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 ?

No, I didn’t think you were the OP. I said your posts were similar to the OP’s. You haven’t explained why you suggested I was a slacker - can you explain why you thought that?

And how flexible are the company if he needed it?

How respectful are those higher up to those below them?

You seem a bit on a power trip. Someone wanted to check their workload wouldn’t be impacted and didn’t want to work later than pre-agreed.

You are over reacting massively here.

Millennial here. I am absolutely firm with my work life balance. I don’t get paid enough to give a crap about work outside of the hours I’m paid to do. I’m not doing anything outside of my job description. No more being taken advantage of. Gen z have it right, sorry!

Wot?

It's not a business its a hospital. Guessing not all info was there initially because OP was trying to be discrete to some extent, or didn't think it was relevant for any numbers of reasons, hence these threads being a dialogue.

You haven't read further posts because you can't be bothered with that, or it's a "drip feed" despite the fact they might be clarifications or explanations, but you can still repeatedly and confidently assert your (wrong) opinion despite, by your own admission not having read the full thread or having a handle on what happened?

Also in a hospital setting, this oft repeated cliche, but actually mis-worded here (it's actually "poor planning" not "unprepared" and no they aren't the same), "being unprepared does not constitute an emergency" is so totally inappropriate on so many levels. Unpreparedness may well constitute an emergency, also you might be unprepared if an emergency situation presents itself. And you might well be prepared and still be in an emergency situation that requires new information, quick decisions and unexpected actions that require staff to respond.

@Amy8 I think sadly many people have failed to read the thread properly and reached the wrong conclusion. I totally understand where you are coming from, I support CEO and director level within an healthcare setting... if someone asks for this sort of data, you drop what you are doing to produce it. If you are being asked, it is usually because you are the subject expert... that you are going on leave 90 mins later is neither here nor there and I can promise you, no line manager will be upset if you are producing a piece of work for their manager.

Earlier this week, I asked our HR team for a breakdown of some information which I literally received by return, I did not ask for it that quickly but I am associated with my boss's role and he carries a lot of weight in the organisation. I thanked the person and then, submitted a piece of feedback, to recognise him on our HR system... he went above and beyond, and I appreciated that, and there will be a day when I need something immediately if not sooner, and I have oiled the wheels to achieve that.

You are not in the wrong, your younger colleague is about to go on a learning curve, which will serve him well in years to come.

Haven’t read the full thread but have read all the OPs posts. You are coming across as egotistical and although you keep saying that you want to learn how to change your management style nothing else you say aligns with that. Your attitude towards the situation and your colleague shines through, you clearly expected everyone to agree with you. If you genuinely want to become a better manager then you might need to do some honest self-reflection.

If their line manager was on leave who were they going to ask? I dont think its a generation thing simply a personality trait particularly seen in public sector. There are people in my workplace in 50s and 60s who wont do things as its not explicit in their job description. It could be argued that it falls into a category but people just roll their eyes and someone else will do it

So true!

Maybe it’s because Gen Z are the first generation to have grown up (mostly) without knowing anyone who experienced
the Second World War?

Most Millenials grew up knowing Grandparents who fought the war, or at the very least had wartime childhoods.

With most of those people now dead,
Gen Z haven’t had the first-hand stories of wartime hardships to keep
their own “hardships” such as “hurt feelings” in perspective.

It was not readily available, it was subject specific, hence me expecting it would take some time to produce and being happy to wait... however my name is attached to my boss's which is why it was produced very quickly. Unlike @Amy8 issue, this is a junior colleague who understands the hierarchy of the organisation.

@Amy8 - apologies for not reading whole thread.
I do not think you are wrong to feel irked.
I work in film - and have had similar issues with many employees. Logging off early, refusing to come in, not jumping on something but arguing whether it’s their responsibility etc.
All I would say is, as long as you’re being fair and working within the boundaries of your organisation’s guidelines then carry on. There are lots of Gen Z who are incredibly keen too and those guys will probably do better career wise. Those who are more careful about their work life balance and maintaining boundaries and following work rules to the letter, may end up having more freedom outside of work but may not climb as high job wise and that will be their choice,
all you can do is work within your value system and if you’re asked to grade or promote this person at a later date, grade accordingly to your values as a manager.

This. First comment nailed it

yabu
you don't seem to be a good manager if you don't have an emergency plan/business continuity plan in place.

as for the person now being untrustworthy: they have communicated their (reasonable) boundaries clearly. a quality that deserves recognition.

