Workplace Expert Says Gen Z Employees Really Are Harder To Work With & She Thinks There's A Simple Reason Why
The reasons are actually pretty obvious when you think about it...
MDV Edwards | Shutterstock The stereotypes of Gen Z workers as lazy, entitled incompetents are everywhere, and they're wildly overwrought, just like they were with Millennials and Gen Xers before them. But stereotypes often arise from exaggerated versions of the truth, and when it comes to Gen Zers in the workplace, it seems like that might be the case. One expert says this problem is real, but the likely cause has little to do with Gen Zers themselves.
A workplace expert says Gen Zers really are harder to work with.
When Millennials first entered the workforce, all anyone talked about was how they seemed to want a blue ribbon for everything they did, whether they did it well or not — the old "participation trophy" cliche. Before them, it was Gen Xers who were derided as cynical layabouts with no ambition or respect.
Older people wagging their fingers at the younger generations is a tale as old as time at this point. But more and more, Millennials and Gen Xers in management positions are saying that something really is up with Gen Z.
Alison Green, writer of the long-running workplace blog "Ask a Manager" and one of Slate's resident experts on work issues, recently shared a round-up of letters she's received from such managers, who've noticed similar dynamics. They insist that many Gen Z workers are unable to take feedback, have unreasonable expectations for everything from salary to workplace dynamics, and need an extraordinary amount of hand-holding for their work tasks.
Many of the managers themselves acknowledged that Gen Z is unfairly stereotyped and expressed their wish not to feed into it. Nevertheless, they've noticed consistent problems in these areas, and Green thinks the reason why is fairly obvious.
Green says Gen Z is hard to work with because the pandemic stripped them of valuable development time.
Green herself acknowledges that most complaints about young people are just that — complaints about young people, with no more significance than that. But also she agrees with the people who've written to her. Gen Z really IS different, and she says it's mostly due to the pandemic.
"Because of COVID-19’s impact on this cohort’s high school and college years, many in the group missed out on experiences like internships and summer jobs," she wrote in her Slate column, "so they’re starting their professional careers without already having learned the 'how work works' lessons that generations before them often got before graduating."
And this has all been magnified, she says, by how many jobs are work-from-home now. Return to office (RTO) mandates have cut into that, of course, but many Gen Zers started their careers in a workplace environment that basically had no "workplace" to speak of. And that environment is where entry-level workers learn much of that "how work works" stuff.
It's easy to imagine, in fact, that the RTO mandates are actually making this worse. Not only are they forcing people back into offices, but many Gen Zers are being forced into an office environment they have no experience with. Someone who started their career in 2020 is pushing 30 now that RTOs are the order of the day, which is surely magnifying the perception that these workers are immature and unprepared.
Green and other experts say that more training and patience are probably needed.
The pandemic is surely not the only explanation. There are copious studies showing that much of Gen Z has been parented by overprotective Gen X helicopter parents, which has left them woefully unprepared for many parts of life. Workplace issues are just one example, along with the crisis of illiteracy and poor math skills among younger members of the generation, of how these dynamics are now playing out.
But at the same time, we have all culturally decided to have an unspoken collective amnesia regarding this insanely disruptive experience that occurred just a few years ago. And even when we do discuss it, we tend to ignore that a lot of people were at incredibly tender ages when it happened.
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Green and some of the managers she spoke to agree that being understanding and open about this unavoidable fact, and working with its impacts rather than ignoring them, is pretty much the only way forward. "Employers must be realistic about instituting strategies to make up for those gaps," Green said in Slate, going on to suggest mentorship programs, mixing junior- and senior-level workers on projects, and taking initiative to address the in-office development missing from work-from-home schemes.
It's not Gen Z's fault they missed out on crucial development because of a global pandemic, after all, and wagging fingers about it isn't going to change it.
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.
