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?

I manage quite a few Gen Zers and love it - I like their frankness, their lack of 'corporateness'/not being Buttoned Up Professional all the time and their refusal to just keep taking more on outside their role (they are very aware of their worth and always asking for ways to improve and progress, but officially, rather than just accepting more and more work without complaint, and I could learn from that, honestly).

I haven't found a lack of resilience or inability to take feedback - ours are a good, hardworking bunch that take criticism on the chin, although maybe I've been lucky.

As a group they probably do come across as more argumentative and less deferential to heirarchy than the millennials I manage but I admire that - an awful lot of stuff beneficial to the business has got done as a result of them refusing to just take 'how it's always been done' as an answer. And they've earned the respect and ear of the management team as a result.

So generally a good experience!

(By comparison, the handful of older, later 50s/early 60s employees have been much more difficult - not keen on learning new systems and overly stuck on 'we've always done it like that'! But maybe that's the people we work with - it varies and I wouldn't make a sweeping generalisation as a result).

I find the youngsters I manage to be quick learners and hard working. Nice people. But they do struggle with even the gentlest of criticisms or feedback and get anxious and upset very easily. They definitely lack resilience.

Why does this come up so much? Is it some sort of comeback to the obvious intergenerational injustice that has been perpetrated against that generation?

We are amazed but not amused by the younger porters who refuse early shifts as it is hard to get up early innit. Not much intelligence and half the time rock up late, go off site to get something to eat with their walkie talkie turned off or they leave it some where (and their keys!)

I agree about lack of resilience however in their favour, in my experience:

Great IT skills, with sudden home working during pandemic they were the ones comfortable with zoom, teams, slack chat straight away. And quite touchingly supportive of much older colleagues who needed tech support.

Generally more accepting of women in management, more respect for neurodivergent, and non binary colleagues

Utter horror at sexist or racist behaviour in the workplace.

The Gen Z people I manage are bloody fantastic. I am Gen X.

Creative, knowledgeable, great communicators.

No problems with them at all.

“What really distinguishes this generation from those before it is that it’s the first generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly about it.”
-Washington Post, 1993

“...there is, as never before, an attitude on the part of young folk which is best described as grossly thoughtless, rude, and utterly selfish."
-Hull Daily Mail, 1925

“[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances.”
-Aristotle, 4th Century BC

Older people just love to complain about the younger generations. In 40 years, it'll be Gen Z complaining that Gen ∞ are entitled, lazy, arrogant, and nothing like they were. And so it goes on...

Can you also explain to them that the job isn’t all about them, they need to take into account other people’s working styles, being part of a team requires adaptation and compromise. No one gives a fuck about their personal politics and social justice causes. It’s a ball ache

They don’t need to do anything but turn up on time, not be argumentative, be willing, be adaptable and just do the job, get on with a wide variety of people (with different views) snd accept people who have been doing the job 20 years are going to know more. Most graduates are a net drain rather than asset for a while. There’s a middle ground between lazy and aggressive.

I fucking love Gen Z, they’re not prepared to put up with any crap and they know their worth. They’re very ambitious too.

The pronoun stuff is also a bit distracting in the workplace but to be fair, that's not just gen Z.

Yep same. Impossible to give constructive feedback or performance manangement because it kicks off their anxiety.

Absolutely this. Respect is not a job title. I would rather the gobby Gen Z than be winked at and commented about by inappropriate colleague(s) born in the 50's,60's,70's & 80's. Gen Z from experience do not discriminate everyone is fair game! The are enough people born in early decades who have a poor work ethic, are difficult, struggle with time keeping and throw others under the bus. Roll on retirement!😀

No I disagree. The worst traits of millennials make them a bloody nightmare to manage.
no work ethic and think the world revolves around them and they are a bit special. Which they aren’t.

Gen z seem ok so far. No worse than any other generation at their age.

So they expect to be able to set their own boundaries for everyone to obey but refuse to accept others' boundaries? Sounds like they need to grow up a lot and see themselves as a part of society not its epicentre.

I am a member of the "silent generation" i.e born in the 1920s, 30s and up to the end of World War 2. I refuse to be critical of any generation. We are all brought up differently and face different problems and our attitudes tend to reflect that.

