Employers reveal why Gen Z is the hardest
generation to work with
New York Post,
by
Rikki Schlott
Original Article
Posted By: AltaD,
4/26/2023 10:19:04 AM
Despite many of them having only just entered the workforce, Generation Z — those born in 1997 onwards — is already getting a bad rap at the office.
According to a recent survey of 1,300 managers, three out of four agree that Gen Z is harder to work with than other generations — so much so that 65% of employers said they have to fire them more often.
One in eight have let go of a Gen Zer less than one week after their start date, the study found.
The results ring true with managers across the US and in various industries, who report that young hires have been difficult to deal with,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Italiano 4/26/2023 10:22:37 AM (No. 1456652)
Millennials were no picnic, at least some of those I had the "pleasure" of supervising.
39 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 4/26/2023 10:34:48 AM (No. 1456666)
FTA:Because Gen Zers are bringing their politics into the workplace, more and more employers report that they’re walking on eggshells — and even fearful of their own subordinates.
This is crazy. Tell them to check their politics at the door.
83 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Sardonic 4/26/2023 10:51:32 AM (No. 1456682)
The solution is to not tolerate their nonsense. You either comport yourself in the office or you walk.
104 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
bamapreacher 4/26/2023 10:54:57 AM (No. 1456685)
There is a hilarious video on YouTube. Type in "Millennial Job Interview."
35 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 4/26/2023 10:58:20 AM (No. 1456688)
Oh, I believe it. I’m real glad I retired before these little snowflakes found their way into the workforce. This is what happens when you raise a whole generation that receives participation trophies, never gets disciplined, and never faces any adversity. They may as well still be in diapers.
83 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 4/26/2023 10:58:26 AM (No. 1456689)
Hardly surprising. The real world is going to be a harsh wake-up call for a lot of that generation.
36 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Cindiana 4/26/2023 11:12:45 AM (No. 1456704)
I checked out the video recommended by #4. There are several others teased in the sidebar which were equally well done. The sad fact, though, is that these babies will likely never mature and contribute as productive adults. What in the world can we do???
33 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
dbdiva 4/26/2023 11:15:01 AM (No. 1456708)
This rings true for me. Before I retired I had to train one. Luckily this was before politics, pronouns, and language etc. was an issue. But the boy had the attention span of a gnat, refused to take notes about any training I gave him telling me he would remember what to do when it came time to do it (He didn't). I had to explain things multiple times to no avail. Everything he did do had to be corrected by others on our team. He was one of the laziest people I've ever met and he NEVER looked anyone in the eye. He lacked any kind of work ethic at all. He lasted 6 months and he resigned. That was one of the happiest days of my life.
I wouldn't be surprised if some companies will start offering bonuses or other incentives to employees close to retirement in hopes of getting them to stay on longer. But what happens when Gen Z is all that's left??
54 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
3XALADY 4/26/2023 11:15:54 AM (No. 1456709)
#7 and unfortunately at some point they will be running our future if we live long enough.
26 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
bighambone 4/26/2023 11:17:17 AM (No. 1456711)
All you have to do with the Gen Z population is walk through a Walmart store and take a look at the Gen Zers examples there to see what employers see wrong with that population group. I would say that only about 5% of that population would be mentally and physically qualified to enlist in the armed forces. That’s why the Biden crew is lowering the requirements for armed forces enlistment.
22 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 4/26/2023 11:17:59 AM (No. 1456713)
You're the employer. You set the rules, not them. Employees either follow them or get out. You are not there to accommodate their wants or needs.
That needs to be explained to every employee the day they're hired.
37 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
seamusm 4/26/2023 11:19:17 AM (No. 1456715)
Dr. Spock's (not of Star Trek fame) great grandchildren. This has been coming down for decades. It's Satanic roots in tertiary education and training of teachers as well as parents bear the blame. America, Europe, and all the world are desperately in need of a revival of Christian thought and behavior.
44 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
SweetPea3 4/26/2023 11:19:42 AM (No. 1456716)
AND raising their own children, #9. Yikes!
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Dreadnought 4/26/2023 11:19:50 AM (No. 1456717)
On the other hand, Zedders have lost youth's sense of invincibility because of Covid. Based on December polling a significant percentage of this cohort is finding religion.
19 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 4/26/2023 11:29:15 AM (No. 1456727)
If it is your company, tell them that if they discuss politics, they'll be gone.
