- Workers who have been around for a while sometimes dump on those who are new to the labor force.
- But concerns about young people's work ethic and lack of ability are nothing new.
- Mentorship and training can go a long way to address any skills gaps.
Young workers are lazy, entitled, and unmotivated.
That's as true today as it was when the people saying it were young, too. (In other words: It's not.)
We tend to wind ourselves up about differences among boomers, millennials, and Gen Zers — sorry, Gen X, forgot to include you — even though many of the distinctions are made up.
Yet, when it comes to work, generational side-eye can have real consequences — especially around hiring. That's because managers filling jobs can fall back on clichés when deciding who's right for a role.
It's easy to point to young workers and say they're no good at their jobs because, of course, they're often not as experienced as those doing the criticizing.
Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist at ResumeTemplates.com, told Business Insider that some hiring managers complain about young people's work ethic, quality of their work, accountability, and communication skills.
But if there's a problem with young employees, often the answer is for bosses to look in the mirror and see it as an opportunity to provide mentorship and training, she said.
"Mentorship will be huge with this generation," Toothacre said.
According to Toothacre, the pandemic is one big reason some younger workers might struggle. Lockdowns and social distancing kept them from doing in-person internships and working in offices where they might have more easily picked up on behaviors and norms.
Younger workers want growth and purpose
Thomas Roulet, a professor at Cambridge University who focuses on areas like organizational sociology and leadership, said in a recent video posted on YouTube that expectations around work have shifted and that younger workers aren't any lazier than those before them. He added that the factors that motivate workers across generations are the same.
What has changed, Roulet said, is some of the expectations around work.
"Younger generations want growth, purpose, and, at the same time, a work-life balance — and organizations have to rise to meet those demands," he said.
Jon Veasey-Deters, a senior research analyst at the professional-services and research firm Seramount, previously told BI many people new to the workforce often hold the same goals as their more senior colleagues.
"We're all kind of looking for the same things: to have a decent salary, to make a decent impact on the world, and to value the work that we do," he said.
It's not always easy to achieve those aims, however, especially for younger people. Gallup said in early 2024 that millennial and Gen Z workers have, since early 2020, reported the biggest drops in areas including having chances to learn and feeling tied into the work of the organization.
Toothacre said the pandemic helped rejigger many workers' relationships with their jobs and employers. So, some young workers' desire to focus more on their mental health and well-being could rankle some older workers and fuel why-didn't-I-think-of-that resentments.
"They have a better handle on just who they are and what they want and their priorities. We're seeing less of them prioritize work, especially if they're not treated well," she said.
And some of those desires don't jibe with what managers might expect.
It's easy, for example, to get tripped up by tropes about how young people stuck to screens don't want to go to the office. Spoiler: Many do — often more than the honchos in charge. What surveys show many young and older workers share in common is a desire for flexibility around their jobs.
Here's how you chat with colleagues
Toothacre said that, as with any generation, training could go a long way toward helping young workers get up to speed in areas where bosses might believe they're lacking.
KPMG, for example, has been conducting classes on soft skills like how to write emails, ways to chat up colleagues, and even what to wear to the office.
"Doing classes on basic office etiquette is a great idea. Honestly, there are some people in the older generation that could probably use some of that as well," Toothacre quipped.
Workers' attitudes matter to employers partly because swapping desk jobs is often not as easy as it was a couple of years ago, especially in areas like tech that have seen slowdowns. With the Big Stay now entrenched as the sequel to the Great Resignation, there is more reason to invest in training programs to help workers grow in their existing jobs.
And, as more employers — and workers — look for ways that artificial intelligence might boost productivity, education can help workers add to their skills in an area that's new for almost everyone.
Even with more mentorship and training, it's unlikely that all of the generational shade-throwing will go away. It's something Toothacre, a self-described cusp millennial, has experienced herself.
"This happens to every generation," she said. "This is just Gen Z's time."