middle school I was a lifeguard, I was a Girl Scout, I was a cross country runner, which means that you have to run through the woods alone, but you’re still making points as a team. Those jobs are part of what my job is today.”