26 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
sksmith75 4/26/2023 11:39:15 AM (No. 1456741)
It looks to me, that these kids never learned and the employers have forgotten Murphy's Golden Rule; the guy with the gold makes the rules. Yeah, I know that's no politically correct.
30 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Highlander 4/26/2023 11:53:08 AM (No. 1456754)
Why hire any Z’ers in the first place? Are employers that hard up for workers?
18 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
pros7767 4/26/2023 11:57:10 AM (No. 1456757)
Agree with the article and what all the posters said but one of the problems for employers is trying to maintain a workforce.
I work part-time in the food industry with a bunch of Gen Z. They are all addicted to their phones. Most do as little as possible and regularly ignore our boss because "she's always mad". My boss goes out of her way to accommodate them with scheduling and preferences. She gets mad when they're not doing their jobs!
Sadly, because of the poor work ethic of many in this country who would rather collect money from the government, finding qualified employees is very difficult. As a result, their nonsense is tolerated out of necessity. In my day, every one of these kids would be fired.
40 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
daisey 4/26/2023 11:59:57 AM (No. 1456760)
A numbers of employers or managers in the article did not want their last names published. People are afraid of these spoiled, opinionated brats. They’ve seen the havoc they create against people who don’t share their beliefs. They’re spoiled bullies . They’re also lazy and don’t like hard work. I’ve heard this from fellow nurses I worked with before retiring. They find out how much work it is to be a nurse, and they quit. Most last about 6 weeks. It’s not Covid that caused this. It’s the schools.
37 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DVC 4/26/2023 12:08:49 PM (No. 1456769)
Re #17, YES, very much so.
12 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
DVC 4/26/2023 12:12:00 PM (No. 1456774)
Re #18. There are phone jammers. A phone jammer in the workplace would be good.
Or...I worked in a secure environment. NO PHONES,EVER and no exceptions. Do it once, get a serious warning, second time....you are fired.
Don't coddle them - just tell them, no phones. We had a locker system, about 8x8" each on a wall where you could put your phone as you came in. Most of us just left them in the car.
NO phones would be a major part of MY workplace....but thank goodness I don't have one, want one or intend to create one.
20 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
udanja99 4/26/2023 12:36:49 PM (No. 1456807)
All those participation trophies are coming home to roost.
31 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 4/26/2023 2:19:04 PM (No. 1456913)
Let them starve first in order to learn the wisdom of our Founders.
24 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 4/26/2023 2:37:13 PM (No. 1456935)
Most never held a job while growing up due to min-wage laws, they were priced out of the job market while in high school and therefore never learned the simple requirements that a job demands. This is why I have always been against min-wage laws.
22 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Gordon Mills 4/26/2023 2:38:16 PM (No. 1456937)
#11, the first professional job I interviewed for was conducted by the manger of employment and behind him on the wall right above his head was a plaque with a little bird tweeting 'Whose bread I eat his song I sing'. He left no doubt that you were expected to toe the company line or leave.
16 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
red1066 4/26/2023 3:32:42 PM (No. 1456993)
My son was born two years earlier than the Z generation and gets rave reviews from his employer. In fact, of the 70 employees at the facility, my son was the only one who received a 10% pay raise at his evaluation. When we visited his facility during an open house, his boss couldn't stop praising his work ethic. He's been with the company for a year and a half and has already been interviewed for manager positions within the company in other parts of the country.
29 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
NessunDorma 4/26/2023 6:50:03 PM (No. 1457111)
"...more and more employers report that they’re walking on eggshells — and even fearful of their own subordinates."
That's one of your problems right there, employers. Stop walking on eggshells. You're the boss, act like it.
27 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
NYbob 4/27/2023 1:53:46 AM (No. 1457268)
Lazy, rude, stupid parents tend to raise lazy, rude and stupid children. Yes, the culture and schools make it very hard, but all of that can be countered, IF you do your job as a parent and model and teach personal responsibility and rewards follow effort. Every home has jobs kids could do.
11 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
skacmar 4/27/2023 6:48:47 AM (No. 1457361)
IF you hire a Gen Z. It his difficult to get one even apply for a job these days. So much stress and pressure they claim. Instead many (not college educated) have become very comfortable living on food stamps, Medicaid, parent's homes or with friends. They don't drive because they're afraid to. And they have become self righteous social warriors. They are unemployable.
