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 ?

Obviously he was working, because he replied to the OP’s message……

Maybe try, at the very least, to read the OP's posts.

I doubt you would have any of the qualifications needed to work around the OP and I highly doubt she would want you around either. I would imagine she would want people who actually know what is going on and not people who jump in without knowing facts.

Been more prepared...for a medical emergency. Yeah, that is how those always happen.

Do you feel the same about parents (mostly mothers) who have to leave to pick their kids up from school?

Or is it only a certain section of society who are expected to “get on with it”?

I work with people of a range of ages. There aren’t many slackers, but those who are disappointing come in every age, sex and size.

And that means nothing. You sound like you are the slacker and making more excuses for not doing your job.

Reading a cell phone email or DM and replying is not working.

Working would have been him doing the job he has been paid to do for the hours he agreed to work that day. Not lie and say he had to check with his line manager, who wasn't even there.

Keep trying though. It's quite amusing. "They walk among us".

Tbh when I worked in corporate I’d have probably just ignored the email 😂 never stopped me succeeding

This is one of the most bonkers threads I've read in quite a while - medical or not!! Someone asking a colleague to assist her with providing information that appears to be considered urgent and during the working day... The answer from ANY junior colleague should be that shouldn't be a problem as long as you think it can be delivered by 4pm as I have preapproved early finish then and you think it's okay that I drop Y which I was working on for line manager to prioritise. Then OP can make the senior assessment if that's feasible and say yes go ahead please, thank you, I appreciate it. 15 mins later, done. And nothing to do with systems access she "should have if critical" or line managers (who report to her and are off on leave). This does not need any medical context, this is a professional working environment. Noone is asking anyone to miss their time off or make decisions about what work to drop, the senior manager will do that and be responsible for the consequences.
God it must be hard to work in a team with some of the people here!! And that does not mean any overtime is needed!! It's a very simple conversation I'd expect my 18 yo to be able to have in her part time job never mind a professional role. @Amy8 you have the patience of a saint to continue answering and defending yourself for asking someone for a 15 min piece of work you can prioritise while their line manager (who reports to you!!) is off. Contacting the line manager whilst on leave is just nuts.
The only part I disagree with is this is Gen Z related... It's just batshit.

Assuming that are you?

I think Genz's are difficult to manage. Everything can be a problem for a lot of them.

I think your first mistake was sending them a teams message. Pick up the phone if its that urgent. Messages on a screen are just words and don't convey urgency no matter what you type.

I think i would be pulling them and their manager in and having a serious chat with them about expectations. What he done wasn't acceptable.

Where i work everyone's contract has the words as and when expected. If that means you need to stay 15 mins late then that's what is expected. Now 99.9% of the time there isn't a need to remind people of that clause but there has been times where it has been required. Everyone is expected to pull their weight when needed. Not happy with it - there's the door, you know how to use it.

I've heard the words JFDI used a few times...

You might have a point in a perfect world but the reality is that junior colleague is likely having to answer to a number of middle managers, a micromanager of a line manager and having to navigate the world of office politics and not step on anyone’s toes. It’s not how it was twenty years ago.

I once responded to a colleague (who was more senior but not my line manager) when she asked me if I could help her on her first day in the role. I provided what she asked for (it was a very basic request) but she made the mistake of thanking me for it on a call with my line manager. He was not happy with this and asked what else I had been “helping” with and it made me feel about one inch tall - all because I sent someone a link for something she didn’t have and because I knew from my own experience that no one else would bother to help her.

My Gen Zs are actually brilliant! Flexible, smart. I don't mind them having boundaries and I wouldn't ask them to delay going away for the weekend. My problem is not their emergency etc etc.

I actually have more trouble with my millennials (I am a very old millennial). They've co-opted a lot of language around 'safety' which in a lot of cases seems to mean 'not doing anything I don't fancy'. It's very tedious.

There is nothing in the OPs posts or mine to suggest we are barking orders. Sometimes you need something urgently. Thats all. And in this case, in the time he was making excuses he could have done the task. Unless he physically was not where he was supposed to be, so could not access the system he was supposed to. I think he was extending his holiday and was actually already away, but checking his phone to make it look like he was working.

I understand that but in that case i would absolutely expect OP to be protecting her junior employee. He's on her team. A line manger off on leave who complained about his boss asking another employee to help with something urgent is on a power trip and it's that person that needs managed.

Tricky one. The reality is (without knowing his plans) would you expect him, for example, to miss a flight because you have a piece of work for him? Or to miss a wedding or a family event? You don't know what was going on for him so he might be very reasonable in pushing back. He also might be just a bit lazy and difficult!
Workplaces now appreciate that people have caring responsibilities, lives outside of work, kids, pets, hobbies and holidays - to recruit and retain the very best people you have to respect those things. Yes, you could stamp your feet and say "no, stay, get it done" but then in 6 months you might find yourself recruiting for his role, costing time, money and the loss of tacit knowledge. Most organisations have cottoned on to keeping staff engaged and happy, and respecting their boundaries and that their personal lives come first. If I have to do the school run, then yes, I have to wfh on that specific day and no I can't just run into the office when you ask.
Equally, I do think flexibility goes both ways, in his shoes I might have asked if I can ask someone else to pick it up, or confirmed it'll mean xyz doesn't get done. If I'm asked with enough notice to enable me to juggle my home life for work, I always do.

They were 90 minutes away from the exact scenario of both being on annual leave.

Sounds to me like neither the OP, nor the admin person, had a proper understanding of the other person’s situation. The OP’s response to this was to suggest that sometimes admin should just do as they are told, when it might have been more productive to explain she wouldn’t ask if it weren’t an urgent priority and that she would be happy to explain this to the line manager if it caused any issues. What I don’t believe is that the OP actually does know what other work this junior person had to do before they left at 4pm - it would be ludicrous to be so much of a micromanager that a senior manager really knows that. And I think working virtually does mean that a person is a step removed from understanding the reality of a situation, so needs more of a steer to understand it, rather than just being told off for not acting like a dogsbody who never questions anything. Personally, I think admin work can only be done efficiently if those doing it have a very good understanding of the effect their work is having on others, rather than being one step removed.

If it ever came to fighting a war, Gen Z would be checking with mummy.

I'm Gen X. I would have done it, assuming I didn't have to catch a flight or something. I wouldn't check with the line manager first in a situation where the asker was the line manager's boss.

I'm not sure this is new behaviour. Going back 20 years, I've seen people simply refuse to do their jobs at times. Always amazed me how they weren't fired.

You sound like you are the slacker and making more excuses for not doing your job. Keep trying though. It's quite amusing. "They walk among us".

What are you trying to achieve by being so aggressive and passive-aggressive here? I’m just a random person on the Internet, who you know nothing about, and you’re suggesting I’m a slacker because I said OP’s colleague was actually working?

I agree. There have always been lead swingers and there are always people excusing them.

You thought I was the OP, so it's safe to say that, in that case, you could be the slacker. You don't know if the slacker was working or not, so stop saying you know he was working. If answering an email or DM on a cell phone, perhaps to cover his tracks is working, I despair for the world.
So, you can get snarky but whine when it goes full circle back to you?

My Oh My.

OP says the task would have taken a mere fifteen minutes. Assuming the staff member didn't have to catch a flight or anything, I'm amazed that they were so unhelpful.

The CEO is most likely a board member, or exec board that run the business day to day.
It’s a stupid request because the CEO has gone unprepared to a meeting.
As for the rest, I assume that was drip feed and I don’t bother with that. If it’s that important, or indeed real, put it in the OP.
Senior staff being unprepared does not constitute an emergency on other people’s behalf.