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I have found my Gen Z staff difficult in some major areas. They are great with technology and grasp it quickly and intuitively. But they do the bare minimum, feel so entitled to money beyond their skill set and don’t seem to grasp that you have to work hard to achieve the perks they expect. (Before, people start complaining about living wages, we pay above market rate for all positions…lowest paid are receptionist positions and it’s $65k for MCOL area…and have gold standard/full package benefits, unlimited PTO as well as “work from anywhere in the world” for almost all staff. We have several national and local best places to work awards.) I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had after raises and bonuses come out. They don’t understand that just showing up and doing their job to expectations will NOT get you a bonus or significant raise. When I explain what kind of initiative they need to show or extra responsibilities to take on to earn those bonuses, they say, “I’m not doing that without a raise or guaranteed bonus.” Argh!
Not in the least. But they do have different expectations. Companies could count on Boomers and Gen X/Y and Millennials to buy into the salaried productivity trade off. That is, working 175% capacity in return for faster promotions, higher salaries, and increased career mobility.
However, Gen Z isn't buying it. They realize that companies exploit employees by over-scoping their work and use the various carrots to gain productivity while trimming salaries, time off, and benefits. In short, they see the dehumanizing effect it's had on prior generations (emotional distance, burnout, cynicism) and have decided collectively not to buy into that.
Companies like to call them "quiet quitters" or "only doing the bare minimum," but the reality is that they're happy to do 100% of what is expected of them. They just won't trade up to 110% and without a good reason, and they're not buying "your country needs you" as a good answer. Work/life balance and mutual accountability is very important to them, so if they understand what excellence looks like within the scope of their role, they'll do it within the boundaries of professional commitment. But "do whatever it takes to meet our deadline and I'll like you more" isn't going to work if they're making up for cut staff, poor leadership, and bad planning on the part of others.
I get along great with Gen Z coworkers, even though I've had to coach a few that I was leading about what "excellence" looks like on items within their role. However, as someone chronically taken advantage of in HR, I *also* teach them the survival strategies of curbing scope creep and prompting for tangible performance feedback. I think it's perfectly acceptable to push back on overloading assignments stating, "Here's what I've got on my plate. Show me what I can move off of it, and I'll be happy to take on this additional work that's not normally a part of my role."
Be straight with them, and they'll be straight with you.