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?

This maybe more due to her age rather than the gen z generalisation but the 15 year old Saturday girl they employed to help fill shelves etc at the place I work is the most work shy, disruptive and ignorant person I've ever met. She completely infuriates me with her disrespect, she literally has the manager chasing her around the place to keep her on task, it's quicker to do the job yourself. I witnessed her going into the back room more than 20 times during a 2 hour shift when she was supposed to be on the shop floor cleaning shelves.

Obviously not all are like this but out of ten or so employed to do this job that I have known only 1 was worth paying.

I had a Saturday job from aged 13 and worked the whole shift, doing exactly what was asked of me and asked for more jobs when I was finished without being prompted to do so.

I've worked with plenty of lazy older people too don't get me wrong but at least they have the decency to at least pretend they are working hard

Admin is NOT a "non-job" - without admin (or professional services staff, as they are called) I could not do my job, no students would progress or graduate either.

They are both people but they're certianly not just people - in a work context one will have more knowledge probably, and more experience inevitably, and more responsibility than the gen Z person. What the PP is expecting, I think, is that the gen Z employee sees the value in other people - those skills, experiences, knowledge and responsibilities - as well as in themselves. Speaking to someone with all that value at work as though they are just one of your mates is, well, just rude. They don't mean it to be so but it is. They just don't see other poeple's value in the same way as previous generations of employees did with the one above them in age.

And yes we've all had one boss you was over-promoted, etc. but mostly the perosn above you at work is there for a reason. More so now than for workers in the 60s when men got all the promotions regardless. Never have managers been more worth their kudos and never had they had less respect from a slightly upity gen below them!

I love spending time with my friend's teenager, I do notice a level of confidence that I never had at that age. I also love how we just get along, when I was their age all adults were "aunty" "uncle" "mrs" or "mrs" and I felt a little in awe of them. Me and this teenager just hang out, have a laugh. I learn things from them and I like to hope they learn things from me

I have had a few really great gen z supervisees recently. But I have also had two of the most difficult supervisees I've ever had, recently, from this generation. One was particularly cocky. Thought she was god gift, even though she was brand new and most junior member of the team. Bossed everyone around, acted like she had years and years of experience when she had none. Not sure it's a gen z thing, more just different personalities. But I don't know.

Probably.

With social media it feels like we're constantly hearing about Millennial this and Gen Z that. Even when it comes to minor shit like the types of socks preferred by each generation. Or how they part their hair.

I remember in the 90s there'd be the odd navel gazey type article on Gen X, talk of McJobs, Elizabeth Wurtzel publishing a 'Gen X' book or two, and that was more or less it. Now it's all 'why Maltesters are problematic for Gen Z'.

I also think the newest generation of workers seem to lack social awareness/norms but I guess this is expected if they are the generation whose first working years have been during lockdown?

I had a trainee who called in sick day 3 of her new role, but the tone made me wince. If I have ever been sick early on in a job, I would have profusely apologised even though I guess...why do you need to apologise for being sick? There are so many unspoken/unwritten rules around office work in particular and I could not pinpoint exactly why the nonchalant unapologetic tone was so jarring!

Some of them have genuinely been a pleasure to have in the workplace, hard working, bright, willing to learn. A real treat.

And then there’s the others. So so anxious, won’t turn up for things or take things on because of anxiety. Always talking about their mental health, with the expectation that the other adults in the team should be there to hold their hand in a parental way. As if the team bending for them is always the solution to things that feel uncomfortable.

And I personally have found more than a few of them to be totally misogynistic. They expect that women at work who are mothers are totally stupid. Same for older women. And it shines through in their behaviour.

Rules change with times. In few years there might not need be need for masaive apology for being sick. As you say, why do you need to apologise for being sick. Unless you eat can of twice reheated tuna on purpose 😁

Ha!

Exactly.

