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 completely understand Amy8's concerns and take on the subject. I find myself in a similar situation, managing requests from upper management but not having a team I can depend on when things get busy. Many of the younger people on my team seem to treat work as something they do in their spare time, while everything else in their lives takes priority. The number of times they need to work from home because their boiler needs repairing is unbelievable.
What is interesting is that the fewer responsibilities someone has outside of work, such as children, mortgages or dependants, the more entitled their attitude to work seems to be.
I have spent a lot of time and energy explaining tasks, only for some people to delay or outright refuse to take ownership, always finding an excuse not to deliver. I once had a funny conversation with a young but alreadt fairly experienced team member who told me he did not want personal responsibility for a task because it should be shared by the whole team. It was clearly a one-off request that simply needed someone to get it done.
That same person later submitted his performance review, and I am sure he used ChatGPT for the written sections. This was before I even knew that was possible. His responses sounded polished but did not actually say anything or address his goals for the year.
In the end, I often find myself just doing the work myself, which makes me wonder what the point is of recruiting young graduates if you end up carrying the load anyway. Honestly, after those experiences, I have started prioritising candidates in their mid-thirties and older when hiring for new roles.

Sounds like he just didn't want to carry out the task. When you, a senior manager asked him to carry out a task that would just take 15 minutes to complete, he should have got on with it.

This !

Yes, @ElisaEvans - work life balance is a good thing, but it needs to include actual work if you are getting paid to do something! There are a lot of people now who seem to feel that work is an optional extra after their lives.

I appreciate flexibility from my employer if I have to go to the doctor for example. But I do expect to be working during my working hours.

Im with you OP. Im finding managing Gen Zs quite tiresome at the moment.

They'll definitely hide behind having to ask a line manager (who is on leave) or claim to be too busy when I know they're not or have had to listen to them yakking all day.

I have a new member of staff who is 5 months into her 6 month probation period. She is bright and charismatic but clearly doesn't understand that despite us having generous flexibilty she is still expected to log in and do some actual work, and to ask in advance for leave rather than tell me after 10am on the day. Ive had to make it clear that I can't just wave her through her probation period which seems to brought her some clarity on expectations.

I don't know why OP had been slated for asking someone to do sone work for her. I am frequently asked to so by people who are above my LM and often needing an immediate response. It wouldn't cross my mind to need to consult my LM. Often the request might come via teams chat whilst senior people are in meetings and yes, they'll probably get the credit - but my job is to crack on. So I do.

Personally I try to name check the people who've provided me with assistance. My own LM often comments on how generous I am towards the team.

Provably best to all contribute to the team effort.

JFC, he was being paid for it? And no, it’s not to make the company “look better” It is doing your actual job, which, you know, makes you look….I can’t even say good, but I’d go with vaguely competent?

You sound like you think your above everyone else, like you can just dictate to people what to do. Your job title dosent really mean anything, its just a title. I am a manager, and I would never expect any members of my staff to take on a last minute job, evan if in your opinion it does only take 15 mins, if it meant a staff member had to stay on past their time. I also wouldnt expect a member of staff to drop everthing in their day off to to some work. If thats what you used to do, then more fool you. Sounds like you got the job for licking arse.If it only took 15 mins like you said, then you could of done it yourself, meetings or no meetings. Do it when the meetings are over. Maybe you can stay behind to do the job.

Agree, its about getting the job done. OP you've done nothing wrong. Its a stinking attitude from a less senior team member. Someone needs to have a career focusing word in his ear for his own sake.

I actually love working with ex military people because you get none of this nonsense, they just get on with getting jobs done. I have no military history but seriously they are a breath of fresh air.

His line manager was on holidays. It was an urgent time sensitive request.

Would posters really think his response to disturb his line manager on holiday a reasonable response?

I certainly wouldn't.

My comment was in response to the specific quoted statement about general productivity.

The work was part of his job description and he could have done it during his work hours. So on the face of it he should have surely done it.

