Boomers Are So Fed Up With This Unavoidable Thing At Work That They’re Retiring Early
Media_Photos | Shutterstock Younger generations have been waiting for ages for boomers to retire and clear space on the career ladder, and it seems they might be getting their wish: A study finds that many boomers are retiring early just so they don't have to work with Gen Z.
It's certainly no secret that boomers and Gen Zers don't exactly see eye to eye, but it seems Gen Z's reputation for being hard to work with has hit boomers particularly hard, underlining the two generations' very different approaches to the workplace.
Boomers are retiring early in order to avoid working with Gen Z, according to a survey.
Gen Z has had a reputation problem from the moment they entered the workforce, just like millennials and Gen X before them. But the complaints about Gen Z seem to be particularly sticky.
Even many millennial managers sympathetic to Gen Z's grievances with the career world have admitted Gen Z really is hard to work with, citing their aversion to feedback, unrealistic expectations about schedule and pay, and need for office hand-holding.
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Notably, though, most experts blame outdated systems and companies' failure to adequately deal with the impacts of the pandemic on Gen Z workers' development, not Gen Zers themselves.
The boomers, however, don't seem to have gotten that memo. A new survey by research firm Workplace Intelligence and software companies Salesloft and Clari found that nearly 1 in 5 boomers are so fed up with Gen Z they are planning to retire early.
Intergenerational conflict is having a major impact on productivity in many companies.
It's not just boomers who've had it up to here; Gen Z is over it, too. A full 28% of Gen Zers, more than 1 in 4, said they are so done with boomers that they are actively searching for a new job to get away from them.
In fact, the two age cohorts are so over each other that they would both prefer to work with AI by huge margins: 39% of Gen Zers surveyed said they'd rather have AI for a boss than a boomer, and 25% of boomers said they'd rather have to work with an AI colleague than a real, live Gen Z one.
Yan Krukau | Pexels | Canva Pro
AI is a perfect example of the conflicts between these two age groups. In the sales sector at the center of the survey, for instance, 60% of baby boomers said Gen Z’s focus on technology is ruining customer relationships, while 64% of Gen Zs said boomers' reticence toward tech is hindering both innovation and profits.
But it doesn't stop there. From work-life balance to communication styles to who exactly is responsible for today's toxic work culture, boomers and Gen Zers totally disagree on every issue — to the tune of some $56 billion in lost productivity, according to the analysts' estimation.
Boomers' reluctance to retire is one of the key barriers to advancement for younger generations.
If you're not a boomer, you're probably greeting the news of boomers' apparent desire to pick up their toys and go home with a hearty, "FINALLY!" Countless reports have found that boomers' general reluctance to leave the workforce is significantly holding younger generations back.
There are many reasons for this, including our broken economy, which has left many boomers simply unable to retire. But many other boomers say they simply don't WANT to retire, because their careers give them a sense of fulfillment.
That's all well and good, but it results in the career ladder being gummed up for everyone younger than them, especially millennials, who can't advance into more senior positions held by boomers, and Gen Z, who are forced to compete for an ever narrowing field of lower- and entry-level positions they end up trapped in because of the lack of upward mobility.
The irony, of course, is that boomers themselves played an enormous role in creating both the punishing economy and toxic workplace conditions that have made Gen Z so "hard to work with" in the first place. It's hard not to feel like early retirement isn't the perfect solution for the situation.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
