According to a recent survey of 1,344 supervisors and business leaders by ResumeBuilder, 74 percent deemed Generation Z tougher to work with than other age groups. A staggering 49 percent of managers went as far as to say they found Gen Z hard to work with all or most of the time.
Pew Research Center categorizes Generation Z as those born in 1997 or later, while the Millennial group consists of people born from 1981 to 1996. Surprisingly, 39 percent of respondents said lack of technological skills was the top reason for being dissatisfied with Gen Z’s work performance. Motivation and effort both account for 37 percent, followed by poor communication skills (36 percent) and being easily offended (35 percent).
Additionally, 65 percent of survey respondents said they had to terminate Generation Z employees more than any other age-defined cohort, and 12 percent said that terminations of Gen Z employees occurred less than one week after starting.
“In our organization, the Gen Zs I have interacted with can be exhausting because they lack discipline, and they like to challenge you,” Akpan Ukeme, SGK Global Shipping Services’ head of HR, stated in the report. “They think they’re better than you, smarter than you, more capable than you, and they will tell you to your face.”
The disconnect amid Gen Z and the office environment could in part be due to the pandemic. 46 percent of the Gen Zers claimed the pandemic stunted their career and educational goals, according to a 2021 study. Also, when work and school transitioned to a virtual format, countless Gen Zers didn’t get the opportunity to learn skills that are afforded by in-person workplace dynamics.
“GenZ needs to work to understand what professional skills are needed to succeed in today’s workforce. However, the responsibility goes beyond GenZ,” reported Stacie Haller, ResumeBuilder’s chief career advisor. “Educational institutions need to properly prepare students and managers and business leaders need to learn to work with GenZ. Bias against younger workers is unacceptable and no different than the ageism that we typically see against Baby Boomers.”
Social Rise’s leading manager, Jennifer Stapleton told ResumeBuilder that Generation Z employees should strive to improve their workplace contributions by focusing on adaptability and openness to constructive criticism, as well as building stronger communication skills.
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