23 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
petrichor 4/27/2023 6:49:56 AM (No. 1457362)
Ha! I have no experience with Gen-Z. When I worked it was the Gen-X grads that amused us. Everyone I worked with referred to them all as Marxist.
11 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 4/27/2023 6:50:34 AM (No. 1457363)
The Gen Zers live in their own paradigm entirely through their iphones and ipads. Go to any public place where there are young people. All of them are glued to their devices in need of constant approval by their "friends". There is no spoken social interaction. Turn off the wi fi and they leave.
See the film "The Social Dilemma" and you will fully understand what has happened to our young people, why their work ethic and ability to focus is off track, and how they have been programmed. Big thanks to the Bill Gatester, Zuckie Boy, and a host of other SM bigshots.
16 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
Rinktum 4/27/2023 7:07:13 AM (No. 1457378)
There seems to me to be a simple solution. When a new hire comes in, they go through a orientation program. HR forces employees to go to various diversity, inclusion and equity classes to indoctrinate them in leftist ideology now which I believe should be abandoned. All that garbage could be boiled down to one statement. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is the stuff you learn in Sunday School.
Completing this OP should be a requirement for employment. If they don’t like it, then they can move on to another company. It should be like a boot camp. Teach new hires everything the company is going to expect from them down to the most minor workplace etiquette. Unfortunately, these kids had parents who did not understand they were creating children who would not able to function in society because they had been catered to during their childhood. These kids think they know everything. Take away their devices and they cannot function.
Companies also should put pressure on the universities to cover the basic manners that they expect. If you do not expect your people to adhere to company standards, they won’t. They will want to set the rules and you can’t have that. Companies spoil their employees. I all about giving perks for a job well done but to baby these lazy entitled toddlers in grown up bodies is a recipe for disaster. This is a microcosm of the parent/child relationship. You cannot allow the child to get the upper hand or you will have an entitled monster on your hands who produce little.
19 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Lesthanzero 4/27/2023 7:19:54 AM (No. 1457386)
Watch the movie "Idiocracy" (2006) which is vivid portrayal. Although it's futuristic fiction and at times exaggerated, it's amazingly prescient--(and hilarious) especially the scenes at the hospital.
7 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/27/2023 7:43:01 AM (No. 1457403)
This problem is widespread and posters have hit upon most of the causes. I made the mistake once of hiring a newlywed black guy as an office worker. He did nothing of value, spent all day long on the phone with his wife and gave me the opportunity to find out just how complicated it was to fire somebody black.
14 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
Krause 4/27/2023 8:01:41 AM (No. 1457430)
They were trained by democrats, and they don't even realize it.
10 people like this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
broken01 4/27/2023 8:44:47 AM (No. 1457463)
Fortunately for me I work in a building that's' one basically one big SCIF. No electronic signals in or out. So, your smart phone can't be smart. That and the fact no politics, religion or any hot bed topic is discussed. You don't pull your weight and do your job you are terminated. The many Gen Zer's who work there know the score. We had one in my department that was nice enough and a hard worker at first. She found out that since she was good looking (Puerto Rican/Black) she could be flirtatious with my boss to get ahead. He (married with 3 kids) finally gave in to her charms but wound up getting himself fired and her transferred. Me being the senior person in the department I had to be the first in a series of closed-door meetings with HR on what went on. It was a mess. I've heard horror stories from relatives and friends in upper management about working with "Zoomers." Especially in retail and food service. Like I said before fortunately where I work Zoomers get zoomed out the door if they act up.
9 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
crunchycon 4/27/2023 9:27:52 AM (No. 1457510)
I was in Organizational Development and trained Millennials before I retired. Gen Z was just coming on board when I stepped away from my career If I’d had a nickel for every request I received around Communication Skills training, I’d have been able to retire much sooner. In addition to all those nickels, I wish their supervisors had spent less time adjusting to Millennial preferences than setting and reinforcing reasonable expectations for effective behavior in the workplace.
Before I get corrected, I’m certainly not saying that every Millennial was this way, it but a fair percentage were as described in this article. Sorry to see things aren’t improving.
5 people like this.
Reply 38 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 4/27/2023 9:32:18 AM (No. 1457516)
Another piece of the GenZ puzzle - keep in mind that the divorce rate in America is higher than it has ever been. The GenZers were largely raised in one-parent homes where the one parent works two jobs and the kid stays home after school playing video games. As the kid approaches his/her/its teens the video games and switches are replaced with iphones with no parental controls. The kid now as a young adult is now essentially raised by his SM "friends". At the end of the day, the young adult was never taught limits, common sense, personal responsibility, personal interaction with others, relationship building, and integrity. They became social zombies in some respects.
