To think Gen Z is difficult to manage at work?

[donniedarko89]

I have noticed younger people tend to be more cynical and argumentative, with less work boundaries/respect for hierarchies (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but can come across as presumption/arrogance). This makes it more difficult to manage them at work imo.

Have you noticed any similar behaviours?

Some are great, but there’s a lot of anxiety, crying at any kind of feedback, mental health days, parents ringing in sick for them instead of themselves. Also we have had to repeatedly stop some from filming ‘a day in the life’ videos for tik tok, in the office (large financial organisation).

It’s easier for the good ones to stand out than it was in my day.

It's one thing to refuse to do unpaid overtime. It's quite another to insist on finishing on time every day despite being habitually late.

I had this conversation the other day with SIL who hires graduates.

I mean, the starting salary at most non multinat firms (small to medium places) is around £20k around here which is the same as when I was starting. I’m a young millennial (30) and honestly I wouldn’t work any FT job nowadays for less than 30k I mean you have to understand what you’re asking of people in a time/money exchange. You cannot realistically live or build a life for yourself on 20k. You certainly can’t rent a studio/1bed in our city on that. They would laugh at you!

I think millennials were the very last of the ‘if I just work super flat out maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to buy a house’ generation. Gen Z seem to have given up, there’s a ‘IDGAF’ attitude coming from them because they’ve pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that all the ‘life goals’ of the generation before them will only be achieved by having parents who can afford to help them, winning the lottery or inheriting. So they are now motivated by different things. Social lives, experiences, well being…they just want to enjoy their lives.

It seems to me that the older generations totally broke the system and are now livid at the younger generation for holding their hands up and saying ‘yeah this game totally sucks I’m not playing’ and walking off. It’s important to remember that people don’t owe society their compliance in behaving a certain way. I also, sadly, think it’s so broken at this stage it’s totally irreversible and we are now strapped in for a wacky ride.

DH is a doctor and they just released stats saying in the near future basically no junior doctors will be working full time anymore, they’re just not willing to do it for the compensation and the way they are treated, which would be fine, other than they also released figures showing mortality rates for patients rise drastically whilst being treated by doctors who work LTFT 👍🏻
So basically the NHS is going to be even shorter staffed and patients even more likely to die.

woooo

Nope, the Zs in my team work their arses off and get shit done. What they don't do is fuck around dragging out their hours to appease the old culture of presentism.

We are fully hybrid, I don't give a shit when or where they do their work (some like to be in the office and some prefer WFH), as long as we get everything done on time and they turn up on the one day a week we all need to be in the office together to show the dinosaurs we all exist.

To be fair ALL of my team work this way and I have people varying in age from 19-60. I am 47 (so Gen X) and the Manager.

I have two sons who have been raised to think the same way. Get your work done, don't buy into corporate bullshit, get paid what you are worth and be prepared to walk away.

Your experience of like 3 bloody young people in your office is not a behavioural pattern of a whole generation. Omg I don’t know why so many people are refusing to accept that.
You’re actually the one who comes off as entitled, lazy and ill-informed if you genuinely think your narrow experience is somehow representative.

Hilarious how long this thread has gone on for, yet how many people were whinging on the ageism thread only a few day ago!
Pot, kettle.

The point is that DdraigGoch is not the only poster to say this. If one poster had complaints then fair enough, but there are so many on this thread, and people I talk to in real life all say the same thing. I don't know why you are refusing to accept that!

This thread is interesting. Ds1 is going off in September for his Uni work placement. I wonder how he'll get on.

Junior doctors get paid 30% less than their previous counterparts, not surprised they don't want to overwork themselves in a broken system for less money than their predecessors. Current consultants were happy to pull the ladder up behind them and not fight for better conditions.

In my experience many of them play the MH card if they don’t like feedback or they claim discrimination for ridiculous reasons or look to take paid leave for for problems they claim company have caused & everything is offensive in some way. Never had this consistent issue with boomers/millennials & for context I’m talking about a private sector large company over period of several years.

Yes, I have noticed a lot of ageism in my workplace too. Luckily the main offender seems to be getting the hint that I actually can do the job I was hired to do 🙄

@Thehonestbadger surely that’s more reflective of the shit pay and treatment in the NHS than Gen Z, ffs 🙄

Sorry jumped the gun! We’re on the same page - apologies x

The sweeping generalisations on this thread are mind-blowing...

To suggest an entire generation of people acts/thinks in exactly the same way is bonkers.

Good managers need to be able to manage effectively a variety of people: different ages, backgrounds, gender..and that includes people who might a bit more challenging.

If you can't do that, the issue is with you and you are in the wrong job.

The only people going off with stress in my workplace are Genx

They are also the tiktok generation that has seen influencers make millions get fast from relatively little work.

I have noticed an expectation to have a very senior role very quickly upon joining the workplace. And that they should be paid lots for it without experience or demonstrated proof they can do it. ....or indeed just the there are limited senior roles and the person with 10 years or more experience is better placed to do it.

I suspect these two observations are related. The expectation that they can make it big and make millions in 6 months is that they were brought up on with social media.

What an interesting post.

I can see how that might be the case. I would also add Gen X were the latch key generation - there's a strand of self sufficiency I often recognise in others bought up, culturally, at the same time as me.

Grease?

As a Millennial supervising people from boomers down to gen z, the main thing I have noticed is that I rarely have to tell or suggest to gen z to take toil, wfh, or annual leave. They just plan to take it and check with me that it's fine. I've had to remind them at times the expectations around being in the office and available( we're a duty social work team)They are really keen to make sure they look after themselves and make the role work for them.

I only mention that I'm a Millennial as I'm in awe of their confidence as 10 years ago I didn't set any real work boundaries as it just didn't seem possible for me. I applaud their approach even though it makes my role a bit harder.

@magicthree I don't know why you are refusing to accept that!

Because it’s totally idiotic to think that an entire generation are the same!

Do you have the same personality traits as everyone one else who just happens to be the same age as you? Or somehow is that different?

Our Gen Zs are very funny, they seem to have a great sense of humour however I do
agree about lack of resilience. The company is very supportive and offers a lot of perks, has a lot of support staff and doesn’t have a long hours culture but they really struggle with the stress of deadlines and passing industry exams. Many, not all, struggle with any negative feedback, however neutrally framed, as in an error not being good enough for the client.

There should be huge concern and funded research into why so many young people are suffering with anxiety now. I mean we can all see reasons why that might be the case, but it’s something society needs to address properly.

This. The ones I know make sure they take all their (unpaid) breaks and leave on time. I complain about it but also think they have it right. I'm the idiot who works for free for 45 mins of every shift.

They need managing differently for sure but that's not a bad thing. Times change, let's all move forward together. They do tend to challenge authority more but I quite like that in my industry it keeps things fresh. Also don't agree with them being less resilient. If we are generalising they seem pretty robust and are quick to point out things they deem unfair. I'm all for that because my industry has relied on employees taking on far too much, working over for no extra wage and wrecking their mental health. It needed a good shake up.

They may take less shit, but they’re more than happy to dish it out to others.

‘They always call in sick’
The biggest age group who are likely to be off sick is actually those 50-64 and in particular women more than men.
Then Gen Z demographic have the second lowest absence rate.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2021#groups-with-the-highest-sickness-absence-rates