Gen z’rs

[Newyorklady]

I manage a large team approx 25 staff.
majority of staff report back to me being happy and settled in their roles.
we work hybrid in office 2 days a week max. Remainder wfh. No requirements to work over, workload manageable.
we offer flexible working, good Annual Leave and I consider myself an approachable manager.
I have mixed age groups however I seem to be constantly coming across Gen Z’rs who are struggling to cope both in life and at work.
I am starting to feel at a loss what to do.
They seem to be quite lazy ie I’ve had to get them out of bed when realising not online by 11 am, they make constant excuses not to come in the office.
I’ve started to performance management them informally due to these issues. This relates to 2 members of staff both late twenties.
Both now been off regularly sick citing depression and low mood. When raised before I offered reasonable adjustments and stress risk assessments. They come back to work when they’re sick pay reduces. I’ve offered Regular wellbeing check ins. Offered EAP.
Due to continued dips in performance I had no choice but to start informal PIP after 6 months following last absences.
Began phasing back in office.
Again at Christmas now sick pay refreshed gone off long term sick citing depression. Then changed the sick notes after 2 times to Work Related Stress.
Im flummoxed and at a loss. What work related stress when they are hardly in work ?
they do not have challenging roles but seem unable to cope with accepting a job has responsibilities and expectations.
I don’t get this off my 20 odd other staff who report back how much they enjoy the role. I seek regular feedback from all team members.
i honestly just wished they would leave and find out what the real work of work is like.
What else can I do Im fed up with constantly offering support only for it to never be enough and go on the same cycle. They seem to have a sense of entitlement re getting paid to do very little. Anyone else get this from same age group.
Advice.

Wonder how long it would take for there to be calls of ageism if there was a thread entitled ‘boomers’ with sweeping generalisations of their work ethic.

I don't think it's a new thing - I first saw it 30 years ago

some young people have always take time to settle into work and accept the limitations and responsibilities - I think it's an age and immaturity think not a generation thing

some young people have always take time to settle into work and accept the limitations and responsibilities

OP says the two in question are in their late twenties. How much time do they need? At what point are adults expected to start behaving like actual adults?

Sone never get there

But it's a maturity thing not a specific generational thing

I’m cautious about saying it’s generational, and wondering perhaps it’s just coincidence. In the last year two of my newest staff have been fantastic. Both mid to late 20. They are proactive, engaging, keen learners and take their jobs seriously. They take initiative, gave both individually improved processes. They work remotely and have created fantastic relationships with their co-workers and work fantastically in a team ranging in age from early 20s up to mid 60s. I genuinely could not be prouder to have them as members of our team.

I’ve had one who was similar age who would do less than the bare minimum and then almost weekly ask when he’d get a pay rise. He would pretend to start an hour earlier than everyone to finish an hour earlier, take triple the time to complete tasks, and regularly disappear. By the time he left (after he’d been moved to another team where output was far more trackable) we found that the 40 hour working week he claimed he wanted over time on top of (paid hourly) was actually averaging about 18 hours of work, and that’s being very generous.

Anyway, long story short: it’s always easy to see the negatives and focus on those than the positive examples!

You may be right but I can't say I blame them.

They've been bought into a system where taxes are too high and work doesn't pay anymore. There's little incentive. You can't expect people to be motivated to work when they are aren't any better off than people on benefits with a council house and a couple of kids.

Should add, I'm a millennial and count myself lucky that I just missed the massive hike in university fees, and managed to buy a house when they were still just about still affordable.

Gen z have been well and truly shat on. I'm not surprised that they have no motivation to work full time, and still not be able to afford anything resembling a decent standard of living. Most employers take the piss with entry level salaries. It pays more to have anxiety and depression.

If they still live at home and have no prospect of leaving, it just makes sense that they would be depressed and unmotivated.
Working or not working doesn’t really make much difference to their outcomes.

Now you’ve given the whole story, I do think he was unreasonable, and unlikely to progress in his career getting on wrong side of seniors. If it was his job, and it’s a 15 min job then unless he was going to miss a train or plane, he should have just done it. In any industry if you won’t help in situations like this, you’re unlikely to get very far. We have people we rely on to help in urgent situations and they are the people we look to if we have promotions going etc. You’re stupid really to refuse to do something like this when it’s such a short task and your senior needs that info urgently.

Wrong thread, though I can see why given how similar they are.