Mythbusters: Challenging the Common Myths About Generation Z

Mar 18

I’m sure you’ve heard stories about today’s youngest employees. Maybe you’ve experienced them yourself. Let me warn you—some of them are stereotypes. Natalie is 21 years old and a proud member of Gen Z. Her supervisor, Ryan told me that he questioned her work ethic. When I asked why, he explained:

“Natalie won’t work a minute past 5:00 pm. She darts out when the rest of us stay until our current task is finished.”

Naturally, Ryan assumed she didn’t like her job and lacked work ethic. When I asked Natalie about it, she smiled, then responded:

“Do you know why I leave right at 5:00 pm? It’s because I have another job to get to. I don’t make enough here to pay for my rent and groceries. Then, when I’m done with my second job, I head over to take care of my mom, who is being treated for stage four cancer.”

She paused as I swallowed hard.

“I don’t think Ryan has any idea what kind of work ethic I have,” she concluded. “He’s never bothered to ask about me.”

The Myths and Truth About Generation Z

For centuries, dating back to Socrates, older generations have complained about the young people in their era. We’ve always assumed they’re lazy, entitled and may never be ready for adulthood. At times, we buy into “myths” about youth. When Growing Leaders surveyed more than 2,000 adults in 2019, we found that 66 percent of them experienced a negative not a positive emotion when reflecting on Gen Z. This described me until I met with hundreds of them in focus groups, in preparation to write my book, The Future Begins with Z, which was recently released. Here’s the truth about some of the myths I discovered.

1️⃣ Myth: They’re all lazy and entitled.

Truth: While some may be lazy, the majority are seeking flexibility and connections. It looks like they don’t care, but they embrace different values than boomers or Gen Xers do. When they find a job they care deeply about, they are passionate workers. Expect their motivation to be different than yours, and recognize they’re allergic to B.S. They sense it when bosses make vague promises about their future. They’ve re-evaluated their priorities and demand more from their employers and careers. Gen Z seeks work that aligns with their values and provides opportunities for their development. Profile their task as something they can be passionate about and watch them flourish.

2️⃣ Myth: They just want work to be fun.

Truth: They do want to enjoy their work, but they want a challenge too. They believe both are essential to job satisfaction. A survey conducted by BrightHR found that 79% of employees believe that fun at work leads to higher productivity. This aligns with other findings from the same study that indicated 79% of graduates considered a fun work environment to be essential. They want to enjoy both their teammates and work, but they don’t want to get bored; they love a high-stakes problem to solve. If they feel their work doesn’t matter, it will be difficult for employers to keep them around. Focus on providing an enjoyable culture and challenging projects and watch them flourish.

3️⃣ Myth: They are just job hoppers.

❝…our society has conditioned them to look out for themselves.❞

Truth: Many of them are job hoppers because they seek balance and boundaries. They don’t enter their careers wanting to job hop; millions hope to find work and people they enjoy so they can stay. But they’ve learned from the errors of older generations and seldom want their work to become their central focus. Many Gen Zers witnessed their parent’s generation become workaholics, and their career ruined a marriage and family. Further, the “gig economy” (full of job hoppers) has expanded since many were laid off during the pandemic, and Gen Zers wanted to take control of their career. They didn’t want to be at the mercy of a layoff. If we invest in them, they won’t want to leave.

Remember—our society has conditioned them to look out for themselves. When many companies didn’t look out for them and fired them during the pandemic for revenue reasons, it persuaded a generation of young people to take charge of their own lives. Young people today don’t look at a large, established organization and think, “I wonder where I’ll fit in your complex picture.” Rather, they look at an employer and think, “I wonder where you will fit in my life story.”

4️⃣ Myth: They won’t do grunt work.

Truth: They won’t do it if they feel no one is keeping track, or it doesn’t matter. They’re willing to do challenging work when they understand the “why” and they believe their leader cares. Managers must connect the dots for a young team member between the job they’ve been given to do and the big picture purpose of the organization. Especially menial jobs require leaders to help a young person see how their task helps the cause in a meaningful way. Purpose is everything to a happy and fully engaged employee, especially young ones.

Years ago, I recognized this need on our own team at Growing Leaders. Fresh graduates joined our team but appeared to do only the bare minimum on the job. It felt like an early version of “quiet quitting.” So, I met with one of them and asked why he wasn’t giving 110 percent. He explained he was only working on small projects that didn’t require more than he was giving. Once I shared the “why” behind his tasks, however, things changed. In fact, I met with every team member under 25 years old and began to connect their job to our Key Result Areas and overall mission. The light bulbs went on. The energy returned.

5️⃣ Myth: They’re not loyal and won’t make real commitments.

Truth: My research revealed they can be loyal—but it must make sense to them. They’re loyal to people who care for their future, more than to institutions. I know hundreds of members of Generation Z who’ve stayed at an organization and displayed loyalty, so I know it’s possible. Keep in mind, however, that in 2020, when the pandemic hit everyone, Gen Zers were the first population of employees companies let go. Gen Z felt no loyalty from leaders, so they wonder why we require it from them. Even as young adults, they have become very pragmatic. In my focus groups, they acknowledged they felt like they’d been treated like commodities to be used, more than people to invest in.

There’s little doubt that attention spans are shorter, and they’re the largest demographic that enjoys the “gig economy” where they hop from job to job. Yet, often they work various “gigs” because they don’t make enough to pay the bills from one job. The short attention spans simply mean we must engage them with tasks that have high stakes; jobs that require them to pay attention for a long time because they really matter. They are important. When I have given young teammates an important job, paid them a fair salary and built a relationship with them, I have found they will stay several years and continue to serve our cause.

6️⃣ Myth: They don’t respect their elders.

Truth: Each of these myths contains a kernel of truth; many Gen Zers possess a jaded view of traditional institutions because they’ve digested unreliable news on social media feeds. I discovered, however, that their disrespect and distrust of authority (and the establishment in general) is because they’ve heard about so much real news of corruption among leaders. Consider news headlines we’ve seen over the last decade: embezzlement among corporate executives, lobbyists paying off greedy politicians, performance-enhancing drugs among athletes, child abuse in the Catholic church, and sexual scandals in evangelical churches. While these perpetrators are a minority, headlines report such stories as if they’re normal. It’s given the establishment quite a horrific reputation.

❝Gen Z sees elders failing to practice what they preach.❞

The fact is, Gen Z sees elders failing to practice what they preach. Millions have watched older generations, including parents, overspend, requiring them to work past retirement age; they’ve witnessed divorce rates climb, they’ve seen authorities fail to embody ethical leadership, instead displaying moral corruption. They’ve also seen universities charge exorbitant tuition fees for a degree that doesn't guarantee a job. This is why Gen Z finds it hard to trust us. The media and social media platforms have dirt on everyone. Gen Z is looking for authentic and moral leaders, ones who model the way. Forget positional authority. Just because a boss wears a badge doesn’t automatically earn them the respect of a Gen Zer. They will follow us when we lead better; they’ll listen better when we do as well. They will respect those who respect them.