Companies Are Quickly Firing Gen Z Employees

My company fired a Gen Z intern we hired. This was a paid internship at 35 dollars an hour but they had decided to take a two-week vacation and not tell anyone, take off made-up religious holidays and not show up for meetings. This is not true of all Gen Z though. We have a total of four, this one was the only problem The others are eager to learn, helpful and very diligent in doing tasks and showing up.

the thing that gets me the most about them is how they just blow off emails and phone messages.

Yeah. I know. We’ve had to fire many of them back to back within a short period of time. Gen Z is a mess.

People who know a world without the internet vs. those who don't?

OP of course. Companies can't wait to hire all you boomers. Despite the expense of purchasing othopedic lifting chairs and toliet risers.

R5 what a stupid comment. Boomers have already been working for years. Gen Z being the least educated generation and being the laziest has nothing to do with Boomers, who worked hard.

R5 You need a big dose of reality.

I really wonder what damage the pandemic did to Gen Z with much of their college/university time impacted.

At my job, we hired four Zoomers who started the day after labor day. The pay is excellent (especially for newly graduated) and they make their own hours - so long as they do 35 a week. My boss bends over backwards for everyone to make sure they're happy - especially newbies.

Within the first week, one didn't show up the second week. Just disappeared. By the end of the second week, the next one disappeared. The other two left this past Friday - both gave a few days notice. No one knows why.

I feel bad for HR - the time and money wasted doing the 'onboarding' for these new hires who last less than the time it takes to onboard them. The company would actually save money buying orthopedic lifting chairs and toilet risers for boomers (as R5 suggests) than wasting time with Zoomers. At least they know Boomers will give 110% and stay longer than a few days.

This is bullshit. I am Gen X. Before I graduated from college, I only had manual labor jobs and never worked in an office. I figured it out quickly, like the majority of entry level professionals before and after me.

[quote] You need a big dose of reality.

That’s the problem. Their reality is only online. Real life is less real than the internet for them.

Never feel bad for HR. HR is the organizational equivalent of the serial killer the whole neighbourhood thought was such a nice guy.

How stupid will it be for you in eight months R6?

I wouldn't hire them. Their attitude and track record sucks.

Has there been a generation on history of which this has not been said?

R15 in which what was said? This isn’t something being “said”, this is something happening. No previous generation had the majority of its people not be able to hold a job, no. We had to work. Rent isn’t free. Food isn’t free. Housing isn’t free. Clothing isn’t free.

The majority of the generation is unemployed? You do realize that that is an absolutely extraordinary assertion. I assume the statistics to support that startling claim were going to be included in your next post so that your refutation of my statement does not remain fact-free and unhinged!

Sorry OP but you're not being rehired.

R17 yes. They are. This Forbes article is stating facts, not opinions. Gen Z is busy putting themselves in debt trying to live a life they can’t afford on social media and hoping to start getting paid off social media instead of getting a real job.

Perhaps you could point to the statistics in the article. I think it is eluding many of us.

Does the article also address whether younger workers are less stupid than some older workers? I didn’t see that either, but might be a fruitful topic.

We have many Gen Z at my small company. I like them. I will say the girls are more focused than the boys in general, but that’s probably the age group (early 20s.)

The boys are more fun, however.

The younger employees where I work are very good. I’m at a big firm where the hiring process is pretty difficult, so maybe the bad ones are being screened out. They are much more professional than I was 30 years ago. I would have been able to figure out a task or get help and I could and work hard and show up, but some do these kids are very proactive. I was scared to open my mouth at my first big company job.

r9 You enjoy embellishing stories, don't you?

You can and will be hired for a better job

It's because they all want to WORK FROM HOME!!! They can do it all online!

OP you and that guy who hates WFH should hook up

[quote]It can be easy for managers to buy into typical stereotypes of Gen Z and dismiss them entirely

Gee, I wonder why...?

A lot of them have a problem with habitual tardiness and calling off. I'm sorry, but no, your mental health is not an excuse for failing to show up on time.

