Gen-Z Hits Some Bumps as it Enters the Workforce

It’s become something of a trend among business owners and managers in recent years to lament the inadequacies–and the attitudes–of their Gen Z workers. Now, many bosses are starting match those critiques with remedial action by both firing those youthful employees and thinking twice about bringing other members of that generational cohort aboard.

Those are the findings of a recent poll by education and career advisory platform Intelligence, which quizzed nearly 1,000 business owners and executives about their views of Gen Z workers. Responses to questions largely echoed recurring complaints that employees born between 1995 and 2010 are entitled, standoffish, demanding, and insufficiently skilled to meet their employers’ requirements. But this time, bosses also said they’d begun addressing those shortcomings, with 60 percent saying they’d fired at least one recent Gen Z college grad this year.

Perhaps more concerning for young people who transitioned from classrooms to 9-to-5 jobs within the last two years was employers’ growing level of discontent. 

Fully 75 percent of respondents complained “some or all of the recent college graduates they hired this year were unsatisfactory.” As a result, over 16 percent of bosses and HR managers said they’d hesitate before signing on a Gen Z candidate again, with 14 percent saying they’ll avoid doing so over the next year.

While that kind of thinking clearly doesn’t apply at every company in the nation, the study reflects many business owners’ concerns, according to the data. While nearly 95 of businesses surveyed said they’d hired a recent Gen Z college grad, around two-thirds of respondents described those recruits as undershooting expectations.

What were employers’ main gripes about Gen Zers at work?

Nearly 50 percent of respondents said Gen Z hires lacked motivation or initiative. Other cited deficiencies included professionalism, organization and communication skills, reactions to criticism, and work experience. And a whopping 90 percent of business leaders said those younger workers “should undergo etiquette training.” Get those pinkies stiff at teatime, and lose the cargo shorts.

Does that mean employers are finally dropping the “my way or the highway” hammer on what they see as willful and entitled members of the Gen Z labor force? If so, that backlash will probably be limited in both scope and duration.

For starters, business and Gen Z are bound by a mutual dependency that will only strengthen with time. Today, already 37 percent of the youthful cohort is working for at least one employer. Forecasts indicate that by 2032, one of every three jobs will be held by a member of Gen Z, and that number — and the group’s importance to the labor pool–will onlly grow with time.

The disappointments and resentments expressed in the survey are just one lane of a two-way street of misunderstanding. As TeachingStartup founder Joe Procopio wrote in Inc. while addressing a warning to those same bosses in June, “Gen Z is pissed. At you. Not ‘them.’ You.” 

The reason? Members of the generation had barely left the womb before they were confronted with some truly awful situations created by the older people now lecturing them as bosses. Those included the 2008 financial meltdown and Great Recession, which in turn generated the layoffs and hardships many workers struggled through while trying to raise their Gen Z kids. 

Then came the pandemic, just as these new young arrivals to the labor market landed their first jobs.

“As Gen Z entered the workforce, many were quickly furloughed or fired … [fueling its] disillusionment with the establishment and capitalism,” a 2023 Harvard Business Review article noted. “This group garnered a reputation for mistrust of the status quo, disconnection, and impatience, and for demanding immediate action around issues it cares about.”

So given the upheavals they faced in their formative years, who’d blame Gen Z for being hacked off and aloof? Compare that to widespread impressions of other generations, like views of Boomers as perpetually dissatisfied and obsessed with siphoning up all the national wealth that isn’t bolted down.

In addition, most Gen Z college graduates being flayed in the survey only recently exited university environments that were also profoundly affected by the pandemic. Those included required social distancing, remote learning, and other practices that were a lot more regimented and restricted than the experiences of previous generations of students. For that reason, said Intelligent’s chief education and career development advisor Huy Nguyen, Gen Z’s transition into the workplace is still posing unprecedented challenges.

“They are often unprepared for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics, and the expectation of autonomous work,” Nguyen said in comments accompanying the survey. “Although they may have some theoretical knowledge from college, they often lack the practical, real-world experience and soft skills required to succeed in the work environment. These factors, combined with the expectations of seasoned workers, can create challenges for both recent grads and the companies they work for.”

What’s the solution? Nguyen said pragmatism and compromise on both sides are essential. 

While Gen Z employees need to adopt behavior, attitudes, and reactions that are compatible with the hiring and working expectations of businesses, company owners also need to meet them halfway. Recognition that those candidates lack the experience and skills to immediately conform to workplace demands can be addressed by companies creating tailored initiation and training programs to increase the odds of success on both sides.

“By understanding the challenges of Gen Z workers, companies can take a more proactive approach by implementing formal employee onboarding programs that clearly outline company culture and expectations,” he said. “Paring recent grads with mentors in the company can also pay huge dividends as that can provide Gen Z workers with the guidance, feedback, and support for them to succeed.”