"Lazy" Gen Z Employee Demands and Why HR Reps are Dreading Hiring Them
“The more hours you put in the cooler you seemed.”
Remember the Mondays when you would stand at the water cooler chatting with peers, and when recounting the weekend, it felt like everyone was boasting about how little sleep they had or how they missed their family event to work through the weekend?
Those days may now be behind us due to the upcoming workforce's advocacy for a more balanced work life. Some may say, “Good riddance! Who needs an all work and no play lifestyle, after all?”
However, for today’s hiring managers, there is stress in trying to navigate hiring the new Gen Z candidate pool as their priorities are more balanced than the workforce has ever seen before and employers are having to adjust their priorities to meet the needs of their potential workforce.
Why are HR reps struggling right now?
The Gen Z candidate pool is now coming of age to join the workforce and here is why hiring managers are worried:
- Unlimited PTO, remote/hybrid working, and equitable salary are a must
- Company culture needs to be engaging and supportive of personal and professional goals
- Younger employees have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct in the workplace meaning they expect their employers to not only enforce but also raise awareness within the workplace
- Company financial, inclusion, diversity, and overall goal transparency are imperative
These tasks appear good-natured and favorable for all work settings to uphold, however, many industries have not operated at this level of standard before, and there is a lot of work to be done:
“However, not all HR departments are the same. Some companies have not kept up with the automation as fast as others, nor has management changed to become more employee-centered. This has led to HR departments facing more challenges, becoming overwhelmed by picking up more functions that they may not be staffed to support or duties to carry out. Some of these challenges are dealing with diversity, equity, and an inclusive (DEI) workforce.”
Now, without the use of DEI hiring tools or checking the company’s diversity comparison score, the company may face an all-time low in retention rates affecting the overall morale of the company’s culture.
Furthermore, Gen Z employees are easily willing to walk away if they are not receiving what was promised to them upon hiring or if they feel the culture of the company changed beyond their ethics.
This was not the case during the time of the Baby Boomer, but now there is a need to adjust.
As reported in an article released by Raconteur based on a research study by the London School of Economics and software company, Freshworks,
“younger people are far less likely to put up with behaviour they feel is unacceptable.”
In fact, when the study group was asked to rank the importance of priority, hybrid/remote and independent working took precedence over salary.
Because of this dynamic change in many fields, employers are struggling to hold beneficial retention rates due to the incoming workforce placing value on a work-life balance and employers are having a hard time keeping up.
Are employers turning away Gen Zers because of the “lazy worker” stigma?
There are new stressors for HR departments as there is now hesitancy in hiring potential candidates depending on their age due to a stigmatic notion of the incoming candidates and what they desire in a job.
However, as The Insider would suggest, many Gen Z workers are simply saying no to the toxic culture that baby boomers had, chose, or were pressured into creating;
“but young workers are not lazy, entitled, or keen on slacking off — they're simply choosing to reject some of the practices that previous generations were forced to accept. Surveys have found that Gen Zers are less likely than their elders to go along with long hours, overbearing bosses, or a lack of boundaries between the personal and the professional.”
We interviewed an anonymous Gen Z SEO analyzer working for a large marketing company based in London, UK, and when asked if they have ever done any free work (any work done outside of working hours; responding to emails, running reports, researching, etc.), they stated,
“No, because I don’t believe in giving up my time to make my millionaire client more money. Especially because I live in one of the most expensive cities while on minimum wage. I would rather go on a walk and enjoy what this city has to offer outside of my 300 square foot flat.”
They found other areas of life that brought more purpose and they are not willing to sacrifice that in a time of war, plagues, and uncertainty.
“The difficulty of the pandemic, in part, encouraged some members of Gen Z to prioritize life just as much as work, and to be clear about those expectations with potential employers.”
While women in the workforce still account for having to prove their value by working longer, harder, and stronger to appear “worthy” of a position they have already acquired, the upcoming generation of workers are showing how to create a more balanced life by standing their ground before, during, and after the interview phase.
This change of pace creates a more inclusive dynamic, thus helping the underrepresented talent in the future workforce to be seen, heard, valued, and ultimately, hired.
Because of a lack of commitment to equality and diversity, an organization misses out on the opportunity to show that “it cares about its employees, the wider community, and therefore, by implication, its products, and services.”
Win-win.
Prepared by: Mariah Manes