R29 has front row seats at Dementiapalozza

R30, yes, dumbass. Showing up on time for meetings is only for old people, I guess.

I have deja vu. We had the same articles and the same DL threads about millennials for years.

R32 and? If anything, it just shows that every generation gets their turn being dragged as the new kid on the block. But we can't with Gen Z because they're too precious? Fuck that noise. They are going to get called out just like everybody else.

r33 Seek help

r29 You're sorry?

R34 Enjoy being unemployed and living in mommy and daddy Gen X's basement for the rest of your life.

R24 has absolutely no idea what embellish means.

This was the generation who was eating Tide pods just a few years ago. Do we really expect better from them once they entered the work force ?

I enjoy Gen Z more than millennials. They are not as status conscious.

^ And not as snarky as the older millennials.

[quote]They are not as status conscious.

To better phrase that: They are not conscious.

R39 stupid contrary uber-Trump Gen X at it again. Never forget: these are their children!

Huh?

R43 Gen X really dropped the ball raising these entitled little shits.

[quote]"As someone who went through years of education, including law school, I can tell you this: colleges are not preparing students for real-world work," Driscoll told Newsweek. "Education today emphasizes theory over practice.

Utterly flawed logic.

Colleges and universities are not job or vocational training institutions. They are educational institutions. The fact that people can graduate from college unable to communicate effectively is a whole other matter.

I’m a millennial so not that far I age from them but gen z is a whole other level of lazy. I understand that there’s not the motivation to work anymore because there’s not the same chance of buying a house or enjoying much luxury in life but it’s still annoying. I have to work to survive and I don’t like having to do more work because they’re so lazy.

Ok, I read the OP. What I don't get from that article is what's different with this generation than previous generations. The article says that college doesn't prepare them "for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics, and the expectation of autonomous work." I don't believe college has ever done that. So what's different?

My Gen X old mind believes that Gen Z - generally speaking - has benefitted from their parents well being, rarely experienced devastating financial hardship and is unaware of the financial consequences when falling out of line at work. Not saying it's their fault, or that it is a general assessment on an entire generation. But it may be one reason.

It’s always been like this, several of my peers “flunked out” of their first jobs in the early 90s. But if it’s gotten worse, I’m not surprised. Recent grads were all shook up by Covid between high school and college… and college professors have said this cohort is unusually ill-prepared for higher learning. Motivationally, intellectually and socially.

I guess the upside is that if you are 22-23 and you have a modicum of these basic skills, the bar is low and you’re valuable compared to most of your peers.

Tell me something I didn’t already know.

Can we just fire Gen Z from life in general? Just keep them all in a remote island.

[quote] Can we just fire Gen Z from life in general?

Or we actually figure out why they don't fit in and help them to reach their goals. Complaining is easy. The remote island is obviously not an option for anyone. So we better deal with the problem and find out what's needed.

Teach them life basic skills

Using soap and bathing regularly

Teach them how to have a human conversation outside of texts

DO NOT hand your newborn an IPhone 16 Pro and expect it to raise your spawn!

But why are they unmotivated to show up at a job? Seriously?

Are they hoping for internet - “stardom” or whatever it’s called? Do they just think a job isn’t worth the hassle? (I have to concur there, but I like eating and living indoors). Or have they just “given up” already?

Or maybe they are struggling to understand the expectations of the jobs they were hired for? How in the hell did they manage to graduate college not showing up, not doing homework and not participating in class?

Older Gen Xer here. These Gen Z threads always leave me conflicted. On the one hand, I've run into a couple Zs who were indeed exasperating. But my experience with Millennials has been much worse. (I still don't understand the earbud-all-day-at-office bullshit or the hypersensitivity to constructive criticism, such as could you please not be 30 minutes late three times a week?)

But then I think about what a wayward, inconsiderate moron I was in the workplace right out of college, and I feel as if most of this Gen Z rhetoric is just the age-old story of youngsters not easily adjusting to the real world after college. Not easy for any generation.

