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?

They have a complete lack of resilience and understanding of different perspectives. if something doesn’t accord with their way of thinking it is just wrong. Group think is the name of the game.

They think they’re special in some way and really don’t understand the concept of mucking in, or if it’s not in their job description they won’t just help out.

I would say a person in their early 20s is prob as mature as a 14 year old in the 90s.

obviously not every Gen z person is like this- some are excellent and bring a lot, new ways of doing and new perspectives. It’s just the average ones are a ball ache.

@ChristinaXYZ Sometimes as a manger/ boss/ authority figure of any kind, it's good to be challenged and to explain your reasoning to someone less experienced. It makes you reflect on yourself and why you are doing what you do. This is about your outlook.

If you don't have time to explain then it's on you to handle that situation, and you should make time to talk to them later if they're interested. An inquisitive nature, curiosity, and asking questions, are not bad traits. You as a manger need to learn the tools to handle that when you don't have the time.

I have lost count at the amount of cover emails/letters that start with 'Hey there!' when applying for a job.

I think there has def been either a shift or just loss of skill on how to properly construct a letter/email. I wonder how much informal text/whatsapp is contributing towards this?

They're more confident and insist on better working conditions. Which is great.

But they're often lazy, rigid and do the bare minimum too.

Obviously I'm not speaking for all. Just the ones I know.

I think you’re quite outdated in your view in that sense. You and the person emailing you are both just people.

Or maybe just a shift to a different way of doing it than you're used to?

What is lost by saying "Hey there!"?

Yes absolutely, I work within a team of around 10 gen z, they all want massive promotions despite moaning and complaining and not meeting deadlines, they come into work in leisurewear and crop tops (corporate office), don't seem to want to progress in terms of self development, just want the pay rise and the title. Work ethic isn't something in their vocab.

As a millennial when I think back to myself and my jobs in my early 20s it was very very different.

DH interviewed a candidate last week, thought she could do the job and said she should come for lunch with the (small) team to see whether they would all get on. The night before the lunch she said there was no point in having lunch unless she got a salary of at least X. DH spoke to her and said why didn't she come for lunch and show us why she is worth X. She said she hadn't thought of that. It is very entitled behaviour....

The trouble is that Gen Z are used to being pandered to. Even at university, they are babied and spoon fed, and everybody has a mental health condition.

I'm a millennial, and the way that they are treated is very, very different to how we were treated less than 20 years ago.

I wonder whether it's partly linked to paying high university tuition fees. They feel that they are buying their degrees, rather than earning them, and so they are more entitled and demanding.

I agree with you @AlexisR that they have had a lot to deal with and the world is harder to negotiate in some ways and they have been let down by parenting styles and teaching styles that worship them, then we wonder why they struggle outside of this cocoon.

The more empathetic gen Zers improve with keeping 🙂and some are very hard workers. It is all of course a generalisation but you can generalise about generations because there are fashions in schooling and parenting that many/most of a generation experience.

Gen z workers are going to very different to say someone who turned 18 in 1943 and had to serve in the army or in support services like land army. They're going to be different to the new teenagers of the late 50s / early 60s who had more freedom but who lived in fear or an unplanned pregnancy and perhaps had to give up a loved baby and some had a grammar school get out and some did not. They're going to be different to those who grew up in the early 80s with precarious job security, changing working landscape (especially if your Dad was a manual worker) but perhaps seeing more opportunities for yourself in expanding higher ed and wider range of non-manual jobs. There are generalisations one can make about these cohorts with these experiences and their resilience, their magability, their self-reliance. Accepting there are going to be pluses and minuses for each group.

Whilst gen Z are young they are likely to be the mangees rather than the mangers. They may one day make the best managerial class we've ever had! Who knows!?! But as managees a lot of them are a PIA at the mo!

Gen Z here, can't speak for others but I find that I tolerate less crap than some of my older employees when it comes to staying at the office late.

It boils down to the fact that I don't work for free, so if my boss expects me to stay late after work I expect to be paid for that work. Some might think this makes me "lazy" or "entitled" but I stick to my contract and work my butt off between 9-5, not doing unpaid work in my freetime does not equate to laziness or a poor work ethic - my work ethic is fantastic during the hours I'm contracted to work. It's also fantastic during the hours outside of 9-5 if I am paid for that overtime.

Expecting my employer to pay me for additional work that they ask me to do for them does not make me entitled. I've also seen older colleagues work overtime for free on several occasions and get nothing for it, no credit, no promotions, no payrise, it doesn't serve them to donate their free time and work to the company but they feel as if it shows good work ethic, whereas I feel it just shows poor boundaries and the ability to be exploited.

