A recent social media post has ignited a discussion online about Gen Z’s workplace behaviour and their ability to collaborate with colleagues. Taking to X, user Harnidh Kaur shared that many of her peers are now reluctant to hire Gen Z employees not because they lack intelligence or skills, but because of their behaviour and social interactions at work. According to Ms Kaur, Gen Z employees are often rude, difficult to work with and struggle with basic workplace etiquette. “So many of my friends are now not hiring gen z NOT because they aren’t smart or good at their jobs (they are) but because they’re rude, difficult to work with, and don’t know how to behave with other colleagues. Honestly hard to defend a lot of the stuff lol,” Ms Kaur wrote.
In a follow-up post, she quoted someone attempting to bridge the generational divide, who shared a common frustration. “To quote a someone who’s really put in the effort to try and bridge the gap- ‘they expect everyone to make space for and care about their feelings but if you ask them to care about anyone else’s, it’s too much work for them and they lash out’ Ouch,” Ms Kaur said.
To quote a someone who’s really put in the effort to try and bridge the gap- ‘they expect everyone to make space for and care about their feelings but if you ask them to care about anyone else’s, it’s too much work for them and they lash out’
Ouch :/
— Harnidh Kaur (@harnidhish) December 3, 2024
The X post has now sparked a debate online about Gen Z’s workplace behaviour. In the comments action, while some users agreed with the criticism of Gen Z, others criticised the generalisation.
“Largely agree. Sense of entitlement is too much, without onus of delivering !” wrote one user. “Thats a fact,they think they own the world and are super rude,” commented another. “I have faced this myself too in my own team – and when you are in HR, it is all the more challenging,” expressed a third user.
However, some users strongly disagreed with the generalisation. “way to go with the generalisation! I can say the same for boomers and millenials who don’t want to pay their employees fairly, have no life of their own, want everyone to slog at work, and are mostly intolerant of diversity and yes, they generalise 🙂 The new generation wants work life balance and the old folks hate it and don’t want anyone to question anything,” commented one user.
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“This is not a specific gen problem, worked with many gen z and mostly are very hard working. Yes some are hard to deal with but to be expected from such age group,” said another.
“oh that’s unfortunate. though I do feel they care deeply about things our generation didn’t care much about. Don’t know how to behave with other colleagues could be a personal opinion…? or is this a trend?” wrote one user.
“Hatred against Gen Z is biased. They belong to a diff era and its time for others to adjust with them. Every gen thinks that its successor generation is bad or inefficient. Forget at workplace, we have them in the family. They are as bad or good as previous generation,” expressed another.
