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 ?

Read the irony mate. I have been in your corner from the off.

I’m head of department for a start-up spanning tech and operations.
i manage a team of 9.
It’s a mix of levels and abilities to ensure we can do what’s required. Eg some engineers on the road, one data analyst, some office staff.
i am happy for people to manage their own time but I need cover for every operational aspect of my department. That includes a manager recording if he and his direct report will both be away and there’s no direct cover.

what is word salad? You sound like someone I wouldn’t like on my team or to sit next to at a wedding.

I've really enjoyed managing Gen Z aged staff. I feel for them, they've inherited a uniquely difficult economic landscape that nobody prepared them for. All of them were living with their parents into their twenties despite working full time (this was in a major city for context). They were very professional, almost to a fault, as they seemed keen to carve out an adult identity that way. Much more switched on than I was at their age.

A tip for the future. I wouldn't come it as "a senior request trumps everything else".

I'd come at it as

"sorry to disrupt your work but this is business/patient critical. Can we review what else you've got on and reprioritise to get this done? If possible could we pass task x & y to bob smith to free you up for this?

If this delays your other work I'll speak to your manager and explain why we had to prioritise this. "

The focus needs to be on the fact that your asking them to drop other tasks due to the urgency of this, not because "I'm more senior" , and its on you to help them manage potential fallback (eg from other senior people) from not doing the other work they needed to be doing in that time.

May not be generation but just this guy?

but I think boundaries are good - lacking flexibility less so.

sorry if I’ve missed it - but has he been there long?

They don’t build them like they used to.

So sorry ! Definitely missed irony class in those 7 years

Am I allowed to use my seniority to demand urgent data within working hours from someone in my team

No - you are allowed to use the urgency of the situation/importance of the request to.

Do you see the difference? One is about hierarchy/rank, the other is about effective workload prioritisation.

I had an example in my team where I asked the most junior guy (3 rungs below me... I am very senior) to assist with something urgent. He said no. Turned out his line manager had just received an incredibly urgent request and asked him to support. It was more important than what i needed, regardless of my seniority.

Just because you are senior, you won't always know best. I'm much more experienced than my grads... but they have skills I don't.

Respect is a two way street. Respect people well & you'll find they choose to go the extra mile for you & you don't need to rely on pulling rank.

You’ve got it 👏

Oh I know, pick me! Junior commandeered to organise settlement of a house sale - not their job nor in their training, senior swanned off not bothering to check junior knew the process, junior didn't feel able to say no so did the best they could, settlement went through but without proper authorities in place, whole heap of extra work for additional staff to contain the mess, client well stuffed around and understandably pissed off, company looked like numpties, and the whole debacle could and maybe should have resulted in a complaint to the professional body governing lawyers. Plain bad management.

You have received a lot of stick OP and it’s undeserved. As a hard working doctor and consultant you should be thanked and begged not to leave and go abroad to double your salary and halve the grief you receive.
In answer to your initial question, I do believe the younger generation are more likely to attempt unrealistic ‘boundaries’ around what they deem acceptable at work. The problem is someone has to do the task and in this case your time had to make up for their refusal. You had to leave a senior level meeting where your knowledge should have been utilised because someone refused to adhere to their own job spec in their own working hours and yet posters are defending this and saying you may be the problem. Then you find a potentially serious data security login breach and still you are the perceived villain.
Maybe this person has shown they need to be properly trained/supervised in the office setting. WFH is not going to be sustainable if people abuse the privilege. We can sadly see why the NHS is struggling despite the enormous funding being ploughed in.

Nope. I've never made any comments on here about interviews.
(I must do reasonably well though, as I've been fairly successful in securing a variety of roles, PhD position etc).

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

See what we mean about the unnecessary attacks from OP now?

Nah, I was returning a pointless comment with an equally pointless one.

I think he didn't want to help you or doesn't like you for some reason and decided to be awkward

To think you accused me of looking for attention the other day…I’ve not looked at the thread since Saturday morning but a cursory sweep just now shows you’ve been on it constantly. Ever thought about getting a job or hobby?

PS, don’t reply. As I also won’t be looking again

Completely agree. I'm Gen-X and work in the NHS. I've learned the hard way that boundaries are crucial, after completely burning myself out and ending up ill and crippled with stress.

I absolutely set firm boundaries now, and encourage junior colleagues to do the same. Obviously if a major crisis/emergency meant all hands were needed on deck, that would be different, but otherwise I work only the hours I am contracted and paid for.

I'm not the one making pointless comments or insulting people.

Oh god don't get me started on this. I know some wonderful B7s and 8s - but we've been saddled with one recently who not only has no management or leadership, but has distinctly iffy clinical skills as well and seems to spend her whole time screeching "I AM A BAND 7!" and trying to pull rank.

She's making me bloody ill with stress trying to do my own job.

Yep, some older people pick up the sort of idiocy that is mainly coming from the young victims of wokery

Think everyone is being a bit harsh on the OP. The very fact she is posting on here asking for input shows she is reflecting on her own management style. Dictators don’t typically do that.

OP if he was logging off early, agreed, for holiday, it is irrelevant whether it’s for a trip to McDonald’s or your Caribbean - none of your business, it’s been agreed.

To have him push back and check with his manager however is ridiculous and I think just shows his lack of experience on how hierarchy works. You could simply have replied and and stated he didn’t need to check with his manager as you are the Director so your request would be priority against the workload he was working on. That would have resolved it. You don’t need to start going OTT on out of hours rotas etc.

You shouldn’t be expecting him to cancel leave or pre-arranged flexibility. That is what they pay the senior managers the extra money for!

I work in IT and would work for cake 😂