I have been promoted twice since my time at the company and that isn't due to me donating my free time to the company, but due to working hard, high productivity, taking the initiative etc. I consider it an old myth that staying late after hours progresses you in the workplace when actually in my experience, it's the value and productivity you present to the employer that can get you the promotions. If an employer values how much of my free time I'm willing to donate and how much work for them I'm willing to do for free over how hard working, productive and helpful I am between the hours of 9-5, they're not an employer I'd consider working for as to me, they have their priorities wrong.

That isn't to say that I don't stay in late to finish something off sometimes, but that's of my own choosing as I like to make sure all my tasks for the day are done and I don't expect to be paid when I choose to stay in late, but the times we have been asked to work late into the evening I have asked to be paid for my time and my employers have always honored this. I've had colleagues who accept the same request but do not ask to be paid for the work get annoyed at me for my "entitled" attitude - I think it's entitled of any employer to expect them to work for free, and it isn't entitled to ask to be paid for work that is expected of you.

I am, however, very responsive to correction/criticism, often encouraging it, and have worked my way up from the bottom by working very hard so not all of the stereotypes apply to me. I have worked with others my age, all but one shared the same hard-working approach and the one who didn't and couldn't put their phone down didn't last long. I do agree that there are differences in every generation, but not all of them are necessarily a bad thing.

I'm 'Gen Z' and or whatever these titles mean and it's all down to how you've been brought up. My family were workaholics, worked hard for every penny they received and this has resulted in me being the same. Some of my friends, on the other hand, are lazy as anything and do nothing all day at their jobs. But they've also been spoon fed for majority of their life. I was told to 'make my own way' in the world.

As a senior person I do find it a bit jarring to be addressed on my first interaction with a young colleague as "Hey Bumpya how're you" as if there is no difference between us in the hierarchy.
I still prefer "Dear/Hi Bumpya, we have not met but by way of introduction I am {x} a junior in {y} team and I wanted to ask if you could give me your view on {z}"

There is a middle way. I don't need to introduce myself to our senior management, outlook shows quickly who I am so does my signature. Waste of typing (all about efficiency here)
I would just simply go in politely but not used phrases like "by way of introduction".

The handful I've worked with have been lazy and unwilling to learn, not even putting in the bare minimum. I'm 28 so hardly a dinosaur. That said it's probably just been bad luck. One of my closest colleagues is 24 and she's fab - talented and a hard worker - but I think just outside the age range. She does lack confidence and resilience but I think that might be more age and personality than generation.

I teach at a university and employability is embedded throughout the curriculum. I'm the academic lead for this. This gives students the opportunity to develop skills, experience and knowledge - and confidence - to help them move from education to employment. We start it in the first year, getting them to reflect on their skills, know their worth and be able to articulate that. In a competitive job market this is essential.

I don't manage any, but I have found that some in this age group behave as if they are on par with everyone around them, in knowledge and life experience. Some, (not all by any stretch, or even a majority) just completely lack deference for anyone. They happily weigh in on every topic, talk over others, give advice where they have no knowledge, etc.

I doubt it's a new problem, really. But it really grates.

Has not been ever thus.

Older people sneering at the workshy younger people. The awful chorus of "in my day...." I remember my grandparents moaning about us and I bet their grandparents did the same.

I also don't put up with doing stupid amounts of overtime. I used to work with a gentlemen who was 60 odd and worked 3 hours extra a day for no extra pay. I clocked off at 6 and went home and he saw me as lazy? No, I got paid to work the hours I work, I won't do any longer than needed, I also don't put up with any shit from crap managers, maybe it's a personality trait or a Gen Z thing who knows

True story. It's nice to be of the age where it's my turn to do this, and I am not going to miss out on the opportunity.

That is fascinating and thought provoking.

@CoalCraft if she’s 24 she’s gen Z.

There are things called micro generations where it’s the people who are in the end of one gen and start of another so me and your colleague are in a micro generation, but officially gen z.

I guess because if you cannot formally construct an email, it does not fill me with confidence that you know the appropriate tone to send correspondence and therefore lack that skill/experience?

99.9% of the time, the applications are for those with no/little professional experience.

The lack of resilience is the main thing I notice. Appearance and lack of some pride in it is not confined to people of that age, it is a trait that has crept in over the last 15 years or so.

What bugs me is that Boomers used to be ACTUAL PEOPLE BORN IN THE BABY BOOM -1946-1964. A technical term. Most of them are retired and a lot are dead! Even the youngest are at most 10 years from retirement.

Now it just seems to be a sneering ageist term flung at anyone over 40.

It's name-calling and it reflects badly on anyone who does it.

I'm quite inspired by them. Wish I'd been like that at the beginning of my career.