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 ?

Yeah, because there are no stereotypes at all that differentiate (as groups) the kids who grew up with rationing post WW2 and the ones who grew up on iPads 4 hours a day.

100% agree every word you say!

To be blunt op, I am old end of millennial, and to me you sound a bit old fashioned. Talking about respect for hierarchy as if there's a notion you outrank a younger colleague and they must jump to your request, it absolutely isn't like this any more. Respect goes two ways and they have the right to expect yours.

Generally speaking a situation like this reflects poorly on leadership.

• why do you have only one person who can access that system? Key man dependency is a problem, you shouldn't be having to ask staff to delay leave or drop their own work because the team is not properly resourced.
• why are you ending up needing something so urgently? It tends to mean poor planning, most things can be anticipated. A leader who expects their team to work on "firefighting" mode is not a good leader.

Throwing weight around as a senior colleague would have you nudged by HR where I work.

This thread is both illuminating and depressing. I had no idea that there were so many people out there so completely “work to rule” about their day-to-day jobs.

It’s all well and good saying that you “live to work not the other way around” and saying that OP is behind the times. But this level of inflexibility is damaging.

1. There is a massive problem with worker productivity in the UK which coincides with the “live to work” shift in attitudes. It makes the country (much) poorer and impacts its ability to deliver services to the population. Those complaining about the NHS, education etc should recognise that this attitude is part of the problem.
2. The attitude really really does make people less employable. Given a choice I would always pick the person who was easy to work with and went the extra mile. Come promotions and redundancy exercises it makes a difference. And AI means that there will be an awful lot more redundancy; employers will absolutely have their pick for the jobs which are left.

I also note that despite all of the self-preservation, mental health seems to be far worse than when people just mucked in and got on with it.

I am teaching my kids that hard work, enthusiasm, teamwork, proactivity and charm are hugely important skills and the ones which make a real difference to their long term prospects.

If you grew up with post war rationing you'd be well into your 70s by now though. IPads and other gadgets are part of life now, some schools encourage their use for learning, plus many businesses routinely use them. I'm not sure what point you think you've made really.

Well, luckily, this thread has NOTHING to do with that. LOL!
Senior role, eh?

Requests from seniors trump other plans? 😂😂😂😂 I don’t know what world you live in but that’s NEVER been the case for me.

in most jobs, you’re just a number. People now treat corporate roles as “just a job”. They’re not special! And most don’t give a shit. I used to do the bare minimum that was expected from me/I was paid for then leave and not give it another thought.

You are insane.

Have you read the thread.

An important meeting was happening. OP's a manager and needed info urgently. His direct report was not available so OP asked his direct report's direct report to do what needed to be done, ASAP.

Despite having 1 hr 45 to do a 15 min task he refused.

I really dislike it when people go on about ''generation this'' and ''generation that''...People are individuals and you always have to manage different temperaments and attitudes. Focusing on staff age is daft.

Generational shift is real, it happens and is part of the life cycle and peer pressure, obviously you can have your opinion on it been daft - but it is a very large part of human life and isn't going away

Yeah, because there are no stereotypes at all that differentiate (as groups) the kids who grew up with rationing post WW2 and the ones who grew up on iPads 4 hours a day.

@JamieCannister How many people who grew up with rationing are still in the workplace?!

Your assumptions that anyone below you should drop everything to do what you ask, regardless of whether it’s on their time off or not and attributing it to a Gen Z problem, are rude.

People have lives, if he’s doing his job perfectly fine DURING HIS WORK HOURS then you have nothing to complain about.
You are not as important to him as you think you are.

I was making the point that saying all generations are the same is bollocks. The beliefs, work ethics, experience etc etc of different generations are different, and whilst everyone is an individual you can certainly stereotype different generations with a degree of accuracy.

Perhaps all attitudes need to change - why are we normalising expecting people to routinely work more hours than they are actually paid for, in order to falsley inflate how well a business is doing?

How is that relevant to my point that different generations are different?

Stereotyping is not generally helpful.

It's not one or the other. Once you start giving and engaging with your teams in a way that works for them, you get far more back. People can have boundaries and work exceptionally hard.

But he’s not doing his job perfectly fine in his work hours if he’s refusing to do something his senior manager has asked him to do and he is capable of doing.

Saying he is leaving at X time - fine. But he had time to do this task before he left.

I'm not sure what point you think you've made really.

@GehenSieweiter that they are out of touch?

Actually pp has a relevant point.

There is a massive problem with worker productivity in the UK which coincides with the “live to work” shift in attitudes. It makes the country (much) poorer and impacts its ability to deliver services to the population. Those complaining about the NHS, education etc should recognise that this attitude is part of the problem.

@BlissfullyBlue again productivity never recovered from the 08 crash, why do you think it's a new thing?

Who is? OP? She is but not sure that your point shows that.

Ah, the drip, drip, drip thread. Most of the info you quote was not in the OP. I responded to the original post.
The OP has changed the story.

If this is the standard of their communication I have no faith in the standard of their management.

But that assumes he hasn't already planned the time he has until logging off, which he surely would have done. So doing an extra task for you would've been extra and taken him into that time off. I think you're reading a lot into this when bottom line is you asked someone to do something for you last minute and they didn't jump to it for reasonable reasons, so you should've found another person/way to make it happen. Also, if gen z have less respect for authority now, that's understandable. Gen X did too much sublimating themselves to abusive assholes and look how that worked out for the world. As long as he's doing his job and not being inappropriate, he doesn't have to do your bidding at the drop of a hat when it conflicts with his agreed work plan. Why have a work plan otherwise?

Next time go to your own direct report and ssy 'ceo needs xyz by 3pm. Can you get some one on it please and let me know when it's done?" So much quicker than trying to find the best person yourself from a pool of staff you don't know the workloads and abilities of. That's the point of a hierarchy.

Nobody owes you the extra mile, the owe you what you pay them for.