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.

My DS worked for a boss like this overtime, long hours sometimes but he did send out for takeaways. He was in the Caribbean American firm. Two weeks paid leave the rest TOIL. The bonuses at Christmas were excellent.

DS came back to the UK sizzling with energy and started his own company. He'd never have done this without the experience of this boss.

So I'm on the fence re working set hours if you have ambition. Fine if you want to amble through life though

Love this

I wouldn't refer to, judge or try to manage anyone using sweeping generational tags, tbh, but that probably makes me a Gen.Coco Pop or something.

I'm bordering millennial, but due to having older siblings lean more towards gen x. Worked far too hard in shit jobs when I was younger, but I was a bit of a twat too.

Its a youth thing.

Why do we expect our kids to work hard for such a shit future? We are hardly dangling much of a carrot for hard work are we?

Well I'm a Xennial (didn't know that til I just read a previous post).
And I am shocked by the lack of work ethic by my younger colleagues. And yet, I'm also impressed that they do just work their hours.
But surely they don't expect to get promoted?
And the lack of support for colleagues is shocking.

"I find the older generation bloody hard work to manage - they coast, don’t put any effort in, stuck in their ways and completely resistant to change"

Well, if you're older you don't have much energy. Enthusiasm wanes as well when you've seen generations of young people who think they can change things, but never can really. This is all quite normal for people close to retirement.

@RedToothBrush
Thank you so much for explaining! That is fascinating.
I'm also on the edge of X and Y. A micro generation makes so much more sense.

@Cantfeelmuchthesedays
I've just learned it's Xennials! Sounds the coolest for sure.

Nah, in my company the Gen Zs call the Millennials Boomers, which upsets the millennials and the boomers.

I think everyone appreciates the nihilism of Gen X 🤗 (I am one, and break up the bickering).

I don’t notice a huge difference between millennials and Gen Z other than Gen Z are more jaded and anxious. They both protect their work boundaries just the same, and they are all know at alls at the start although Gen Z a bit more likely to verbalise rather than just look wounded.

I don’t think we were as know it all, mainly because we were always hungover and happy to work insane hours for promotion.

I have had to find ways of clamping down on shirking under the label of mental health, although overall I think more awareness is good.

I got so fed up reading about these 'generations' that found this!

Probably outing myself but I work at a DWP job centre and am the youngest in my office at 23 - everything you have posted can (and does) apply to my useless colleagues.

Someone upthread said gen z is apparently anxious about everything - whereas in reality my office has loads of people on long term sick due to mental health. They’re all significantly older than me ie with kids my own age…

I am happy to learn from my mistakes and grow and develop. I find people older than me are more rigid and stuck in their ways and hesitant to try new things. I can shadow people and adapt a more productive method of working, but the older people in the office are happy to stay in their comfort zone and think it’s beneath them to try something different

No, we boomers are responsible for all the evils in the world or so it seems on MN, we're certainly not forgotten.

Employers need to realise they need employees as much as employees need them and stop expecting people to unquestioningly sacrifice themselves at the altar of work.

I'm always confused by this. Unless your employed by an owner operator, everyone working at a company or public sector organization is an employee. All the way up the hierarchy. So who are you talking about?

I find the younger people I work with are wonderful and one of the best things about work. I respond to their emails within a few hours and do their on line assessments as quickly, and they help me with IT. I will get them a coffee before accepting one from them and am genuinely quite interested in their lives and plans.
They do know their rights, which we didn’t or were scared too speak up, so I haven’t witnessed sexual harassment for 20 years. Blind obedience is not ok and when they question what I’m doing it keeps me on my toes. I’m so proud of them.

I completely agree (obviously not all people of the same generation are the same). My main observations are that they are frequently diagnosed with an ambiguous condition, which flares up at convenient times, cannot take feedback without accusing you of bullying them or making them "feel bad". Also completely missing the point that work costs you mental and physical energy, it's why it's called work and you get paid in return! Same about expectations around promotion, they expect it for just showing up and whingeing.

Silent generation sounds a bit pants after Greatest

We are in the USA and my dds (22 & 19) are in college and working.
They are both hardworking. And have had no problems, although they have said some coworkers are very anxious or unreliable (like take a day off with no notice so their shift can't be covered)

The 19 yr old thought her small companies social media could be improved, so put together a presentation for her bosses and now does all their social media.

My husband has a terrible employee who

I'm a millennial (I think) and I manage staff from 21 to 60+. I find by far the most attitude problems come from those few older people who seem to believe that they are senior based on age alone, and refuse to take instruction/feedback from people younger than them, even if those people have worked here longer/are more senior in role.

Oppps

Who he thinks he has to fire and she is Millenial.

I work in a vocational role and the Gen X workers are fantastic. Super enthusiastic and confident. They're quite expressive and honest too so they're a joy to work with. There's the odd know it all, but when isn't there?

I have to say I found working under boomers awful, but I love working under Gen X people. Their management style usually gels really well for me. Every generation has their downsides, but let's face it the world is going to increasingly become the Gen Zers so we've got to get used to how they do things either way haven't we? 🤣

Why the fuck should they be making people in senior positions cups of bloody tea unless that's in their job descriptions? And you call them entitled. How ironic

Gen Xers are known generally as pragmatic realists in recruiting.

Yeh I agree. People need to make their own tea.

I think social media has given some Zoomers a strange idea of what work is.

But plenty are hard working.

I manage an apprentice just out of school, he's fantastic. Yes he is learning to adapt to the world of work and sometimes requires some firm expectation management, but that's all part of hiring people in their first job.

I'm mid 30s so a millennial and remember so many absolute arseholes in our cohort when I started on our scheme. One guy, having worked for the company for four weeks, sent an email to the whole company on his insights for how the IT should be improved. Don't think I've ever come across that level of sheer brass in Gen Z yet!

Grn X have had shit time of it though. Recessions, the pandemic and an unsteady future. Also they were raised by millennials. Grn Z have experienced varying amounts of trauma remember (like we all have but not as combined). Im a millennial. And I do have some of the bad traits. But my god when I have my babies they will not be entitled or spoilt. The world does not care or revolve around you. Harsh but true

Gen Z. Gen Z not blady grn z. What on earth is that?