The last generation to accomplish a smooth transition from school to work was my parents' cohort, The Silent Generation, born before 1945. They were expected to suck it all up, and boy did they ever--often at the expense of their health and family lives.

Many of us born after 1950--and especially 1960-- stumbled around in our jobs after college. I wouldn't want to work alongside my 24-year-old self, that's for sure.

[quote] They were expected to suck it all up, and boy did they ever--often at the expense of their health and family lives.

And see right here, this should not be the goal. And sometimes that does seem like it's the goal of work: misery and boredom and wasting a lot of people's time just for its own sake. I do get the frustration that a lot of people are expressing here, and I don't doubt that there are justified frustrations. But sometimes, the fundamental problem is sticking to an old and obsolete, or even never particularly needed, idea of what work is. I'd be curious for the guy that is 30 minutes late three times a week. Did it actually matter, really, deep down in terms of what actually needed to get done, or was it mainly just "how we do things around here"? Could it be that procedures built around phones ringing off the hook starting at 9 a.m. don't really matter that much in a world of e-mail and texting?

R55 let us not forget that the Baby Boomers called Gen X slackers and not without good reason at the time either.

Gen Z need to experience cold water and dirt floors.

Joan Crawford has entered the chat.

Our Gen Z employee works hard and contributes. Need I say easy on the eyes and 22.

They need army style hard work and discipline!

I like to order people around at work. Gen Z do whatever I tell them to do in between texting negative shit about me to each other.

R61, a lot of them are too overweight for the military.

I’m actually referring to life coaching and assessments r63. Civilian.

If you take away people’s phones they’re clueless.

We Gen-Xers were indeed labeled hopeless slackers by the yuppie Boomers and the Silents who were forced to deal with us in the workplace.

I do think we were better at communicating than these kids are - since answering machines were the height of the tech we grew up with. We had parents who basically ignored us - so we were more independent and less in need of reassurance and praise. And we were snarky and contrary but didn’t wilt at criticism or have “emotional moments” while at work.

Well, I suspect there may be some very useful things that can be applied from the military, as long as it doesn't turn into the fucked up ideal that everyone should always be one big army.

Silents are fucking weird.

I'm a college professor. There are plenty of Gen Z students who come to class, do the work, hand in assignments on time, and are responsible young adults. I have taught a few who stop showing up for class and do not hand in their assignments. There are some with zero communication skills. I blame the ubiquity of cell phones, lap tops, any electronic device, and social media. One generalization I can make of them is that they need direction. Their comprehension of the prompt or topic of an essay or assignment needs constant explanation.

[quote]What I don't get from that article is what's different with this generation than previous generations. The article says that college doesn't prepare them "for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics, and the expectation of autonomous work." I don't believe college has ever done that. So what's different?

Some articles get into this more than others, but universities have noticed many of the same problems with Gen Z as employers. Some are quietly revising (rampantly abused) accommodations policies as a result. They're also rethinking how to deal with 'snowplow' parents who've created helpless children by zealously removing opportunities for them to learn resilience.

All generations are called lazy and immature at first, but this generation has unique social challenges as a result of growing up entirely online and having parents who are extreme pushovers (and expected the same of the education system). For all their tough talk online, they're afraid of their own shadows and extremely resistant to confronting their 'triggers,' which prevents personal growth.

Not all Gen Zers are like this. But enough are that it creates challenges for educators and employers on a larger scale than in the past. The internet has also taught them how to pathologize and weaponize everything, which is much more off-putting to others than mere laziness.

R69, very interesting. I always like getting your perspective. 😉

In my experience they are very idealistic, which I think is generally a good trait (we Gen-Xers were very cynical right off the bat) but they really have no sense of humor, and can be quite rigid.

I think parents’ expectations and standards for their kids have lowered since the Silent Generation raised Baby Boomers. Boomers were seen as spoiled and cossetted too, and compared to the generation who grew up in the ‘30s and ‘40s this was true.