I would ask for a meeting with him and his line manager on Monday and find out why didn't do it.

Maybe he thought or knew he couldn't do it in 15 minutes.
Or he had other tasks to finish and was not sure if this task took priority.
Had he worked late the night before in order to take off earlier on Friday? With or without the agreement of his line manager?
Or he was already off on his weekend when he shouldn't have been?

I think the line manager is key here. She will need to explain to him that urgent work coming directly from you when she is away takes priority over everything.

Posters are getting their feathers ruffled by over tone and rank.
Let's not forget that this information was needed quickly in a patient meeting where many busy experts were already giving their time.

It seems ridiculous for a senior person to have to leave a meeting to get the information that their staff could and should provide when asked.

Can't believe you're a manager when you've failed to understand the op.

1. It wasn't a last minute job.
2. It is part of his job description.
3. Op needed the info as part of the meeting and by leaving to get the info was not able to participate in the discussion about someone's cancer care.
4. Op got the job because she's a senior medical consultant. Look at me understanding all that and i've never been a manager or a graduate.

Yes, I think it was related to his generation.

I applaud your determination to reflect on the experience and learn from it.

Where I feel you suffered for no good reason is in underestimating the stress the younger generation are experiencing at work - and not only this generation. It may be, as another PP has suggested, that the young man was not doing much in his last hour before his holiday and was packing his suitcase, or whatever. It is also equally possible that he was working manically, trying to get everything, including a decent handover, done before he had to leave. The last thing he needed was a senior MOS breathing down his neck asking for urgent action that (by your calculation) would eat a quarter of his remaining planned time.

You could maybe have addressed this by

• telling him you would drop his LM a note explaining that you had imposed an urgent task on him just before he left, or
• asking someone else on the team to do it once you realised he had an unusual personal deadline

It does sound to me as if he might be on a weekend away where he is worrying about having pissed you off due to (what he might see as, or what might actually be) your own inflexibility.

Perhaps you missed the critical bits. OP is his manager's manager so she has ultimate say and his own manager was on leave.
OP does not have ready access to the system, the junior does. I'm surprised there wasn't someone else to help, myself.

His line manager was on leave..........

He wanted to check with his line manager who was on annual leave? Something doesn’t add up.
as director of a department who regularly work from home and have advance leave arrangements to finish early, you need to create a shared file where team absences are recorded in advance, including leaving early when his manager is already on leave and things like appointments.

i think things like WFH due to a hospital appt or 3:30pm parents evening is absolutely fine but the time of the absence must be recorded for practical reasons. Not to make up the hours, that’s petty. But for purely practical operational reasons.

if you haven’t done this then expect your team to be disorganised and you not to set the standards you require to direct a department.

Are you the poster that said you struggle with interviews and find it hard to get work because you “can’t bullshit”?

I do seriously wonder about these First World Problems. To put things into perspective, the OP might like to visit Northern Kenya where my old housemaid was born. She had one dress, washed it every night and hoped it would dry before she wore it the next day. Her grandmother had 20 children (no contraception available then) which she had to feed, wash, clothe, (no shoes) and partially educate. My wonderful housemaid looked after me for 3 years and I loved her so much. Two women, born 2 weeks apart in completely different countries and circumstances, we thought the same. She told me "never waste food, Madame" and taught me how to do an awful lot with nothing. My darling housemaid died this year, a Great Lady, upright, honest and put all of her six children through education without complaint. She worked so hard. Yes, I made sure she was financially safe when she retired. In all honesty, the OP complaint is meaningless. We are such a small speck in the Universe, our concerns are nothing. Hope this helps.

Massive world salad! I would wager you are either public sector or hidden in a massive corporate?

No, some happy few of us have reading comprehension skills.

Yes, I believe that cancer consultants - in fact, all doctors - are appointed purely for their arse licking abilities. That’s why they have to train for seven long years.

Are you in an episode of downtown abbey ?

You’re so fortunate in the nhs we still have to treat people like you too

You do realise that poster was supporting you?