The Gen Z "Problem" at Work Isn’t Gen Z
Let’s cut to the chase – no matter where I look, someone has an opinion on Gen Z in the workplace. They’re “lazy” or “entitled,” or they “don’t get it.”
A Fortune article from earlier this year claimed that bosses are firing Gen Z employees just months after hiring them. But something you’re not going to hear in these big think pieces is that maybe Gen Z isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s the way that we’re onboarding, managing, and communicating with Gen Z that’s the real issue.
What we’re dealing with isn’t a work ethic problem – it’s a clarity problem. A communication problem. And that is something we can fix.
Déjà Vu, But Make It Generational
If this sounds familiar, it should and it’s giving me déjà vu. Just over a decade ago, the same exact headlines were written about millennials. They were “entitled” or “lazy” and “need too much hand holding.” Think about today - Millennials are now in management, often leading the charge on why Gen Z just “doesn’t get it.”
In fact, I wrote an entire book about this! Millennials in Management was born out of my own experience of nearly deep-sixing my company because we didn’t understand how to integrate a new generation into the workplace. When we adjusted our environment, everyone thrived.
The cycle is exhausting – and predictable.
Socrates (yes, that Socrates) is credited with saying:
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders…”
That was 2,400 years ago.
Every generation looks at the next and wonders, “What’s wrong with them?” And the answer is almost always: nothing. They’re just different. Norms evolve, values shift, and language changes. If we want to work well together, we have to change how we lead and communicate.
It’s Not About Readiness – It’s About Clarity
Let’s be honest: most college grads aren’t ready to step into your team’s unspoken rules and expectations. Nor should they be. Universities aren’t workplace boot camps, and career centers aren’t substitutes for onboarding.
Even if someone has internship experience, they’re coming into your company. You have your culture, your communication norms, your definitions of “professional.” You can’t expect someone to read your mind – or Slack threads from five years ago – and know what’s expected of them.
This is not a Gen Z issue. That’s a leadership miss.
Communication Isn’t a One-Way Street: It’s a Dialogue
Here’s where we get tripped up. Too many managers “set expectations” once, buried in a welcome packet or onboarding presentation, and then never revisit them. But real communication is a two-way street. It’s co-created. It’s active. It’s ongoing.
If you want your Gen Z team members to succeed, invite questions. Encourage dialogue. Make it safe to say, “Wait – what does that mean exactly?”
And please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t go off to a leadership retreat, come back with new buzzwords, and expect everyone to fall in line without context. That’s not leadership. That’s confusion.
Specificity Is the Secret Sauce
Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite thing – deadlines. If you say, “get it to my be end of day,” what does that actually mean?
If you’ve hired someone who’s been submitting assignments online for four years, “end of day” means 11:59 PM in their local time zone. That’s what they kno,w and who can blame them? Unless you say otherwise, that’s what they’re going to assume you mean, too.
So when you get a file at 11:48 PM and you meant “by 3 pm so I could review it before dinner,” without saying it, that’s not misbehavior – that’s miscommunication.
Instead, here’s a surefire way to get your documents on time: “Please send me the draft as a Google Doc by 3 pm ET tomorrow, Tuesday, 10/15.”
That’s it – day, time, format, and time zone. Crystal clear and there’s no room for ambiguity, drama, or missed expectations.
The more specific you are, the better your team performs. Always.
What Leaders Should Actually Be Doing
Here are three things every manager, team leader, and executive can be doing – right now to stop blaming Gen Z and start leading better:
Set expectations explicitly. And then set them again and again. Don’t assume anything. Spell out the dress code. Define “professionalism.” Explain your feedback process. Clarity now prevents frustration later.
Build dynamic feedback loops. Create real channels for feedback – not just once-a-year surveys. Talk with your team. Make space for questions, course corrections, and clarifications. Treat communication as a live system, not a checklist.
Evolve your culture with your team. You don’t get to preserve your workplace in amber. If you want to attract and retain emerging top talent, you need to stay relevant. That means rethinking policies, updating processes, and co-creating norms that actually work - take a look at least once a year!
Let’s Be Honest
If you’re frustrated with a Gen Z employee, ask yourself a few questions:
Did I actually define what success looks like?
Did I clarify what “urgent” means to me?
Did I explain how I want the work submitted and by when?
If the answer is no, that’s not on them. It’s on us.
The “Gen Z problem” isn’t about Gen Z – it’s about communication. It’s about clarity. It’s about leadership.
When we start leading with specificity, everyone wins.