But school in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s was more rigorous, Boomer boys had the threat of the draft hanging over them, and whether that generation went to college or not, they were expected to get out of the house at some point soon after graduation and get a job (there were no gap years). And stick with that job and learn the ropes, dress ‘properly,’ be seen but not heard and do as one was told by ones’ superiors. It wasn’t a democracy and it wasn’t ‘fair’. It was conformity and many dreaded it and hated it, but that’s the way it was. And work misery was incentive to look for something different and better, while one learned what one was good at. But you had to actually put in the time, and, yes, pay ones dues.

Expectations now of instant satisfaction are too high and the waiting time and realistic understanding of the hard work needed to succeed is too low. I do blame high school and college teachers as well as parents for not setting higher standards throughout childhood and expecting kids to stick to them. And this includes stuff like behavior, manners, learning to express oneself clearly (things like vocal fry and sloppiness in speaking was corrected by parents and teachers alike).

Some of these comments reflect a really odd view of the past. Does everyone get that the 1960s happened, and the 1970s? Has anyone hear ever the phrase the "Me Generation"? Do they know it's about the 1970s and not the 2000s? Do people actually imagine college campuses in the 1960s as quiet little libraries where everybody was hunkered down studying because it was either study or get drafted? And that outside, everybody was hunkered down at work quietly saying yes, sir, no ma'am to every supervisor and never questioning anything? Really?

You gotta love how Gen Z blames everything workplace related on these old Boomers who are mostly retired or not even dealing with them. It's actually their parents who they call Boomers but they are too dumb to know the difference.

It’s true, R74, some of the comments remind me of the parents’ tune in Bye Bye Birdie. “Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way? What’s the matter with kids today?”

And yet there are differences — these distinctly 2024 issues. All these educators and managers at work are describing similar themes.

The best thing you can do is fire em and not hire em.

I don't know if anyone else is struggling with this, but managing Gen Z employees has been a real headache. The entitlement is out of control. I hired one three months ago, first job out of college. Gave her a basic task to complete, and while she did a *mediocre* job, she came to me afterward saying she thinks she deserves a raise because she did "amazing" work. Are you kidding me? It wasn’t even close to exceptional.

And don't get me started on their complete disregard for hierarchy. One of our execs, who’s been with the company for years, comes in at 10am some days and leaves at 4pm, but that’s because he’s also in the office at 6am on other days to meet with our London office, and he’ll often stay late when needed. He’s earned that flexibility. But my younger employees? They whine about how "it's not fair" that he comes and goes as he pleases and that they should be able to do the same, even though they've barely been here a few months and haven’t put in the work to deserve any special treatment. Oh, and they are sure to take their full one hour lunch and still sneak out at 4:30.

And the kicker: one of them *told* me (didn't ask, just announced) that she would be working from home one day because her dishwasher was broken and she needed to wait for the repairman. This, despite the fact that we only come into the office two days a week! She could’ve easily scheduled this on one of her work-from-home days, but no, she expects the world to bend to her schedule.

Oh, and apparently, none of them know how to write either. Everything’s done on a computer, and don’t even think about asking them to draft a proper letter. They look at you like you're speaking a foreign language. And they use WAY! too! many! exclamation ! points! and emojis in business email!

Am I the only one dealing with this nonsense?

[quote]Do people actually imagine college campuses in the 1960s as quiet little libraries where everybody was hunkered down studying because it was either study or get drafted? And that outside, everybody was hunkered down at work quietly saying yes, sir, no ma'am to every supervisor and never questioning anything? Really?

To the contrary, I think most understand what the campus experience used to be like and feel bad for a generation that's afraid of offline contact, afraid of driving, afraid of phones, afraid of criticism (except what they dish out), afraid of sex.

I do agree on some level r76, that there seem to be very similar frustrations, and Gen Z may really suck in some ways, but I wonder if the primary way they suck is not adapting to a work ethic and work philosophy that is actually obsolete.

I would start with the 40-hour workweek, which seems completely obsolete and we are just waiting to admit it to ourselves. For some reason we are clinging to it, and I suspect that is mostly habit and the idea that we "need" it in some sociological way, rather than actually needing it. Other things too, but overall I suspect a lot comes down to an obsolete workplace and simply having too many people around for the amount of work that actually needs to be done in our society.