What I will say about my generation is that, for most part, we are incredibly resilient (yes, I'm sure we all know 80s and 90s year olds that are cantankerous and moaning - does tend to come with age and cognitive decline for many). But in general we are tough as nails. I suppose that comes from sleeping in bomb shelters, playing on bomb sites, having relatives/friends who never came home from war, enduring strict food also petrol rationing, so walking or cycling everywhere. My daily walk to school was a round trip of 6 miles, but of course, far fewer cars on the roads.

My children are generation X: for the most part delightful people - the last generation who had a mostly uncomplicated "proper" childhood I think, so possibly reflective of that.

Why is it okay to bash younger generations?

Because it's giving the boomers a rest maybe?

Possibly interesting slant. I'm working with Gen Z's in the Philippines and not experiencing any of this.

It's very cultural.

this basically. In my team the most challenging member to manage is a woman in her late 40s.

I think there's probably some truth to Gen Z' expectations being different, but (1) in many ways that's a good thing, wanting to be valued, looking after themselves etc is stuff we should all do and (2) just need a different approach to management.

This is my experience.

I'm astounded by their entitlement at times.

We've got some great Gen z people working at our place, hard working and committed to getting the job done. At the same time we've had just as many come and go as they just can't understand the idea of actually coming in when scheduled (even if they asked to be on that day) calling in last minute saying they are too sick, then posting all over social media having hair and nails done followed by a big night out. Those staff also take offence at being on breaks without their best work friend at the same time, and being allocated patients they don't want.
Madness!

We've got a big age gap in our team - half are women aged 60 to 70 and the rest (male and female) are aged 20-28. We are all considered "equal", no one is junior and we all do similar jobs. But fuck me the look of utter bewilderment when there's extra stuff to be done is really grating - say there's some boxes to be moved, refreshments to be served, someone needs a hand; if its not in their job description they ain't doing it. They automatically look at us older women to do the grunt work. I presume they think we are their mums. They simply cannot understand why these lowly tasks might be shared.

I love they way Gen Z don’t take any shit. It’s exactly what the workplace needs.

As for your porters. Maybe paying them more might encourage them to do the early shift. It’s a shut shift and no one wants to do it. Maybe they just aren’t ‘grateful’ for a job anymore. Which is a good thing.

This is my experience too.

The ones that we had at our place took as many sick days as holiday days, all one off days/before dr's note time because they know the system. One girl was off because of a wisdom tooth growing in, then because of a headache, had a miraculous recovery from covid after 2 days (over a festival weekend), etc.

They feel like they're doing you a favour by working there, that all employers and companies are evil (ours is a small family-run company) and they should be doing everything they can to fight the system because it's unfair and they're hard done by.

They also want to work exactly the hours they want all the time even in a salaried office job. Forever asking if they can come in later, take a longer lunch to go the gym, finish early because it's sunny, go home because of xyz tradesman or delivery, you name it. One person suddenly refused to work in the office because they'd got a dog during lockdown and it was unfair to leave him (not sure why his partner couldn't look after him or split the work, or why they hadn't thought of that beforehand)...

If you aren't careful as an employer you end up paying people to do the work for them.

This. I'm nearly 50 and remember when I was younger how if you worked hard it would generally pay off. Doing overtime was worth it because if it was paid, great, you could actually save towards something worthwhile like a deposit on your first home. If it wasn't paid then it generally was noticed that you were a worker and wanting to get on, and you'd be considered more favourably for any promotion that came up. There were enough staff in most workplaces so that if you did extra they'd let you go a bit earlier one day no problem.

Now, if you do paid overtime it's often so little extra that it doesn't actually buy you much extra, it's a drop in the ocean towards a flat deposit for a Gen Z'er. It might be enough for a bit of a social life but that's all. If you do unpaid overtime, no-one gives a shit, it's just expected in some sectors and roles, even in the shittiest paid ones. It's only noticed if you DON'T do it - there are often mumblings behind people's backs of "ooh have you seen how he's always out the door bang on 5.00?" You're almost thought of as lazy if you don't do extra 20-30 mins here and there for nothing a few days every week. And god forbid you try to ask for any back as time off in lieu, or even come in later one morning. Forget it, if you don't have any official flexible working arrangements all that people will notice is that you came in 15 mins later, they don't notice the 30 mins extra worked last night for nothing.

If Gen Z'ers can change all that bollocks then good luck to them.

Gen Z are harder to manage, but millenials and late Gen Xs are poor managers to each other, nevermind adapting to Gen Z. The combination of the two is a recipe for disaster, it is better to let Gen Zs manage each other.