The realistic anti company part of me is like 'You are allowed to me sick! You do not owe the company anything' is mixed with the 'Jeez...its just polite to acknowledge its not ideal.'

'I am sick today so will not be coming in' just feels so brutal day 3 of a new job lol.

Mine too. She is quietly confident, resilient and very hard working. She takes no shit from anyone but does it in the nicest way. She is brilliant and is doing well in her job.

What I have found is that they have opinions on anything and everything, are comfortable criticising others and don't take shit.

Which on one level is good, but if you criticise them or put them out of their comfort zone in any way there can be remonstrations or tears.

They are much less willing to do unpaid overtime or check emails outside of work which I fully support

I would support that if it weren't for the fact that they happily email their university tutors at all hours of the night - and on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, etc, - expecting an immediate answer.

I have zero issue with using computers. But computers in the mid seventies were not common. It wasn't until the mid to late eighties that most schools started getting computers, and even then very few.
In the mid seventies my only contact with a computer was a ZS 81.

There is also a lack of team ethos alongside that.

Ok if you're sick or on holiday or don't want to do overtime, that's one thing, but it means someone else in the team will have to pick up the slack. There is often no consideration of this. The problem gets passed upwards for a manager to sort out.

A manger is something you put animal feed in, as in the once famous Carol.

Every generation thinks the one before/after it has it easy. DC started sneering at DH and me in their teens for being Boomers (DH is, I am just Gen X cusp fwiw) and how easy we'd always had it, buying houses for ten pence that we sold for a million quid six minutes later etc etc.

I pointed out that I grew up in a house with no central heating, scraping ice off the windows every morning in winter. I walked everywhere at all times, was never picked up from a party because it was late or a mate's house because it was raining or given a lift to any extra curricular thing. I walked miles every day in all weathers with holes in the soles of my shoes, being flashed at, kerb crawled, accosted and followed several times a week throughout my adolescence. If I wanted even the basics, I had to earn money to buy them, so I worked after school from the age of twelve, childminding, in restaurants illegally, in the local market, as a model, as a teaching assistant - I had a massive CV by the age of 18 despite being in full time education. They were a bit at that.They thought we'd had the easy childhood they had and then an easy start to adult life too.

Until Covid, I thought the worst problem for their generation was that nothing bad had ever happened to them and they had been raised during a parenting craze for trying to make kids happy at all times. They thought standard unhappiness was a sign of pathological depression etc. But since Covid, my heart goes out to them. That is more challenging by miles than all of the sexism, strikes, power cuts, shitty teaching at shitty comps, freezing homes and drunk driving that we put up with in 1970s.

One of our recent unsuccessful interviewees found it hard to accept that she wasn't the best person for the job. Even after being given helpful and honest feedback. That was interesting...

A lot I have worked with have been pretty lazy and arrogant to be honest. I respect people having boundaries, but harping on about an entitlement to a ridiculous pay rise and wanting to progress at the speed of light far before their ability matches up to their ambition is grating. There's a balance imo with everyone being treated with respect and as an equal human at work and respecting the knowledge and the fact that there's not a flat hierarchy of others. Where I work is very open to suggestions for change, new ideas and are very receptive to these, but I do wince when I hear outright criticism of someone who does have expert knowledge by someone who knows fuck all about it.

On mumsnet ageism only goes one way.

It’s only a problem when it’s directed at anyone slightly older, perfectly acceptable behaviour towards someone younger.

This just seems like a load of 'young people today...' moaning, same as with every generation literally from the Romans onwards

Good for them if they are expecting to be well paid for their time, calling out discrimination, refusing overtime, and taking sick leave though.

As an older woman I agree about the misogyny.

It's not my Gen Z that is causing problems, I'd clone her if I could.

I agree with this. Every generation has some things easier and some things harder.

I was presenting something the other week in a boardroom meeting and after a young 20-something male spoke over me, he called me ‘bro’ when I asked him why he felt interrupting me was a good idea.