Even the phrase "job creation" which is so normal in politics and economics is really bizarre when you drill down into it. Why the fuck should anybody need to "create" jobs. Jobs appear as real work is needed, and when you are agonizing about job creation you are dealing with a bizarro economy.

But I don't pretend there are no real frustrations either. Yes, people should have basic communication skills whatever they are doing, and if they don't, you really do need to wonder why.

R78, it's not just you. I do understand that they are young and wet behind the ears and there's a learning curve for the whole transition into the professional workplace. But there are some basic things you'd expect them to have learned by now. And I'm not sure how they made it through high school and college without knowing even that.

Fire em!

Don’t hire em!

They can’t spell or punctuate anything for shit!

One thing I’ve noticed about Gen Z in my workplace, especially amongst the young women - they are readers. They like to read. Actual paperback books.

You old bitches stole my act.

R83 says someone who couldn't download a snap on his mobile if you held a gun to his palsied head.

R66 Hmmm. I seem to recall the Baby Boomers and Silents complaining that you were whiny and uncommunicative. Resilience was definitely not the adjective being thrown around back then.

R86 Gen Z can't even type on a keyboard. They do the two finger typing thing.

R88 still thrilled you got an A in Typing Class. Tres 20th century dear.

R89 still afraid of answering the telephone?

R89, I'm not R88, but I wish I had gotten an A in typing.

I paid it no mind, as I expected to have a secretary!

Bane of my existence.

R91 your existence will be de-baned shortly.

R90 how do you use your phone when you misplace your?

[quote] How in the hell did they manage to graduate college not showing up, not doing homework and not participating in class?

As a former college employee working with this generation for most of my decade in higher ed (2014-2024) I can assure they managed to graduate because the college didn't want any trouble from the parents who spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on their kid's education. We were there to coddle them and pamper them - and to collect the check each semester. It's all about the money, which made the higher-ups rather happy. I would say a quarter of the kids on campus didn't belong there - but because their families were wealthy, and great donors , they were accepted.

I don’t know which is more idiotic, the article itself or the comments in this thread.

“ Across the board, 75 percent of companies reported that some or all of their recent college graduate hires were unsatisfactory.”

Wouldn’t you expect this number to be close to 100 percent? It’s quite unusual for companies of any scale to find all of their hires satisfactory.

“ And a whopping six in 10 employers had already fired college graduates who were hired in 2024. One in seven said they might refrain from hiring new college grads next year as well.”

Again, isn’t this more or less expected? There are always employees who don’t last their first year. The number of companies considering not hiring graduates (for any number of reasons, including not having labor needs) is less than 15 percent.

SLAP them

None of these companies want people over 40, so if this issue is landing on their doorstep, they reap what they sow.

I was great at all of my jobs - punctual, efficient, knowledgeable and/or easy to train - and nobody wanted any of it after 40. They all wanted to hire young women (especially young black women) and pay them 60 percent of what they paid an old white guy like me. I don't say that to complain about those women - the pay disparity is gross, but it's a fact.

These companies also hire recent graduates who are unable to figure out how to put paper in the copier or do any number of other tasks that require basic logic. You get what you pay for, bitches!

R96, a good smack would do them some good!

At least once a week in my office, one of the Zoomers goes up to the printer, and within minutes will yell out "Why isn't this thing working ?"

The answer is rather simple and I know it before I go to help them...

The forgot to hit 'send' from their computer.

The 'fill paper tray' is flashing in their eyes.

R99 how sad yet hilarious for these digital natives.

What a shocker - R26 has just wandered over from the WFH thread and will soon no doubt be calling everybody cunts.

They just started working but think they're underpaid. They think they deserve six figures.

[quote] However, companies have an equal responsibility to prepare recent graduates for their particular workplace and give them the best chance to succeed

No, they do not. They are no your mommy and daddy. This again is the problem with Zoomers. They’re infantile.

