5 Reasons Boomers Think Gen-Z Is Harder To Work With (That Aren’t Actually Gen-Z’s Fault)

The quote below is from a WorkLife article where a bunch of mid-level HR people went out to a fancy dinner in New York and talked about the future of work. 

"An HR exec characterized Gen-Z this way: "They're kids. They're right out of school. They have their own idea of what work is. They want work-life balance. Mental health is incredibly important to them. I've never seen so many young people with problems. I tell my assistant, "This is like a halfway house we're running."

That’s an alarmist quote regarding Gen-Z's work ethic. If you go anywhere on TikTok or YouTube, you will find similar videos and stitches regarding how seemingly awful and harder Gen-Z are as employees. I have not worked with any Gen-Z directly, although I did have a newsletter editor job for a while that had a lot of Gen-Z employees at the company, and it was pretty bad.

Here are 5 reasons older folks think Gen-Z is harder to work with that aren’t actually their fault:

1. Bad parenting models

2. Raised by the Internet 

3. Too much focus on mental health

4. COVID hit them during formative years

5. Entitlement 

Those would be the “broad-brush” arguments, and these arguments (mostly by older folks) vary by individual and the work situation they find themselves in. Some workplaces would probably be very good for Gen-Z, but yes, if you enter a Hammer of Hierarchy old-school workplace, you might not end up being such a good fit in that job.

Also, broad brush (and that needs to be a caveat to any generational discussion), but the few times I’ve worked with Gen-Z, and this is just my opinion, of course, but they're not substantive people — what’s that Logan Roy quote? — and they chase “vibes” and TikTok trends/memes over, like, actually getting work done. Again, my sample size is small.

RELATED: 10 Boomer Complaints That Gen Z People Actually Agree With

Nicoleta Ionescu / Shutterstock

As for the Gen-Z bad parenting argument/issue, it's complicated

This is a hard one to tackle because almost every older generation thinks their kids are parenting worse or gentler than they did. (Weirdly, a lot of grandparents actively raise kids these days because of inflation and two-income necessity, so maybe they should be blaming themselves?) There are a lot of fraught generalizations in the “bad parenting” space, and I myself have used many of them in my own writing. 

Yes, we probably had an uptick in “snowplow” or “helicopter” parenting over the last two decades, and when a Gen-Zer meets Marty Middle Manager who likes to yell, they tend to freeze because their problems mostly got solved by their parents. Is that generalizing? Yes. Is it also somewhat true? Yes. 

RELATED: 8 Reasons Gen Z Often Gets Fired & Struggles To Keep A Job

Take a look at this mini-viral moment of a Gen-Z employee announcing he was taking time off:

There could be an issue around “professional workplace communication,” although honestly, I’ve always felt that issue is an absurd non-starter. 

At work, guys who produce money for a company can talk any way they want, even explicitly, and no one punishes them. So it feels like, sometimes, we hide behind the idea 'that Gen-Z isn’t professional,' whereas if that Gen-Zer were in a sales job and crushing, we’d never say that. Here is the New York Post: "Nguyen said business owners were wary of hiring [Gen-Z] because they were 'often unprepared for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics and the expectation of autonomous work.”

That last part is incriminating. Gen-Z basically can’t work by themselves? What’s funny about the use of “autonomous” in that sentence is that everything's soon going to be automated.

Of course, what’s missing in this entire discussion is the lack of training for these young bucks. It seems like HR and middle managers are just moaning about it and hiding behind how busy they are.

Editor's Note: This is a part of YourTango's Opinion section where individual authors can provide varying perspectives for wide-ranging political, social, and personal commentary on issues.

RELATED: Survey Finds Companies Are Mass Firing Recently Hired Gen Z Employees Just Months After They've Graduated College — Here's Why

Ted Bauer is a writer and editor. Originally from New York City, he is now based in Fort Worth and has written for publications including HBR, Fast Company, and more.