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.

More untruths.

www.bigissue.com/news/housing/number-of-pensioners-in-rented-homes-has-doubled-in-the-last-decade/

@Snoozer11 probably the best post I have ever seen on MN!

No you don’t. You never, ever back up anything you say and you completely ignore evidence that counters your made up “facts”.

Sorry that doesn’t say the proportion of pensioners who rent vs those who don’t?

Yes I do. You don’t like the facts because they discredit your rose tinted narrative. But you’re happy to sit here and post about Gen C? Again I ask, why is that not ageism?

It says the number has increased 118% in ten years. Meanwhile I’m still waiting for a link to support your assertion that 15% of retired people rent.

Oh, I see. Seeing as you are so big on negatively typecasting entire generations (literally millions of people), then I gather - and your posts would seem to indicate - you are a whiny, entitled, deeply resentful special snowflake.

I'm a late millennial, and most of my friends are, but I also work with Gen-Z.

I'm not sure what it is, but maybe there's been too much molly-coddling by parenting, social media, and the internet has impacted Gen-Z. I do feel that I have to end up mothering some that are more anxious and have habits of telling them that things will be okay, but I think they've had so much pressure applied to them when resilience hasn't been built. I think resilience comes with age and life experience, and if they've been protected all their lives, then everything is triggering to them...

Also, coupled with the internet, the instant comparisons with everything, and the fact that they can google everything, means that they believe they cannot be wrong....

Why am I entitled?

It’s hilarious when you complain about austerity and previous generations with enormous unearned wealth are all ‘u R sO EnTiTLed’ 😆

@Turnipp ignorance was bliss before the Internet really. We have a 24/7 stream of bad news being fed into our brains like a clockwork orange - climate change, Brexit, austerity, food banks, NHS crises… I mean anyone would be anxious after that. The world seems like a really awful place right now.

I don't have enormous unearned wealth, and know no-one who fits that description, so I don't know what you're talking about.

I do know elderly women on pensions living precariously in caravan parks though.

The media aren't our friends here....they manipulate everything, but even in these times, there are happy times, focus on what's going on in front of you, I.e. see friends, have fun, and do the little things you enjoy.

Even in times of austerity - and this has impacted me heavily in the past - there are still good times. Whether you want to focus on the negative or try living your life the best you can; as you've only got one life, you might as well make the most of it.

Yes OP, completely and repeatedly gobsmacked by gen z attitude. Thanks for explaining it so well.

How many people in their 30s with boomer parents will have substantial inheritances by the time they retire?

How many won't?

Depends on how much the parents will need for care fees.

Anyway, when will we retire?

Depends on how much the parents will need for care fees.

true

Plus inheriting 100k at 70 if you don't own a home &/or have a rubbish pension isn't particularly life changing so I'm not sure what that point of that post is?

The same was said about gen x and the millenials when they were young. It's an entitled young shit thing, not a generation z thing. They'll grow up after a few failures.

When my son (18) left primary school they were all given a book to sign that had what they all wanted to be when they grew up. 90% said they wanted to be CEO of a large corporation or bank, my son said he wanted to be in a band with his friends. How Gen X can criticise Millennials when they brought up this soulless, shallow generation I don't know!

And you might want to look at your recruitment process. Something is clearly going wrong and I suspect it is that you are hiring people who have been overly coached on interview techniques but have no real life skills!

Fairly sure I was like this when I was young and I'm Gen X.

I was an arrogant little shit, like a lot of book-smart young people are. Lots I didn't know. But there was a lot of stuff I was actually right about, and I was correct in my assessment of boomers a generation above me as hidebound, prejudiced, and blind to what the future held. God, so many arguments about race, gender, the internet!

Not All Boomers of course. My best managers and mentors were those who realised they could learn from young people - and they were the older men and women I learned the most from myself.

I resolved never to become the sort of person who made sweeping, dismissive statements about younger generations. It's disappointing that so many of my peers have forgotten this.

I'm not convinced it's about the named generation you belong to, I think it us actually an age thing.

Through my (long) working life I've obsevered that under 25s have lots of pains but most aren't really committed to the effort required to fulfil them, 25-45 become career orientated and money driven as they take in commitments and raise a family, 45-53 ish start getting frustrated that their experience isn't valued and younger people who can talk a good game get promoted over them. 53+ know it all, are very resistant to change and lack motivation because although many will have several years to work, they know there's likely no more career progression for them.

Obviously these are generalisations, but it's a pattern I've observed for a long time, not just in one specific generation.

Love this.

I think all the issues discussed on this thread are spreading across all generations and not it's not just Gen Z who are guilty of these things. The lack of resilience is the one that stands out to me - in the past year our place has had two members of staff (both Gen X) work from home for months at a time due to MH problems. It massively impacted the rest of the team.

I've met some hideous Gen Zrs but we have a 25 year old who started at our place earlier this year and he's great, very hardworking and rational. We also had a 16 year old girl working a summer job and she was very confident and mature.

Oh and if you take yet another mental well being day off - circa pulling a sickie -in old parlance recognise it for what it is and realise yes your shift, work got dumped on your colleagues because of the safety aspect of your job.

Every generation - come to work, work hard, go home - don't find offence in everything that is said to you, no you are not being picked on, discriminated against, not every man is a sex attacker ( circa by niece!)not everyone is racist, misogynistic, add any other istic word to that list.

I do remember your job - I did it to progress up the ladder.

What I have at the top of my game is what I worked towards - I shared a room at University, had the box room in a flat share in a less than salubrious place, I lived in shared flats till my 30s when I moved in with the then man ( I know very quaint!) and my mobile phone contract was never £50pcm and still isn't- LEbara £3 pcm does me fine. My first mobile phone lasted me 6 years - no need to upgrade to the next gen because I simply could not afford it, I fancied silk underwear but seriously too expensive so plain old cotton from cheapest place possible did the job just fine and now I realise silk underwear is foul to wear and th advertising was all lies. My nice house and clothes and holidays came from working my way towards them - they were not given to me on a plate and some years I did not go on holiday - just because I want and would like to live in a luxury apartment with all mod cons does not mean I can afford it when I am 23/25. It as the same then as is now just on different scales.

And yes I have come into work - to find 2 mental days being taken ( what a surprise it is Friday) 3 dead lines on work they have not completed and lets be honest looking at the files were not going to complete this side of Xmas for the little effort put in so far - my work will wait because this not being done seriously affects people.

But thank you to the lovely Gen Z colleague who brought me a cup of tea, smiled and said sorry some of my generation give us all a bad name - can I help.