Certainly at the elite levels this is untrue. Selective universities are much more selective now than they were 30 or 40 years ago. Athletes, musicians, etc are all much better than in prior generations.

Ar the ordinary level, the underperformance of the new generation is also likely vastly exaggerated. Certainly, this article gives few valid arguments to support the claim that they are.

R8 vs. a Depression, stagflation, the draft and world war? Do tell.

R65 - this. They have no willingness to actually learn because they think they can just Google for answers which doesn't h help personal or professional growth.

[quote] Certainly at the elite levels this is untrue. Selective universities are much more selective now than they were 30 or 40 years ago. Athletes, musicians, etc are all much better than in prior generations.

What you failed to mention is the qualifications to be considered 'selective' have all been lowered by leaps and bounds over the past 30 - 40 years to accommodate these students. The bar is now skimming ground level.

The whiniest president of the 20th century, GHWB, whined about most anything… but you never heard him complain about joining the Navy, being shot down over the Pacific or having only 2 years to finish 4 years of college.

R107. What on earth are you talking about? Acceptance rates at Harvard, for example, were 15 to 18 percent in the 1980s. It is now less than 4 percent. The elite today compete at a workd, and not just a national level.

You know that this argument is even more absurd in athletics and classical music. Athletes of the 1980s or 1990s would never be able to compete against the elite athletes of today.

10,O00 applicants then

40,000 + applicants now.

Not better, just more

As someone who has hired a variety of people in recent years, I can say Gen Z employees tend to lack basic work ethic. Most seem to come from college with next to zero work experience of any kind, and unrealistic expectations of what a job position entails and what they need to be doing on a daily basis.

R109 the SAT has been rescaled and made easier on multiple occasions since 1980. The increase in the number of top or “perfect” scores (which literally does not equal perfection on the test) is pretty much meaningless. Let’s not get to grade inflation.

Graduate programs are where US universities stand as a colossus astride the world.

[quote] However, companies have an equal responsibility to prepare recent graduates for their particular workplace and give them the best chance to succeed. / No, they do not.

Maybe not a responsibility to the Gen Z employee, but certainly to their business. If they need to staff, they try to get the best for the role. Best fit, best skills. If no ideal applicant is available, they need to hire the next best thing. That could be an experienced older candidate, skilled but maybe not very flexible anymore. Or a younger candidate who misses hard skills, soft skills, experience etc. If the candidate isn't perfect but a better candidate couldn't be hired, the company has the responsibility to improve the new hire's performance. If they don't help improve performance they have no business anymore at some point..

A good job interviewer can determine a lot about the candidate.

R113. Ummmm The acceptance rate is less than a third of what it used to be. Why on earth are you mentioning higher SAT scores to argue admissions are not more competitive now?

And l, even if your argument made the slightest sense (which it definitely doesn’t), what admissions committees have always looked at is the percentile ranking the score corresponds to. Even if the SAT board multiplied all sciures by a thousand, that would have no practical effect.

R115, true. But sometimes you have to settle when you don't find a good candidate after a six month search. And then you have to make the best of it.

It’s certainly fortunate that companies don’t engage in the sort of anecdotal reasoning the middle-aged people in this thread engage in. If they did, they would conclude the Baby Boomers and Generation X are the stupidest generations in human history. The display of idiocy in this thread is astounding even by usual standards.

Well, thanks for educating us and bringing new points to a rational debate, r118.

R116

Misreading the point, but thanks for your effort. Your participation medallion is in the mail.

R120. No one misread. You don’t know how to think.

College professors can only do so much, especially because of this past generation’s explosion of administrative liability, helicopter parent lawsuits, required semester-end grading to only a final exam despite if great progress and outcomes during the semester, diversity/equity/inclusion, mandatory syllabi templates for developmental courses, open admissions at increasingly popular community colleges, Title IX requirements, political correctness, teachers’ unions, multiple English as a second language, student disabilities/gender identification/LGBTQ+ recognition accommodations—you name it. And high school and university professors aren’t and shouldn’t be parents, police or guardians.

Pleasant dreams tonight. Don’t try to count sheep, though.

