Gen Zers are drawing criticism from older generations like millennials did before. Gen X and boomers are increasingly upset about Gen Zers' alleged lack of work ethic and commitment to success.
While it's common for different generations to despise one another, the conflict between Gen Z and boomers has gotten more intense recently as the younger generation enters the workforce and demands flexibility and a work-life balance.
Some Gen Zers have lost faith in corporate life because they grew up witnessing their parents or older siblings endure the pandemic, the 2008 financial crash, and massive layoffs during the last two years.
Statistics on Gen Zs Not Prepared
As they say, the next generation is our future. However, 4 out of 10 business leaders disagree, believing that recent college graduates are ill-prepared for the workforce due to their lack of work experience and communication skills.
To learn about their experiences working with Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) who will graduate from college in 2020-2023, Intelligent.com surveyed 1,243 business leaders.
Of the leaders surveyed, 88% believe that the recent graduates are not ready for the workforce. Nearly half of the respondents (40%) think recent college graduates are unprepared for the workforce. They give a variety of excuses, including a lackluster work ethic, poor communication skills, entitlement, and inadequate technology knowledge. Of those who voiced concerns, 88% believed that graduates today were less prepared than three years ago, and 94% acknowledged that they occasionally avoided hiring recent graduates.
Turning to Social Media Platforms
Some people use TikTok as a platform to vent about their nine-to-five jobs and even about deciding to work from home or at other jobs deemed "lazy-girl jobs."
A TikToker named Brielle, who just started a corporate job in the New York area, uploaded a video on October 19 with a caption on screen: "In a 9-5 how do u have time for ur life?"
Brielle said in the upload that it was her first job out of college and that she worked from an office, meaning that she had to commute into the city even though it took "forever" because she couldn't afford to live there. According to Brielle, she boarded her train at 7:30 a.m. and claimed that by the time she got home, it was "6:15 earliest," she had neither the energy nor the time to prepare dinner or work out. She claimed the commute and the 9-5 schedule destroyed her days.
Some older generations who learned that climbing the corporate ladder was the path to success and grew up appreciating the benefits of discipline and hard work have found this annoying. Public criticism from businesspeople, academics, and celebrities has resulted from the anger.
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Gen Z are 'weakened' kids
Tunku Varadarajan wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal that concluded 2022 regarding Generation Z's "national crisis" after speaking with social psychologist and business professor at New York University's Stern School of Business Jonathan Haidt. Varadarajan holds fellowships at the Classical Liberal Institute of New York University Law School and the American Enterprise Institute.
According to Haidt, "We have a whole generation that's doing terribly," Varadarajan's opinion piece quotes Haidt. He blamed the high rates of anxiety and depression among youth on the "performative" culture of social media. Gen Z, commonly referred to as people born between 1997 and 2012, is constantly in "defend mode," he added.
Gen Z is now joining the workforce, and some critics argue that these individuals are perceived as "less innovative and less willing to take risks," potentially undermining aspects of American capitalism, according to Varadarajan's op-ed, which references Haidt. Managers express difficulties in supervising and providing feedback to Gen Z employees, echoing concerns raised a decade ago when millennials entered the workforce. The challenge of offering feedback coincides with the impact of social media, which, according to Haidt, can contribute to an organizational culture of fear, potentially having broader consequences.
