According to a September 2024 report by Intelligent, one in six companies are hesitant to hire recent college graduates, and more than half of hiring managers say recent graduates are unprepared for the workforce.
The report states the majority of surveyed hiring managers believe recent college graduates are entitled, get offended too easily, lack a work ethic and don’t respond well to feedback.
Further, the report revealed 94% of companies hire recent college graduates, but only 25% stated that all recent college graduate hires worked out well.
The reasons cited for why these hires don’t work out include a lack of motivation or initiative, poor communication skills, a lack of professionalism, problems with feedback and inadequate problem-solving abilities among young hires.
Though some of this is likely rooted in fact, most inter-generational workplace disputes or issues with young hires stem from a difference in generational values.
In 2018, Mckinsey & Company published a study that identified Gen-Z’s core values:
- Value individual expression and avoid labels.
- Mobilize themselves for a variety of causes.
- Believe profoundly in the efficacy of dialogue to solve conflicts and improve the world.
- Make decisions and relate to institutions in a highly analytical and pragmatic way.
Older generations champion different values, specifically Baby Boomers, who currently take up about 25% of the workforce and typically hold higher-ranking positions than later generations.
According to a John Hopkins Study conducted in November 2022, Baby Boomers tend to be work-centric and competitive. The study refers to them as “workaholics,” claiming they have little regard for work-life balance.
Gen-X and Millennials make up the largest portion of the workforce, about 68%. Though Gen-Xers still tend to consider work as their top priority, they are perceived to have a greater work-life balance than Baby Boomers. Millennials seem to prioritize themselves even more than Gen-Xers, centering themselves on the idea of simultaneous economic and personal growth.
The differing perceptions held by Gen-Z reflect a huge attitude shift in the workforce and life.
Staying late or coming to work early have long been traits associated with hard workers and grounds to be deemed eligible for a promotion. Now, hiring managers are seeing a trend where Gen-Zers simply come in on time, do their job and leave.
Maybe hiring managers’ perception of this generation’s unmotivated and unprofessional could stem from new phenomenons like “quiet quitting,” a kind of work ethic that avoids putting in extra work and instead focuses on simply doing what a job description asks.
Is this relaxed Gen-Z attitude harmful to the workplace? If not, why is it looked down upon by older generations and hiring managers?
In recent years, the growing discussion of mental health has caused many people, particularly Gen-Zers, to put their mental health and personal lives before their work lives. Because of this, some workplaces now allow frequent mental health days.
But why is it that Gen-Z has to ask for all these mental health days in the first place?
With immense pressures to succeed compared, the main reason the generation is likely prioritizing mental health is to prevent the cliche late-20s corporate burnout.
According to a study conducted by Innerbody Research in February 2024, about 99% of people in the workforce take mental health days on Mondays or Fridays. Looking at this data, some companies view mental health days as an excuse for a long weekend and actively restrict the number of days employees can take off.
Even so, maybe taking a day or two off and “quiet quitting” is actually a good thing. Maybe if we prioritize mental health more, the story of corporate burnout will no longer be a reality.
Gen-Z is beginning to change people’s outlook on work, and they are right: we don’t owe anybody anything, and life doesn’t revolve around work.
As we prepare to enter the workforce, we acknowledge the perceptions held by older generations and the responsibility we have to uphold our personal values while also striving to work hard and advance in work and life.
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