Gen Z and Reality: Young Employees Confront Stereotypes in the Workplace

Jorge González, director of business inclusion for the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. (Steve Lewis)

Older workers and bosses label Generation Z employees as lazy, uncommunicative and testy.

These whippersnappers, all 27 or under, take fire for being money-hungry, inattentive to emails and working fewer hours than their elders.

But are those perceptions accurate?

Not entirely, say workforce experts in Arkansas and nationwide.

Gen Z employees will outnumber baby boomers in the American workforce by next year as retirements step up, and organizations face the challenge of harnessing young workers’ skills — or else.

So what is a boss or co-worker to make of surveys that show 87% of Gen Z employees think they’re underpaid, or that nearly a quarter of them took a parent to their job interview?

Apply a grain of salt, said Chemia Woods, a talent scout at the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the nonprofit power transmission organization based in Little Rock and Carmel, Indiana.

“I’ll be frank, I have run into candidates from Gen Z that would like six figures out of the gate for their college degree,” Woods said. “They may not have work experience or internship experience. But they’re willing to take a competitive salary for a job they know is going to be a safe experience for their mind and their body.”

Woods, a millennial, said her generation’s attitude was “give me all the money.” But Gen Z is more about who they are and what their values are. “They want a job that is flexible, and willing to offer a mental health day, for example. Will I be able to make a difference and grow in my career? If your answers are yes, they will take the salary you offer.”

Several years of inflation have altered the definition of a “good salary,” Woods said. “In HR we call it a competitive salary. And it takes more money to pay for the lifestyle that young workers are looking for,” lives rich in experiences and meaning.

Underpaid, They Say

A survey this month by ResumeTemplates.com found that 87% of Gen Z full-timers believe they are underpaid. And 19% said they would need to earn $100,000 or more to cover their basic needs. The survey of 750 U.S. residents 18 to 27 years old was conducted this month.

Julia Toothacre, who teaches a summer careers preparedness class at the University of Southern California, said in a telephone interview that the rising generation wants to settle in costly urban areas. “I have my students do a salary and cost-of-living analysis, and many find that they won’t be able to live in some of the cities they’ve chosen, or will have to share costs with roommates instead of living by themselves.”

Different Expectations

Gen Z has different perspectives about work and less experience in office behavior, or even face-to face etiquette in classrooms or elsewhere. “They came up through the pandemic in high school and a lot of college, and their professional and education experiences were largely online, so I think there’s a real gap there,” Toothacre said. “I think they have this expectation of flexibility and independence [in doing their jobs]. But they want to do well in their careers, and they want real mentorship. I’ve heard that from them over and over again.”

Toothacre said younger workers are not lazy, though they may confound older colleagues because they refuse to be slaves to their jobs.

“Boomers, Gen X and a good chunk of millennials got the message that you need to get a good job and stay in it,” Toothacre said. “This generation, I think, has watched their parents and grandparents suffer on the job, and that could be through overworking, through layoffs, just a lot of different things. So I think that there isn’t as much of a dedication to the organization, and that’s caused some contention in the workplace: Gen Z will leave without a second thought.”

Brandon Morris, a MISO colleague, helped Woods lead an energy careers summit for 24 Gen Z students at historically black universities late last month in Little Rock. He said the idea that younger workers are lazy is simply an intergenerational misunderstanding.

“They said that about us millennials, they said it about the boomers, they said it about Gen X,” Morris said. “That’s a common characteristic to project on the upcoming generation.”

Companies must innovate to recruit young workers, Woods said.

“We definitely meet Gen Z where they are,” she said, describing what’s called social recruiting. “It’s mixing the traditional parts of recruiting with being online with apps like LinkedIn or Facebook, and there’s even an app called Handshake where you can engage with students and they make themselves available to you,” Woods said.

Companies need to tell stories of meaningful work and diversity, she said. “It’s not simply posting a job and allowing them to apply. You have to present what your company does and how it interacts with the community. You have to let them know that, for example, MISO has a hybrid work environment. Gen Z wants to have an experience, and they want their managers to be more than just a leader of people. They almost want a counselor, someone they can trust.”

Gen Z workers have adjusted well at MISO, Woods said, but they do have to be reminded to check their email daily, and to note when they are unavailable in digital meetings. “I think it’s a give and take for that.”

The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services found in 2022 that people aged 20-54 made up about 1.6 million Arkansans, but that only 73.5% were in the workforce. Jorge González, director of business inclusion at the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, is determined to improve that number.

González said in an email that Gen Z tends to value a business’s culture. “Generation Z believes that the collection of values, attitudes, and behaviors an organization holds is just as important as the monetary output of an organization. Leaning into this idea that culture matters, they also prioritize work life balance and mental health.” So organizations that embrace those values will likely be more appealing, he said.

González said Gen Z is the “first global generation,” with endless information at their fingertips via the web and social media. This lets young people express themselves and build virtual relationships. “This understanding of the potential impact they can have on challenges could be the reason why they seek purposeful work,” he said.

Toothacre, the careers course teacher, said that reports of job prospects bringing parents to interviews surprised her. “I’ve not seen that in the real world; maybe some of those reports are about very young workers interviewing for first jobs. But bringing a parent is frowned upon. Actually bringing anyone but yourself is frowned upon.”

Tiffany Mawhinney and Kimberly Betts of Deloitte Consulting suggest offering more personalization for Gen Z career paths. Employers could develop their model of an ideal employee and explain those characteristics to young workers.

Companies could also partner with universities to attract top female candidates to technical roles. Another tip is using “the expertise of Gen X, Gen Y, and boomers to help mentor Gen Z into strong leaders.”

Toothacre said it’s important for companies to avoid vilifying Gen Z. After all, they will be tomorrow’s corporate leaders and mentors.

“Instead, we need to really try to understand and help them,” Toothacre said. “Some of the complaints are warranted, but we need to have a high level of empathy for how the pandemic impacted them, because it’s wildly different from how it impacted the rest of us. We need to help usher them into the workforce, so that they end up having a good experience and growing from it.”