These youngsters need to smoke copious amounts of pot, silly.

Good thing Gen Z are not lasting in the workforce. We have a tidal wave of old people coming that can never afford to retire with Gen X so let them work. Now that there kids are grown and gone, they make good employees. They get the job done and won't whine all day everyday about bullshit. They still have that latch key kid resourcefulness to them.

I agree 100% with R115. These companies are failing at effective interviewing if they are hiring so poorly. I must have interviewed 200 and hired 50 over the years and nearly all my hires were ok to excellent.

And the poster further above who describes the ageism among HR and managers today is right. There’s a ton of it. Companies who are failing and flailing with so many of the 22 year olds should be giving more chances to the 50, 55 and 60 year olds.

If Gen X is such a model generation, why haven’t they saved enough for their retirement?

That's a good question. I think that's a cross-generational problem, but still a good question.

R125 oh Gen X will be working for sure. But not because their kids are grown and gone. They will be supporting this dead weight for life. Say goodbye retirement!

Gen X for the most part didn't have many parents that were well off enough to help kick start their children's careers. They spent years and years working their way up. They didn't get handed down even modestly successful businesses or connections from them to get jobs they weren't qualified for. I've noticed quite a lot of younger Millennials and Gen Z get jobs from their parents or parents' connections.

Ahd how did the generations before Generation X manage?

[quote]R69 One generalization I can make of them is that they need direction. Their comprehension of the prompt or topic of an essay or assignment needs constant explanation.

Doesn’t this indicate they don’t have a brain? If they must be spoon fed, babysat, and mollycoddled?

Is that why they were the majority to storm the Capitol, R130?

[quote]R78 While she did a *mediocre* job, she came to me afterward saying she thinks she deserves a raise because she did "amazing" work. Are you kidding me? It wasn’t even close to exceptional.

What did you tell her??

(And why aren’t there better candidates around?)

In general, the idea that the younger generation is stupider or lazier than prior generations is absurd. However, as a member of Generation X, I well remember my elders decrying the decline of the education system during my youth. Looking at the posts on this thread—by people who believe half of Generation Z are unemployed or who believe a 4 percent acceptance rate is higher than a 15 percent acceptance rate—-my riders may have been right. Let’s hope Generation Z outshines us.

I know enough Gen Z to know that they absolutely have to maintain full-time jobs. This idea that they're all unhireable is absurd.

How they differ to other gens is they job hop a lot and feel entitled to pay and flexibility they haven't begun to earn.

[quote] Oh, and apparently, none of them know how to write either. Everything’s done on a computer, and don’t even think about asking them to draft a proper letter. They look at you like you're speaking a foreign language. And they use WAY! too! many! exclamation ! points! and emojis in business email!

R78, I see this in emails from students. I'll give you one example. Last week I received an email from a student. The message was this, "Attached is my doctors note for today's class." Attached was a photo of a doctor's "Return t Work or School" note. When she returned the following class, I led the class through a lesson of writing proper emails.

I wouldn't blame Gen Z for this. Since the late 60s, American culture has become less formal. We're at a point now where strangers regularly call us by our given names in everyday transactions. Texting has merely accelerated this eradication of traditional norms and etiquette.

[quote]Companies who are failing and flailing with so many of the 22 year olds should be giving more chances to the 50, 55 and 60 year olds.

Well, let's face it - younger people are cheaper & use/require less benefits.

This thread makes me laugh because I see so much of the issues I've been facing and like many people, I'm torn between the reality that the elders of my day likely thought I was an idiot too, but also, the unwillingness - even inability - for younger workers to work independently & take initiative. It reminds me of some line from Mad Men to Megan from her mother about "Not every little girl gets to do what they want. The world could not support that many ballerinas." (and calls her an ungrateful bitch).

Companies actually benefited from a large surplus of millennial college grads competing with each other for these entry-level jobs. Now that they've leveled up, Gen Z is a smaller generation meant to fill these same jobs and they have more options, not to mention higher starting wages.

Most of the youngsters never learned how to send a fax!

