“I simply don’t hire them.” According to research, that’s the attitude of 94 percent of business leaders who avoid hiring Gen Z employees, those born between 1997 and 2012, https://www.businessinsider.com/managers-avoid-hiring-recent-gen-z-college-graduates-unprepared-survey-2023-8. Why? According to 1,243 recently surveyed business leaders, Gen Zers bring with them have a sense of entitlement, a deficient work ethic and sub-par communication skills, https://www.intelligent.com/4-in-10-business-leaders-say-recent-college-grads-are-unprepared-to-enter-workforce/. Half of these business leaders reported Gen Z job applicants requested salaries topping $100,000 for positions that paid $70,000 or less.
That leaves an open question—what happens when employers wind up hiring Gen Zers—because they’re the only candidates available? This year, the two billion Gen Zers will surpass the number of Baby Boomers in the workforce. By 2030, Gen Zers will make up thirty percent of all eligible employees. And yet, 74 percent of 1344 managers and business leaders find Gen Zers harder to work with than employees of other generations, https://www.resumebuilder.com/3-in-4-managers-find-it-difficult-to-work-with-genz/.
According to 49 percent of the surveyed managers, it’s difficult to work with Gen Z employees all or most of the time. Twenty percent of them fired a Gen Z employee within a week of their start date. Another 27 percent fired their Gen Z employees within the first month, describing being “too easily offended.”
How did we get here, and how do we fix this?
Gen Z is the unlucky generation that entered the workplace as the pandemic locked it down. Within months of landing their first job, many found themselves furloughed or fired. Years later, when employers hired any available warm body to fill vacant positions, Gen Zers found themselves wooed by needy employers, and offered remote work, where their connection to employers was via Zoom.
No surprise then, that the recent Gallup survey reports that 54 percent of Gen Z employees feel “not engaged” at work and not connected to their employers, managers or even their co-workers, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/610856/new-challenge-engaging-younger-workers.aspx. Given the economic, financial, political instability that swirls around them, Gen Zers report higher rates of anxiety, depression and distress than any other age group, https://hbr.org/2023/01/helping-gen-z-employees-find-their-place-at-work.
Solutions
What’s the answer then, for employers who understand, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Strategy #1: Hire the best of the available Gen Z applicants. They’re out there. In Managing for Accountability, https://bit.ly/3T3vww8, I suggest asking questions that help employers determine which employees might want their job, such as, “If you had to choose between two jobs, what would lead you to choose one over the other?”
Strategy #2: Get your new employee started right. Outline why you hired them, the role you hope they play in your organization, and how you want them to interact with you and the team. If this makes you wonder if you’re taking on the role as their parent, you are—their work parent. The alternative—they perform poorly, and you fire them.
Strategy #3: Gen Z doesn’t believe their jobs offer them a future. According to the Pew Research Center, half of the Gen Zers between 21 and 27 reported that they or a household member lost a job or took a pay cut because of the pandemic, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/. Outline for them a career path that shows them the actions they need to take and the incentives they’ll receive.
Strategy #4: Most Gen Zers initially worked remotely, with equally “remote” relationships with their managers. Meet with them, give them specific, constructive feedback that proves you want them to be successful, and notice when they’re doing the right things.
What happens if employers fail?
According to over fifty percent of 30,000 professionals surveyed, more than half of Gen Z employees intended leaving their jobs within the year, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/blog/business-chemistry/2023/help-me-grow-what-motivates-gen-z.html. Another survey of 20,000 professionals reported that one out of every four Gen Z employees intended leaving their jobs within next six months.
In other words, employers have got to get this right.
© 2024 Lynne Curry, PhD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
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I like the solutions you offer at the end of the article, Lynn. I’ve seen many comments similar to what you quoted earlier in the article from employers but few solutions. But you’re right- at some point this will be dominant generation in the workforce and we have to figure out a way to make it all work.
Thanks, Dee! It was a GenZer who asked me to write something on this topic that went beyond the problems to solutions.
The kinds of questions to ask GenZ applicants to determine their level of interest and commitment to a job are good ones. They would be good questions to ask all applicants.
GenZ felt over-sensitive and entitled before the pandemic, too–it can’t be blamed for all of the disengagement, over-blown feelings of self-worth, and the rest of it.
A number of the Boomers generation graduated from college in an unanticipated down labor market, and it was hard to find full-time work. Older coworkers also resented the Boomers. Some of this is just cyclical and fear of change. As a Boomer, though, I didn’t feel that I was “owed” a job, and I didn’t try to ask for an unreasonably high salary or expect to get promoted in record time.
Some of the resentment some GenZers find in the workplace they bring on themselves and their lack of social skills, their overblown self-importance. The point is, it’s a job, and you need to do it, even the parts you don’t like and the parts that are boring. No one is there to entertain you. Use those social media skills to find out more about the industry and business sector you’re in. Ask how you can be involved and what would be a helpful contribution.
Great comments! (And spoken like a boomer:)