To find managing gen z a massive headache

[Managinggenzoclock]

I’m a millennial and I manage a team of people. Some of them are gen z. It may be individual personalities but these are the things winding me up.. please excuse this rant. Is it just me? I manage people from late teens to early 60s. The younger group are by far the hardest work.

• Very interested in career progression and pay (not a bad thing but see below)
• at the same time not being willing to ever (I’m not talking often) work more hours or support a colleague
• not willing to recognise that anyone knows more than them, even those with decades more experience
• resisting hierarchical management structures
• making lots of mistakes (including repeated over and over) but not have the humility of inexperience/ youth which would make this much less annoying
• trying to patronisingly ‘educate’ people on contentious issues in inappropriate ways.

I think maybe I’m being too nice.

I hear you, they're a nightmare. OTOH my generation are the ones that brought up these entitled little shits so it's probably our fault, dammit! I think we didn't do enough of telling them the world doesn't revolve around them.
I'm not sure what the answer is but for now I don't manage anyone and I'm about to retire so thank God for that.

Does every generation not say that? I'm pretty sure my 'boomer' colleagues used to say that about us mellenials 10 years ago.

I get some funny stuff on IG about working and it’s always Gen Z v millennial and boomer. As a Gen X I feel luckily off the hook ;

I think Im gen x, is gen z the one straight after me? Or does millennial come in between? Sooooo people in tgeir 20s? Or 30s?

I'm a Gen X and must say I prefer Gen Z's over Millennials. I find Millennials very entitled.

Probably a generational thing. That's why kids get on better with their grandparents.

Obviously this is a sweeping statement and lightheaded not all Millennials are a PIA ;)

Is that not just 'being under 25'?

I think people may have said that about me when I was that age. Though my era did work hard and do extra.

fortune.com/2022/10/10/how-to-manage-gen-z-working-culture/

there was an article about this a couple of days ago.

Definitely feels like hard work, a mixture of ambitious and smug,.but then I'm gen X and am sure the people older than me thought the same of me 15 years ago.

To be fair the tail end millennials too. It's our fault for allowing them to grow up with the perpetual Dopamine high of social media/echo chambers through their formative teens. I say this as a parent/stepparent of five as well as a senior manager and visiting academic. Lack of focus, lack of resilience which is overcompensated for by superficial confidence and some aggression. In the workplace if they struggle to follow a method it is either' the method's fault', or that 'they were told it wrong', or that they are 'useless and will never get it!!' The thought that they might need to ask for help or slow down or that they might not get it the first time as they are inexperienced is unfathomable to them.
And in uni the whole 'I've paid my fees if I don't get a good grade it's the uni's fault' ( this from at least 2 of mine before some robust discussions) makes my blood boil.
Over the last 8 or so years we have had to switch to a completely new graduate training method for grad/post grad intake using the teaching methods previously used for the less qualified/generally school leavers/younger cohorts. More 'jollying along' language and less scientific challenge. It's just the way things are now. They get there in the end. And when they aren't navel gazing they are a caring bunch, overall. These things go in cycles: the next lot will be strident and angry . Thank goodness I'll be retired by then!

YABU for making this a generation thing

you don’t sound like the makings of a great manager either

grow up

Definitely true. They're all about having boundaries, but don't understand that their 'boundary' might actually be inconveniencing/hurting someone else. They love droning on about their mental health, but fail to see the mental pain they might be causing someone else. Horrible amounts of ageism too.

It's all one way with them - there is zero give and take. We've raised monsters.

My Gen Z dc complains about millennials in the same way. I think it’s universal.

Gen X = you. Gen Y = millennials. Gen Z = the ones that the Op says are a pain to manage.

I’ve had a few who think they know everything, challenge everything, don’t take feedback but have no problem giving it to senior managers. On the other hand I currently have a couple of 20 somethings on my team who are completely fabulous

I’m generation x and I’m pretty sure I was an entitled little shit in my 20s.

Gen X reminds me of the Winona Ryder film Reality Bites. Otherwise I find it hard to remember what we were meant to be like, everything is Z, Millennial or boomer

I'm Gen X and I know I was not an entitled know it all in my early working life. I was terrified of making mistakes and did exactly as I was told. I was keen to learn and very hard working as were the majority of my peer group. We wanted to progress too but we knew we had to earn it by impressing senior colleagues.

Millennial here and they were saying the same thing about us and in fact still are (see upthread). They'll grow up just like we did and inherit an even more fucked up world than we did.

Absolutely the same about every generation. They have new ideas yet are naive with it in thinking they can be implemented instantly and easily - every generation has done that, and probably every generation thinks the generation above them was stuck in their ways.

Think of all the break throughs or massive changes to legislation over the last few decades - parental leave, extended mat leave, rights for temp workers, each time something like that happened there will have been bosses that thought similar to what you are.

Could be said for 80% of those who post on AIBU

’no is a complete sentence’

’set your boundaries’

bla bla bla

Gen Z are YIPs according to channel 4 that would be Young Illiberal Progressives. According to a recent pole gen Z (YIPs) are the most intolerant censurerus group ever

Constantly fucking anxious about the smallest things.

All young people are annoying in their own ways! I say this as a 'Gen Z' at 25. Yep, we're annoying 🤷‍♀️😂

I think we can definitely take the odd leaf out of their books.

For a start j applaud them for only ever wanting to work for the hours they get paid. Totally correct that their work boundaries are tight. They also move around a lot more and don’t stay in positions for years and years. Again, this is good.

I guess some do need to learn to be a bit more humble and allow themselves to learn from mistakes but it’s quite hard when they’re quite fresh out of a very toxic educational system which encourages ultra competitiveness and some slight delusion on how brilliant they all are.

In my previous job, we had to adapt the training process and managerial style. Only big companies with high turnover can afford to invest in such a tailored approach though