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 ?

Bosses who expect you to drop existing tasks to make them look good are fairly draining too.

I’m not sure the generation is the factor here. I manage a small team and I allocate their work according to current workload and priority, and around planned time off. It pisses me right off when MY manager wades in and asks one of them to do something else, without coming via me.

It doesn’t help that it’s ALWAYS the only male member of my team that he asks, but that’s a whole other thread

I’ve said what I’m trying to suggest
generational difference

a disrespect of hierarchy

he’s not doing his job

he’s unwilling to be flexible

his overall performance is average but I’ve noted and if a pattern of behaviour persists I’ll be asking for a performance review

Ha ha.
Do we work for the same organisation?

I have been known to "bribe" our IT guys with cake 😁

I'd never ask someone else to do something for me that I could do myself in 15 minutes, by the time you've contacted someone, asked and explained the task I could have nearly completed it myself.

Declining because you are about to go on holiday does not necessarily mean at other times you are inflexible.

Within reason, being key.
OP is realising that old fashioned attitudes are no longer welcome.
I hope the employee is enjoying their leave.

Work a bit harder and maybe you’ll be the boss and experience the privileges that come with it.

or carry on doing the bare minimum

Within reason means anything work related

What if it’s a young male disrespecting a female ? I’m the only female and a head of dept

Gosh, I hope he's also looking for a better job while on leave. Really, your approach is very 1995.

Did he understand that it was just a quick task? Your original post made it sound like it was a major time consuming piece of work and he may have thought that.

In the circumstance you describe I might have asked a peer or someone above me if they would be able to get the information I needed as it was a business priority and I wasn't able to do. I work in local gov and maybe it is different but if something needs done urgently anyone who can helps out. I have previously done photocopying, envelope stuffing, setting up meeting rooms, running reports off systems etc even though I'm a manager because it needed done and the person who normally would do it either wasn't available or the size of the task meant they needed help

What an inefficient way of working.

As Head of Function/Director I don’t expect to have to play pass the parcel with information to get a minor 15 minute task done.

If OP was trying to completely re-arrange the persons working day/week you’d maybe have a point….

I can’t think of many people that I work with, regardless of grade, who wouldn’t jump on a system for 15 minutes to help someone else out.

A 15 min task doesn’t require deprioritising other work or a conversation with a line manager and certainly not if someone senior in that team’s hierarchy has requested the help.

Having delay going on leave is a different issue. But seems unlikely for such a short ask.

I’d be speaking to my direct report (the line manager) to have a word with the person who refused the task. Maybe they genuinely aren’t coping with their workload?

No, it doesn't.

I literally don’t have access to the system as he’s an administrator- it was quicker and it’s his job

Bit of both TBH - I'm not generation Z but I don't tend to follow hierarchical systems if someone at work just barks something. I don't care what grade people are there is a professional courtesy and way to ask for working assistance.

I think your presumption that he should have just done it without you asking if he had availability to check it is wrong. You might find he was clearing the decks etc take sure he doesn't come back to something or something doesn't get delayed.

The LM check wasn't needed however.

I'm very good at my job (not blowing my own horn I regularly get good feedback and awards) and always help the team out, also managers and even CEO requests occasionally. However it's a request which is asked.

I think you’ve really hit on something here. There’s definitely been a shift!

That comment says it all really. Thanks for that.

Have you thought about doing any coaching? these kinds of questions are the sort of thing that it helps with. I am in the sector and so many companies are using executive individual coaching for senior staff and also coaching in small groups for junior staff to help bridge these types of gaps in expectations and behaviour. Might be useful for you! It’s becoming really common X

I would - say if I was prepping a report in a meeting for the CEO and just needed to know how many X had been sold in Y month and needed a query running I'd have pinged one of the team and asked them to run said query.

It is completely normal to do that. I might have even asked one to run one query, and another to run another query and a third to run another whilst I wrote the report and collated all their responses.

I guess many people on here have never worked at a high level where this sort of thing is often done on the hoof, whilst the CEO is maybe negotiating deals and needing info that secures contracts that keep everyone in jobs.

To be fair the mental health of Gen Z is considerably worse than the generations before them. So I’m not sure the lack of resilience and extreme rigidity is doing them any favours

Op don’t listen.

he made a mountain out of a molehill and should have just got on with it

Is mental health worse or are people more willing to speak about it? Some people of my generation faced horrific work conditions but suffered in silence.

Exactly!

plus business are slower, offer terrible customer services and staff happiness levels are the same if not worse. So no, I don’t think Gen Z are getting it right at all