12 people like this.
Reply 39 - Posted by:
NOTHING_NEW 4/27/2023 9:47:13 AM (No. 1457526)
Gen X are pure evil: collectively, they are spoiled, lazy, entitled and their entire prosperity is at the expense of others, food and energy from "fly over country" and their expensive toys made with "slave labor" in China, Vietnam, and other asia countries. Russia, China and the global south are rising. It will be interesting to watch Gen X respond to real poverty when the almighty dollar is worth nothing; they can join the class of homeless in the American cities.
6 people like this.
Reply 40 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 4/27/2023 10:15:32 AM (No. 1457546)
Maybe it is because they Know It All, are arrogant beyond the known scale of arrogance and think the federal government should send a limo for them each day if they are expected to show up for work. And bring them breakfast on a silver platter. Am I close?
6 people like this.
Reply 41 - Posted by:
Sully 4/27/2023 10:22:21 AM (No. 1457549)
Z-ers act this way bc they've been getting away with it all their lives. This is bc they come from fams with one or zero siblings and have been asked to do absolutely Nothing to pitch in at home. They have no idea the weight they are to support.
Do your small kids a favor. Make them do their own stinkin' laundry and clean the bathroom. Always, always. always make them carry the groceries in. You should not be doing those things if children are present.
Do your older kids a favor and make them pay room and board. It will help them see "reality."
8 people like this.
Reply 42 - Posted by:
Trapper 4/27/2023 10:24:51 AM (No. 1457554)
I'm a Trump supporting Boomer, and I come at it a bit differently. Perhaps many Gen Z'ers simply will not stand for the crap my generation had to just shut up and take. There are a million reasons why the song Take This Job And Shove It was a Boomer anthem. Even if you are paying them to, Gen Z'ers simply refuse to waste their time looking at useless TPS Reports, let alone generate them. Give 'em hell, kids!
1 person likes this.
Reply 43 - Posted by:
envirodude 4/27/2023 10:53:41 AM (No. 1457582)
I hired a young engineer in his early 30’s, married, two preschool kids, and a dog. They were living 3 hours from where he worked.
His only job had been with the state department of environmental quality and I was hiring an air permitting guy, his wheelhouse. I should have seen the lack of common sense because he was still using a resume formatted in high school (he wrote he was an Eagle Scout). Anyway, he’s hired. Work starts at 7 am. Second day on the job , he starts showing up at 7:30.
I ask him about it and “it’s the kids”. So I say come in at 7:30 now. He then starts coming in at 7:45. Low energy, always staring at his phone, barely getting work done on time. For punishment, I made him help a coworker with his online algebra homework. I didn’t fire him because I knew I was going to leave the company. Per other managers, his work ethic was as bad as others in the branch.
5 people like this.
Reply 44 - Posted by:
Zigrid 4/27/2023 11:18:37 AM (No. 1457620)
It started back when "participation ribbons" were given for just showing up...
6 people like this.
Reply 45 - Posted by:
DiegoDude 4/27/2023 1:17:41 PM (No. 1457711)
Take a look around most businesses and what do you see? Workers 40+ years of age. Why? We'll show up and work. I'm 67 and still working full time. I went to a local car parts store and was asked if I wanted a job. I asked Why me? I was told I had people skills and probably had a work ethic ( Thanks mom & dad!).
3 people like this.
Reply 46 - Posted by:
MargaretM. 4/27/2023 4:34:37 PM (No. 1457837)
That's why Illegals flood the fast-food industry, landscaping. They haven't been spoiled.
0 people like this.
I would not be surprised if covid is part of the problem. When the lockdowns were in place, those young workers were just beginning their working lives and covid interrupted that big time. Also a problem would be the liberal parents and education system that brainwashed those kids as well. Work ethic can be taught, but the mentors have to have reason to do so. They haven't because it would have interfered with their narrative.
0 people like this.
Reply 48 - Posted by:
Tet Vet 68 4/27/2023 9:44:42 PM (No. 1457993)
Boomers (and I am one) raised the parents of these millennials. Our children have spoiled their kids beyond belief. I have one child, who with his wife, has done a great job in setting standards with their kids. The other has embraced the liberal ideology and her children are a total disaster area of self entitlement and privilege.
1 person likes this.