Gen Z employees facing workplace criticism

The Guardian - Gen Z is undisciplined, apparently; entitled, some critics claim; and purportedly hates work. One viral column in the Wall Street Journal went so far as to suggest this entire generation was potentially “unemployable”.

As younger employees establishing themselves at work continue to face relentless criticism from the higher rungs of corporate America, those old enough to remember the arrival of the last generation could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu.

Millennials were once derided as lazy, entitled, delusional, narcissistic and unreliable, too: many of the same accusations now leveled at gen Z.

“Every generation tends to complain about the one next to us,” said Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton Business School. “Everyone used to hate millennials, and now it’s gen Z.

“We tend to compare [the younger generation] to our current selves, which is a mistake because most people are more narcissistic and self-centered at age 20 than they are at age 40. That’s part of development and maturity.”

While this is a recurring cycle, in which each new generation faces scrutiny as they enter the workforce, this time it has been intensified, according to industry experts, by gen Z’s disillusionment with the institutions that they deem to have failed them.