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 ?

I often get requests like this. The only time I’d say no is if I was on leave already. Culturally, it would be very frowned upon to say no in my organisation (Central Government). I’m often dialled straight into meetings to get these requests verbally. Maybe OP should start doing that. Side note- I’m very impressed the OP could access the data needed- there is no way my senior manager would be able to login to anything remotely technical. They spend too long in meetings to remember how to do stuff like this.

''@mellongoose · Today 06:23

This thread is enlightening me as to why the UK’s productivity is stagnant. People are no longer willing to go the extra mile.''

Rubbish.

UK employees already work some of the longest hours in Europe.

Lack of productivity is due to:

-crap senior management (endemic in most places I have worked in...)
-lack of investment by employers in staff training
-Short staffing to maximise profits which leads to employees burning out
-stagnant wages
-zero hour contracts and insecure employment in general.

People having good boundaries and not agreeing to working extra hours for free or wanting a good work life balance is not an issue.

How odd that people dealing with said emergency cannot access the data they require.

Seems to me the request was poorly explained and communicated and when questioned, rather than explaining the urgency of the situation, the OP told the admin that they just ought to do as their seniors tell them to.

They can. They have people whose job it is to give them the data.

Go him! It’s our generation’s fault for being so available all the time and bending over backwards to help that’s caused us to be so highly stressed and on the verge of breakdowns/burnout. You and your team need to follow his approach to work!

If access to the data is that critical, then how come they don't have someone on 24/7. Surely emergencies can come in any time? What if the guy had already gone home when this was needed? Why don't have they someone whose remit this task clearly is - someone 24/7 to cover that role? Real emergencies don't happen 9-5 only.

That's a silly system, it would take less time to access it themselves in an emergency.

That is true, but can you not see the difference between someone needing to step away from an important meeting because it’s out of hours and there’s nobody else available, and someone needing to step away because someone is just refusing to do their job.

Nobody was asking this chap to stay late or miss his long weekend. OP’s request was reasonable and she’s in his direct line management chain so fully entitled to make a decision about what his priorities should be.

I think she could have communicated better. But he sounds like he needs serious training about who and what to prioritise.

Depends on the system. I can guarantee that our director would take significantly longer to access data than any of our data people, so why would he do it himself? He has staff who are better at it than him!

OP didn't have this man as staff though, she was commandeering him from other tasks.

I don’t see a problem with asking because it was for the patient and it was a short task. And everyone who is there on a cancer ward presumably really needs to be there, so it’s important. Where I work I would not question a request from my manager’s manager. I might raise it with my manager when they’re back off leave but I’d do it.

i’d be having a word with their manager, about the log on issue and the not responding issue.

If OP is concerned she needs to talk to his line manager. His line manager can get his side and decide if he was reasonable or not, and educate him on how to handle such things in future, if appropriate.

He is in her direct reporting line, so is staff for her.

I am a HoD. Big department with multiple teams and 450 staff. I frequently ask staff who are not my direct reports to do a task or give me info. If something time consuming I would cc their manager but not just for a 15 minute info gathering task.

if I were to get a blocking response like this I would be surprised, we work collaboratively and while I am respected as the boss I don’t pull rank - I don’t need to. A blocking response suggests a demotivated individual and/or team culture.

Of course, there are times when a specific individual cannot do a task, eg if they are just about to leave work, in which case I would expect a response like ‘I’m on a half day and just about to leave so I’ve passed your request on to X and she’s doing this for you now.

Yes your management style was outdated 30 years ago. Definitely book on as many training courses as you can.
How ridiculous that you thought you were that important that people should give up booked time off to help you!!!!!

Why do people keep saying that OP expected someone to give up booked time off? He still had 90 minutes of work time before he was due to leave and it was a 15 minute task.

I agree that expecting someone to give up booked time off would be unreasonable, but this isn’t what has happened here.

Literacy and comprehension issues.
A consistent theme on MN threads.

Unfortunately this admin worker appears to be a single point of failure and so there is no 'x' to pass it onto. This is a process design issue.

Given that this is the case, and the nature of this department's work, I can't help wonder how frequently he is expected to stop everything/delay his departure etc. This will definitely lead to demotivated staff and a lack of willingness to do an occasional ad hoc task. Especially given the fact that as an NHS admin worker he won't be earning much more than minimum wage for what can probably be a fairly demanding job at times.

The service I manage is front line and public sector, so I fully understand the pressures of inadequate staffing and funding, combined with overwhelming demand on the service. However a priority still needs to be that the service functions to fulfil it's basic purpose and the operating processes and staff remits need to reflect this.

It's sounds like a priority for the OP is to ensure that other members of their team can also perform this critical task.

People are also assuming he didn't already have 90 minutes of work allocated to those 90 minutes.

There's also quite a lot of assumptions going on, particularly with OPs self appointed cheerleaders. 😬

Sticking to their boundaries on pre approved finish times is good and how it should be

I’m also a senior manager, and you’re not in the right here. A discussion needs to be had with his line manager before using his time. He’s a resource on their team, and you don’t have visibility of his workload or schedule. His seniority has no bearing on that.

i think it’s good that the next generation are clear about boundaries. there are some problems coming through, but that isn’t one of them.

A discussion needs to be had with his line manager before using his time. He’s a resource on their team, and you don’t have visibility of his workload or schedule.

His line manager who is on leave?
And the op is HoD. It's her team and she is the one who has overall say in who does what when.

The boundary of not doing work for your bosses boss when you are being paid to be in work and the line manager is on leave?