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 ?

tone ? Yours strikes as Jumping a step ahead or two!

I don't think the request was unreasonable. The employee had agreed time off and might have had a deadline he had to stick to due to other commitments like an appointment or plane to catch or child to pick up, that sort of thing. In which case, he was right to set the boundary. If there was capacity to be flexible, then he should have been. It just shouldn't always be a given when personal commitments clash.

Oh come on now OP. You're at risk of sounding a little David Brent here.

You've tried saying it's because he is Gen Z, it's because he doesn't respect you as a woman, that you've made a note and will be tracking if this is a pattern of behaviour to set up a performance review.

Or maybe, he has a huge workload already and was trying to complete a huge amount of work before he left for his long weekend and your '15 minute task' was going to tip the balance.

Were they paid for the 'networking' time? Maybe they hate all that trying to impress by giving up their own time, and prefer just to do their jobs?

Is it possible to do both ? Realise I need to be clearer , improve processes but still have expectations that he could have done better ?

I thought this was going to be a thread about eye-rolling, refusal to make phone calls and the endless days off for mental health.

I'm just reading your posts. It does sound like you have a god complex. Just calling it as I see it.

I manage a lot of Gen Z and have noticed with some people firm boundaries morph into outright rudeness and entitlement and a strategy to avoid work because it hasn’t been set out in granular detail- it becomes adversarial. There’s such a thing as being over informed about boundaries, finding the sweet spot between being a doormat and being hostile takes maturity and experience

I missed the drip feed. In that case yes, a bit unreasonable assuming he wasn't going to miss a flight or let friends down. And assuming he knew how long it would take, and he wouldn't get dragged into a senior managers meeting that he'd then be unable to leave.

I stand by enjoying Gen Z's general attitude.

I also now think OP is a goady post for engagement, because she's said that he's a good worker and then later than his work isn't great and she's considering a performance review.

Actually, not really, pp isn't the only one seeing what you're maybe not seeing. Ultimately, if a junior is unclear who take instructions from, it's because upper levels haven't established clear groundrules. Like you, they make assumptions instead.

You could have done better, yes.

I was already on your side, but with the additional info/context -that the junior should know as well- I'd already have a meeting with him and his line manager next week. Set out the job demands early.

I do think Gen Z are more on board with the importance of a good work/life balance. Good on them for that. Much healthier.

This is reflective of poor management.

If a event is outside usual working hours and isn’t in contracts that they attend n events, then the manager is responsible for making sure all direct reports can attend and for sorting pay for those who aren’t salaried, but earn an hourly rate and wouldn’t be paid less than NMW wage for attending without additional salary.

As a senior manager I wouldn’t have gone over the head of the middle manager to task the junior colleague. He has an agreed workload with his manager. In that situation I would have gone to my middle managers to ask who has the availability to support, and if it was no one, determine if something could be reprioritised for support. Perhaps it’s because I am public sector, not a profit driven industry, I do not expect anyone to work above and beyond. We work set ours with set objectives and priorities, if something new arises we have to shuffle, not add.

That sounds quite normal unfortunately these days.

I'm a senior lecturer at a university , we have an administrator for our programme. I once asked them if they could format some exam papers and print off 40 copies.

Was told, no that wasn’t in their job description 🤷‍♀️. Literally unless a specific task is in their job description they won’t do it, the administration manager (also Gen Z) backed them up.

So now the university pay senior lecturers 50-60k a year to do photocopying and basic admin stuff and wonder why they have no money. And funnily enough I doubt photocopying is actually listed in my job description. Maybe i should refuse to do it too 🤣

Just as an aside - are you a consultant rather than a permanent member of staff?

I've definitely seen differences in how requests from consultants/contractors are handled over requests from permanent staff and it's not generational.

You have a problem with authority

Yes. Just don't go around saying 'Im a great manager and my team knows it' whilst you're at it.

The middle manager was on leave.

I managed a load of Gen z ers and I struggled with some of them and their laziness, procrastination and preciousness. They all wanted to be CEO and not do anything that wasn’t ‘sexy’. I was a frequent recipient of the Gen Z stare - it is real!
I performance managed a few of them out of work but in the end I found it so exhausting so I took early retirement as did several of my colleagues.

I have justifiable problems with anyone who can only see error in others, and not themselves. That sometimes includes people in positions of authority.

Because the staff survey and feedback from the team - it was a reason for my promotion many years ago

Sorry just saw that, I’ve only just read the other posts. Feels all a bit dramatic and hard work on both sides for a 15 min task.

The university doesn’t have a dedicated reprographics depaetment?