MythBusters: Challenging the Common Myths About Generation Z
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.
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.”
This article is an excerpt from my new book ⤵︎
The Future Begins with Z:
Nine Strategies to Lead Generation Z as They Disrupt the Workplace.
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