Managing Gen Z

[Amy8]

I’m an experienced senior manager who took some time out to work as a consultant – partly to avoid exactly these kinds of situations!

Something happened last week that’s made me question my management style, which I’ve always thought was fair. The CEO asked me (quite urgently) to get something done. I was in a meeting, so I asked a junior team member to help out. It would’ve been easier to just do it myself, but I genuinely needed the support.

He replied that he needed to check with his line manager first because it wasn’t in his work plan (I manage his manager), and then added that he was logging off shortly for a long weekend which had been pre-agreed.

I stayed polite on Teams and explained that sometimes we have to be reactive to senior requests — but honestly, inside I was thinking, just do it! At his age, I’d have just cracked on.

It’s not the first time I’ve had this kind of pushback — others in the team (same age group) have also been quite firm about working from home and not wanting to come in when asked.

I’m genuinely wondering: is this just how the workplace is now — a generational shift and new boundaries — or is it a bit of a disregard for authority and should I be adapting better ?

OP has jumped to the conclusion that this incident with a staff member, who she otherwise has no other concerns about, is a general reflection of his underperfomance (caused by his... Birthdate?!).

It's definitely odd.

Unbelievable you need to know

it was 2:30 - he finished at 16:00

As someone who runs a small business the problem Gen Z has it that I want the standards of 20-30 years ago, and would rather not bother employing someone than deal with staff who don't treat the job as an opportunity to work hard, learn, prove themselves and progress. I'd also rather close the business down than deal with staff who can't just get on with stuff when told.

Maybe this is good for Gen Z - force them to work for companies that allow laziness, or force them to work for themselves. But maybe they'll find fewer job opportunities, and maybe they won;t progress so well, and maybe they'll end up setting up their own business, working their arses off, and learn that maybe doing 30 mins extra for a boss is better than working 14 hours a day for yourself, half of it chasing unpaid invoices that are sending you to the wall.

Except you now seem to be baying for blood because you did the task!

Seriously book yourself onto a effective communications course!

@Amy8 as in what time was the request?

I am really amazed by the fact that so many people seem to think it is normal that absolutely everything be directed through the line manager. Clearly it's very sector specific, and probably depends a lot on team structure. I have people who I interact with and work with daily but where I manage their manager's manager. If I had to send every request I had through all those layers none of us would ever get anything else done! And yes, they have access to systems/data I don't. It doesn't seem like great data governance to me to say that if anyone is given access to a system so must everyone in their management chain be whether or not they have any actual need to have that access.

And what did his actual manager expect him to have completed in that time? Maybe it wasn't realistic.

No it’s an issue i am noticing with him and those younger and wondering if it’s a a trend as it’s been much commented on in media and marketing trends / studies

I'm a Gen X HoD. I find issues across all generations, and that is to be expected because they are people.

I feel I bridge the generation gap reasonably well. I WFH. Do not want to go into the office unless I have to. I flex my time. I will push back on certain requests, or rather, do last minute things but if it's a consistent thing, explain the impact and ask SLT to work out a process. And because of how I work, I don't push my team to obey archaic rules about ways of working. I see them as my equals, some with more knowledge, some with less. To create loyalty I spend time with them, and try to develop them. This can be hard. I often sit on calls with them as we work through work together. Then they gain competence. I ask for their feedback to see if this is useful. They prefer this way of working. I believe I have their respect.

The only ones that give me issue are older men who belive they know better. Generally white. Those on my team who are from more diverse backgrounds work well with me.

Unbelievable you need to know

Why is it unbelievable? It matters.

Nothing that’s more important as they are weekly tasks with no deadline due a Friday- also achieving a successful outcome in the meeting I was in leads to the routine tasks

thats where I need to be clearer about what his work ladders up to

OP I am completely with you.

In his shoes I would have jumped to it and I would have seen it as an opportunity to be helpful to, and impress, someone more senior who may be supportive of me in future.

We don’t have exactly this issue - our Gen Zs would do the work if asked but nonetheless there is still a difference in attitude in some of them which makes them less proactive and less hardworking than previous generations.

We are addressing this by coaching the whole team: so we are telling them, as a group:

• yes, we do expect them to work out of hours sometimes (and sometimes very late and over weekends - they are lawyers and it’s in the contract).

• Yes, we expect them to proactive and take the initiative when there is work to progress. When they have no work, we expect them to make it clear that they have capacity and hunt some down.

• No, they should not slink off at 6pm when there is something urgent to do, or other team members are flat out/struggling, without checking in first if they are needed or they can help.

