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?

Absolutely agree.

Also agree with a PP re lack of resilience.

I agree with this.

I’m a Millennial managing Gen Z, Boomers and Gen X, as well as another Millennial. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. As I’m sure do I. My most challenging colleague is Gen X. I think that’s to do with their personality, rather than their age.

I think every generation says it about the younger one. And probably will till the end of time

Your 24year old is a Gen Z. You're only off by a year or so

I’m in my 50’s and I’ve been working in retail for a few months, I’ve heard the rumours about Gen Z workers but the ones I’m working with are incredible. They run a whole shop floor on their own, manage a real mix of employees and many start at 5am in the morning or work v late. It’s completely blown any preconceptions I’ve had about this generation. What I will say is that these aren’t particularly privileged young people so maybe that makes a difference?

My son (40+j is a manager and has some aged 20+ on his team. He says many of them are snowflakes and are quick to argue eg “ I’m not paid to do that” His reply is “ Your job is to do what I ask you to do and I never ask you to do anything which is unreasonable or that I would not do myself.”
My hairdresser (40+) says the same thing about assistants. He prefers older people (35+) who will just get on with the job.
I don’t know what to think really. Perhaps older people said the same thing about Teddy Boys in the late 1950s 😃. and now those ancient Teddy Boys will reminisce about how hard they worked and daren’t have said a word to their bosses.
Its probably gone on for the 5000 years.

Bang on! 😊

I need a lesson on who is Gen Z, GenX, Millennials etc. Genuinely. I’m not taking the p**s.

Well, you can't really generalise about an entire generation but I do feel like today's youth seem more inclined to perceive valid criticism as 'microaggressions' etc than my generation. I wonder if woke culture and identity politics has made some people more self involved.

OMG what an attitude! I’m 60, I’m still running IT projects, I’m not ‘retirement age’ for state pension for more than five years and I don’t have to go then necessarily. What’s your problem?

I don't think "an entire generation" are the same. However, the way children are brought up changes with each generation, and the younger ones have been brought up to believe that they are all special, that they shouldn't have to do things they don't want to do, that their mental health is important (only theirs), etc. in a way that previous generations weren't and that has an impact on the way that they behave. Can you not grasp that concept????

You are refusing to accept that the majority of posters on this thread (and people in real life) are saying the same thing, yet you are adamant that they are all wrong. I work with people who employ others, and they are all shaking their heads at the way Gen Zers (mainly) behave, and in some cases they would rather not employ them at all - which of course is unfair to those who would be good at the job, but they've been burnt too often to take the risk.

Id quite the Gen z’ers to start managing the Gen z’ers. Would be quite interesting to watch.

WE have a Gen z here in NZ who was elected as mayor …. Its not going very well. Missing in action, alienating his council, but doing as many of you have said ‘ not putting up with shit’, ‘not conforming to hierarchy’, ‘putting mental health first’,’refusing to do overtime’ and so forth.

Sometimes you just got to shut up, show up and do the work you are paid for!

I wonder how they would feel if it was they’re own business they were running ……

Google will help.

When you’re several minutes late every day and given the flexibility to leave early for appointments or whatever whenever requested, it’s not unreasonable to actually finish what is urgent sometimes instead of logging off the instant the clock hits 5 irrespective of deadlines.

Yep, a classic example.

I think you need to think back to when you and your friends/colleagues were in your early 20s. I’m betting you were not all angels.
I’m 41 and I remember being a nightmare at times in my 20s as I thought I knew it all and even though I was good at my job and got things done; I also was too chatty and mucked about a bit. I see that now with the people in their 20s who I work with now.
GenZ do seem to be much more ambitious than 20 years ago, a lot of young managers, aged, 21-28 at our company whereas 20 years ago, most were at least 35.
Most also realise that work is just work and that if you’re sick, you have a sick day rather than force yourself to go into work ill.
I don’t think you can categorise one age group as difficult to manage, I think you get difficult people of all ages. I work with someone in their early 60s who is an absolute pain in the arse! Thinks he knows everything and is rude about people’s weight, looks etc because he’s older, he thinks these comments are acceptable!

Generation Alpha – born 2013 to 2025
Generation Z – born 1997 to 2012
Millennials (sometimes ‘Generation Y’) – born 1981 to 1996
Generation X – born 1965 to 1980
Boomers II – born 1955 to 1964

I'm 50 - what gen am I??? Never heard of half of these - dinosaur gen??

In my workplace it feels bit by bit like the entirety of the workforce, regardless of age, is taking on the traits attributed to Gen Z - a strict sense of personal boundaries, (over)confidence in one's own ability, preoccupation with the mental health of staff, etc. I wonder if some of this is that work culture generally is changing, and Gen Z are just better suited to the new world, or simply happen to be the next cohort entering the workforce as this culture change is happening.

Some of this is a good thing, but from a management perspective as well as an employee myself, I find the amount of work involved in tending to staff mental wellbeing exhausting and a bit uncomfortable. It starts to feel like work is prying into your personal life.

Gen X

Absolutely not a case in my workplace. If anything it should be millenials going of with stress from bein stuck between "the young today are useless, what do you mean left click" and "the old ones are useless, I can't read cursive"!

The microgens to these also make sense. Dh is just about millenial but is more like my gen x parents....

If 10 minutes late, make up 10 minutes at the end that's absolutely grand and no issues, but being expected to stay over your contracted working hours beyond that IS unreasonable. It doesn't matter if you're given flexibility to attend appointments, nobody should be expected to work for free regardless of how urgent a task is.

If deadlines are constantly being missed by one employee, find out why, if it's a whole team thing, sounds more like a management problem 🤷‍♀️

@Bintymcbintface

Sounds like poor management yes.