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 ?

Honestly we’re in the field that’s exactly the scenario - I was with the ceo in a meeting and the request was urgent and related to a patient .

noones asked me what happened - I basically had to leave the meeting and ask for passwords that he hadn’t saved in an encrypted file - I did then do the task but leaving the meeting meant I wasn’t able to help with a decision I needed to be in on

L

OP doesn't need you telling her what to listen to, to be an effective leader she doesn't just need an echo chamber.

Unless running it catch a train/flight he should’ve helped you with the 15 min task.

It is a different world now. We used to work hours and hours of unpaid OT. The workplace was much stricter and more hierarchical. I notice with the younger employees they want even 20 mins time back but often come in late (always leaving on time) so it doesn’t seem to work both ways.

What, even if you were in a meeting that said information was needed ? You’d interrupt the meeting rather than ping a Teams message to someone asking if they could help by getting it for you?

How about admin tasks?

In theory I COULD arrange all of my own meetings and room bookings quite quickly……. but as a senior person it’s not what my company pays me to do, it’s why I have a PA.

Efficiency is about the right people doing the right tasks; no wonder people get burned out if they’re trying to do everything themselves!

He just doesn’t sound very good

I think you have drip fed a lot when you aren't getting the answers you want. I'm 35 and remote and have said the same thing before. If his manager was on holiday, how would he check with them? I think it's worth remembering that just because you have a more senior position, he is also busy in his job and has responsibilities he can't just drop. He didn't instantly drop everything to assist you because it's not 1950. He calmly stated that he would need to check with his manager before dropping what he was already assigned to do, and then noted he was also leaving early so probably wasn't the best person for the task.

The best process would have been to ping one of your direct reports who wasn't on annual leave and ask them to assign the task you needed doing. If you want people to fall down around you because of your amazing senior title and the hierarchy that brings, I would suggest joining the military. Other than that, in most workplaces it's not going to command the fear you think it is in this day and age.

That's not just down to Gen Z employees, it's down to those running the companies too. If staff are treated well, they'll (mostly) do their job well.

Given that you’ve said it was a 15 min job he was BU to say he’d have to clear it with his line manager. If one of my line managees called me up to ask me about that I’d think they were wasting my time. But I’ve never experienced that sort of thing from any of the Gen Z colleagues I managed. I do think they’ve got better boundaries but I’ve not found them to be work shy.

He might have been on a tight schedule and had to leave as he had agreed. I am on his side here. You sound a bit like you have a god complex due to seniority. As they say, you don't know who you'll pass on the way down, so be nice.

Now what I'm most horrified about is someone logging into a system that contains patient information using a shared ? password without their own log on

Why should people work lots and lots of hours unpaid though? Why should they come in early and leave late every single day?

I am a great manager - my team knows it. I will be reflecting on my style , what I can learn and how I can improve

This.

And I think this thread has confirmed that there may indeed be a generational difference.

I'm genuinely gobsmacked by how many people see the op, as opposed to the employee, as unreasonable. I cannot imagine anyone I know who is my age (mostly mid 50s professionals) thinking this is anything other than unhelpful, inflexible behaviour - unless their is a history of regular boundary pushing from management.

I think helping out others occasionally fits into the "being a good team player" but that is often is part of a job description.

I'm in my 40s and in a senior role in the private sector and would never expect someone to work late when they're supposed to be on annual leave. I'm senior, but still very much work to live, rather than live to work.

I wish my son was more like this. He has just started a graduate job. He is being given tasks by all different people and is starting to drown a bit under the workload. He feels that he is too junior to say no. But obviously all these people do not have oversight of his total workload.

He feels like he has to say yes; not all Gen Z kids are asserting themselves and saying no. I wish my son was more like the one in the OP really.

100%

OP YABVU

I do think it’s important to say that my sector (health) it’s reactive to patient needs and things just come up - which is reflected to a varying level in all JDs.

I'm a millennial but I would have said the same thing as your Gen Z employee.
IMO it it reasonable that they check with their actual supervisor when others give them tasks. If you have the authority to do so, tell their supervisor to talk to them about doing tasks for you without needing to check with their supervisor, for next time.
As to them leaving for a long weekend, they had to let you know so you would be aware of them being unavailable after X time? I imagine they had already planned the work they were completing before leaving. I don't see the issue with that?

we have encryption software - so generates a unique password but he hadn’t been using that properly - so I will need to review this too

Right, this thread suggests otherwise though - I'm sure you have strong points, but every single manager I've worked under and alongside, in various roles, also has weak points - they shouldn't just assume that someone else's behaviour is the only issue.
Think of the driver who only looks to criticise other drivers, same idea.

I’m Gen Z and never work from home (can’t in my job anyway) I’ve been told by many customers I do a much better job than most of the older workers who are always miserable, snappy and looking to cut corners

Two things here from someone who manages too.

1. I wouldn’t bypass the person I manage to delegate to their staff. Not sure if it’s common practice in your organisation, but in mine it’s not. People do do it, but it’s irritating and means their direct line management don’t have oversight of their workload or output. If another manager did this to someone I manage, it would annoy me.
2. Not sure what industry you work in, but mine definitely does have the power and need to ask people to work late last minute. That being said, for general buy in & morale, I would reserve this for essential situations. Not sure if yours was or not? Are they paid extra for these instances? I respect Gen Z for their self care to be honest. Just because we nodded our heads and said yes, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

In short, personally I think this could have been much smoother if you passed this task to the person you actually manage, for them to decide whether they do it or who to delegate it to. Are there other issues with this person or is it a stand alone situation?

fwiw, editing to add I am a millennial.

Your tone reminds me of a painful person in the workplace who had less expertise but a superiority complex. She was painful to be around but thought she was great. Let's just say, due to minion talk, she was passed over for the permanent contract when it came up.

Was it really a 15 minute task? And if so, was it clear that it was a 15 minute task?

I only ask because I'm an experienced senior manager and used to having urgent requests dumped on me with no notice. I'm experienced enough to know these need addressing quickly, but I've noticed in my new organisation that the leadership team are really bad at giving direction so it's not always clear what they actually want and therefore the task could be 15 minutes or could be an entire day's work.

Is it at all possible your ask was unclear?

I recently had staff at an important event where we had to persuade some partners (from all around the world who we would only see at this one event) to do something. There was a networking session first thing at 8-9.15 and the main conference started at 9.15. All of the staff arrived at their usual start time (0930, 1000, some at 0900) and missed the networking session. I was shocked that I needed to tell them that they needed to arrive at the start of the event and they didn't automatically realise that and/or care that that was important. I'd totally understand if people had to do the school run or something and therefore they couldn't be flexible, but these were young, single people that all lived nearby. Shocking. But I have now learnt my lesson that expectations need to be spelled out, and agreed in advance so you know where you stand.