• You could add: yes, you are required to take stuff on when given to you by a senior member of the team even if not your direct line manager.

Our guys are very highly paid and this has been the industry norm for decades - I work in a high pay, high performance industry - but nonetheless over the last few years we have had to spell out these basics. Once we have done that, they do tend to improve.

The conflict comes not from a lack of ability or an inherent personality issue, but unhelpful societal conditioning which has suggested that everyone should centre themselves at all times, to assert boundaries in a very black and white way and be given constant support and explanations. There is an obvious cost to productivity (which is unhelpful to the population as a whole).

Ironically I find that once they get the message, and do properly start to muck in, they get busier and become more a part of the team - and their competence and competence visibly improves. A number of them who’ve shifted their viewpoint have said that - obviously despite not enjoying having to give up a few evenings and weekends - they find their working life much more fulfilling now that they have committed fully to it, rather than something they keep at arm’s length.

I'm GenX. Most of my work has required immense flexibility as I've had to juggle organisations and tasks. I've always been as flexible as possible. However, if I have a good reason to leave at a particular time (like a child's medical appointment or school pick up), I'm not staying for even five minutes longer.

I'm a millennial, I wouldn't be eating into a pre planned long weekend to help with something that is someone else's problem 😬Work to live not live to work babes!

Doing a job of accessing a system in work time, that you are paid to access, isn't being a 'serf'. Honestly. Just do your damn jobs people!

I find it too. The gen zs in my team have A LOT of wellbeing days and are constantly saying "I don't have capacity" but seem to actually do very little.

I think it's fine for them short term. Career wise, it's not great because people help you up the ladder in exchange for performance and favours so if you're not willing to do that then you'll get cut off and plateau in a junior role for decades.

I think it was fine to say he was finishing early, to manage your expectations in case the task wasn’t quick. Did he know it would only take 15 mins when you asked? But needing to run it past his manager is stupid, unless they are a micro manager and he knows he’d get in trouble for not checking with them first.

There’s actually a big point here. The CEO makes a last-minute request; OP jumps - the alternative would have been ‘I don’t have access to the system that will give us that data, let me ask the team if someone if available to pull it’. Managing CEO’s urgent requests, expectations and egos is a delicate and tricky thing but their behaviour sets the culture.

I am still just on the side of OP as I’ve read the whole tread and it was indeed a quick task needed for the meeting’s current discussion.

by the nature of our work we are patient facing and wfh is getting harder - generally means I am the one doing face time as I understand office roles can be done at home

but is hard when I need something because I’m managing patients with vulnerable needs and admissions - and I’d rather just walk into an office to ask for something than teams request it anyway. I suppose I’m not thinking of my team at the time when I’m thinking of my patients

You are not a fair manager if you expect junior staff to give up prearranged time off to do a task that was delegated to you. It is also understandable he would check with his line manager as his line manager may have delegated him another task and he needed guidance on what to prioritise.
Is this a reverse? I'm not young, I've been in the workforce over 20 years and I'm shocked that you actually believe the junior was unreasonable and that you are a fair manager.

If my CEO asks me for something I prioritise it, if I know I need something from others to help me complete my task I ask them asap or I will do it myself. I will stay late to do something but can't expect others too, just like I don't know what other demands they have on their time.

My CEO doesn't expect me to stay late but I know she appreciates how responsive & efficient I am.

His actual manager would have taken instructions from their manager. Who happens to be the OP. So all good.

Agree.
You should have actually gone to the line manager in the first place. Stepping out of your lane and going direct to juniors causes problems as the line manager is out of the loop and the junior has conflicting instructions. I think his response was fair.

It was a 15 minute job that the OP couldn't do herself, 1 and a half hours BEFORE he was going to leave. That's not 'staying late'.

I agree with this. In high paying sectors I have heard gen z still work very hard. But I think for many people they've realised that working hard doesnt necessarily mean more money or at least not proportional. I see Gen Z talking about the hustle a lot and "working smart" and it means focssed on yourself, and only doing things where clear advantage to yourself. A lot of the Gen Z are v individualistic in the way they think.

If a Gen Z does an adequate job but always leaves on time and pushes back often....they then leave the company after 3 yrs to get more £. Does it really make a difference whether you worked really hard if everyone leaves to find thr promotion anyway. Staying at a firm and working your arse off for 20 yrs maybe a fool game these days?

Not to get too existential but someone also talked about the social contract breaking down e..g the thinking is... 'Can't afford a house anyway so why am I working my arse off to go from 32k to 35k. Might as well as do bare minimum and have some fun!'