I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think it holds much weight. A lot of people from previous generations - e.g. Millennials or even Gen X-ers - may not have been around people who’d experienced the war. As an example, I’m a Millennial in my thirties and no one in my family either now or when I was growing up had direct experience of the war or talked about it (apart from post-war rationing).

I think it’s also relevant to add that quite a lot of Gen Z-ers have had to deal with Covid whilst studying either at school or at uni. Although that’s not directly comparable to WW2, it is similar in terms of its scale and its impact on mental health because of the uncertainty it caused.

I agree with this.

You can have all the business continuity plans in the world but unless you’re psychic then you’ll never know what the next medical emergency through the door will bring.
it’s so obvious the vast majority of people on here have no understanding of how the NHS works.

When I read some of the comments on here it made me grateful I retired many years ago.

Some of these replies are insane. I own the business and I’m the first one to make sure all the staff leave on time. If anyone is at their desk after they should have finished I want to know why and I stop that happening. If they are emailing outside of working hours, I absolutely address it. I am also extremely flexible re: working hours, no ridiculous policies like unpaid doctor’s appointments, of course parents attend sports days, parents evenings etc and everyone is very well paid.
All that said, if I sent an email to ANY member of staff, within their working hours and said I needed a quick task doing urgently? I would receive zero push back. And if they told me they “had to ask their line manager”. They would still be told to do it. And if they refused, within working hours? I’d definitely implement a Performance Review.
I do think it’s a Gen Z thing, but it’s always apparent at interview and we simply don’t take them on. There are plenty of employees, Gen Z or otherwise, who understand that flexibility works both ways. I don’t think it’s you op, you need better recruitment.

I find this all the time. One of my team recent was desperate for a meeting with me so my PA sent a request for a 4:30 meeting the same day as I was in back to back meetings. She declined as she finishes at 4. At that stage in my career I would never have expected a same day meeting with a senior manager and would have been flexible. I understand if they have a prebooked commitment.

i had another team meeting who wouldn't come into the office on a particular day because she had plans in the evening. She lives 30 mins from the office.

Agree, and I'm a mum of a Gen Z 17yo.

Resilience and get-up-and-go is and was asked of her at home, but the malaise comes from the culture around her, including Safetyism, that and other ethos in schools, vapid self-obsession in social media and the Teflon-coated MC privilege of her peers, all of which she and they absorb. She knows developing those properties will increase her employability. Off her own bat, she's taken to debating to help her talk in public and develop critical thinking.

OP, YANBU. Statistical death by dripfeed a bit, though.

I can’t understand what lots of people on this thread are on about.

I’m glad that we’ve moved on from the way things were when I was young and accepted ridiculous behaviour, worked excessive hours and when ill, ignored symptoms of burnout and always felt “on”. But this isn’t that.

Work is relational. None of my grads would behave like this. They would have no problem telling me if they think something they were working on is more important and needs to be done now and I’d have no problem taking that into account. But equally no-one would question that I hold a bigger picture on priorities and urgency about how their 15 minutes is best spent. Everyone is flexible, pulls together, and it it’s a pretty happy place to be. It really does cut both ways.

Interacting through layers of hierarchy, having rigid job descriptions and being unable to re prioritise how you spend an afternoon sounds incredibly old fashioned and stressful to me. But clearly it’s normal for some people because of how extreme some of the responses on this thread are? Is it profession or sector specific rather than age I wonder?

That's the only thing that I can fathom is that some people live in very rigid and micromanaged environments and on the counter side then also refuse to be flexible about anything as their own line management is so rigid.

And that is your right. But do not moan, ever, about not being promoted. And do not ever begrudged people who put in the extra ( in this case literally 15 minutes of actually contracted hours, so not extra, the bare minimum) and then benefit from that, via salary increase and promotion.

I think your actions were misguided. His line manager would know what everyone in the team were doing and who had leave etc so asking them to allocate the work would have been more efficient. If I were given work by someone other than my line manager, i would do it, but I’d let them know, because it might mean I had to delay doing something they had asked me to do. I think that’s reasonable.

if I had leave prearranged I wouldn’t cancel it in this scenario. I think he was right to have healthy boundaries. I’m 38

as for general hybrid work policies etc they’re changing my life as mum to a young family. There are pros and cons but I think the shift to hybrid working during/after Covid is really helpful for many people but especially for women.