R127, 55 y/o GenXer here. Several things things thwarted retirement savings for us:

*The early 90s recession, which happened right around the time many of us entered the work force;

*The near-total disappearance of employer defined-benefit pension plans, superseded by shit 401K plans, or often nothing at all;

*Rising health insurance costs that employers passed onto employees; and

*Rising college costs for their spawn.

R137 at first I thought she was joking, but when she had a hurt look on her face after I laughed I realized she was serious. I wanted to say "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, LIL' CUNT??" But instead I just said we don't consider pay increases until after 1 year, so she's got 9 more months to go.

And, in reality we are giving her and her equally useless sidekick the axe when I return from vacation next week.

Gen Z thinks they can get away with talking to their bosses the same way they've talked to their parents all their lives. And they are in for a world of hurt!

Well, if you don't talk to them as if they were hurt puppies, they'll cry, go to HR, and/or sue you and the company.

I'm glad to be retired.

[quote]Selective universities are much more selective now than they were 30 or 40 years ago.

I'm pleased that my employability is going up by comparison.

R145, I heard a segment on the radio about this — these days, many public schools teach reading exclusively using book excerpts rather than whole books. Maybe there is value in this at the elementary school level, but certainly by middle school and high school, kids should be reading whole books, for christ’s sake.

R137 Is it the lack of a salutation that you think this email is wrong? I prefer emails that get to the point but I’d probably include a salutation and a signature for politeness sake.

Last week I talked with a college instructor who said some of his students didn’t know how to use a ruler. (No, you don’t start at the “1”)

[quote] I'm pleased that my employability is going up by comparison.

I feel the same way. Employers will seek out the (presumed) best candidate. If younger applicants don't have what the employer needs then naturally they have to pick an older applicant. That sounds great. But for employers this will become a problem eventually once Gen Z is in the later prime of its life and older employees age out. Then employers have to take what's available and sink or swim with the less qualified people. That's a problem when your industry is competing with low wage but motivated countries. In some industries it's already tough to get qualified people.

R145, I just read that piece and was struck by the fact that this professor is teaching at Columbia here in NYC. My nephew goes there and has a few eyebrow raising stories about all the Palestine/Israel protests last winter and spring. Columbia is one of the most fiercely selective universities in America. The acceptance rate among applicants is like 3.5%. Being a student there costs around $90K-$100K all inclusive (tuition room board etc).

And even THESE students, the creme de la creme of Gen Z, many of them struggle to read a full length book for a class assignment.

They will have to learn how to function in society or they will fall by the wayside. A lost generation is something we cannot afford.

As a former grad school professor, I found that they actually believe that everything in life must be fair. That is how they were raised. Boy are they fucked.

[quote]according to a new report from Intelligent.com

That's what all of this is based on.

Media literacy is pathetic among the old and grouchy.

[quote]And even THESE students, the creme de la creme of Gen Z, many of them struggle to read a full length book for a class assignment.

Walk into any college library today, and I guarantee you what you will find is increasing shelf space devoted to 'graphic novels' (or, as we used to call them - 'comic books'). I know this as I worked in a college library for the past nine years. Our offerings of 'graphic novels' has soared over the past nine years. It's just a matter of time before text books will be written in 'comic book' form.

KIDS! I don't know what's wrong with these kids today.

I'll hazard a guess that if there is a Broadway show tune written in 1960 about the exact topic we are discussing, it's human nature.

Will the Zoomers have to tell everyone that they're not our bitch and not to hang our shit on them?

R155 Would it were just that old "generation gap" of years ago.

Don’t tell me Gen Z is lazy. I look at them busting their tushies behind the counter at Starbucks. A lit of them work and go to school.

The gay boys are entrepreneurial. They shove their cock and hole online for OF.

[quote]I really wonder what damage the pandemic did to Gen Z with much of their college/university time impacted.

What about all the years before then? Having worked with Gen Z students while they were still in middle schools and high schools, I doubt it was just the year or two of online learning that led to their professional impairments.

One of the curses of age is to completely forget what it was like to be young