Generation Z grew up in the era of smartphones and remote employment, and now many members of the cohort have grown to become highly social yet unskilled young adults who fear climate change and are likely still living with their parents.
As described by Pew Research, those who are Generation Z, or “Gen Z,” are people born roughly between 1997 and 2012. They are the second-youngest generation and will be followed by a “majority-minority” called Generation Alpha, which was preceded by millennials. According to an August 2023 study of updated U.S. census data, Gen Z Americans will be the last white majority generation.
They are the first to grow up with smartphones and social media being a normal part of everyday life.
Their greatest fear is climate change, and they are more likely than those from other generations to require therapy or mental health treatment.
According to research in a 2022 study by Roberta Katz, a linguist at the University of Oxford and formerly at Stanford University, those of Gen Z are a pragmatic, self-driven sort who are collaborative and highly social. They value “flexibility, relevance, and authenticity,” and reject hierarchical leadership.
Ms. Katz dismisses perceptions that those of Gen Z are “too coddled” and “unwilling to grow up” to a “misunderstanding” by those in earlier generations “of what it is like to grow up in today’s world.” Gen Zers are seen as lazy because they prefer not to work while going to school and to use Uber rather than getting a driver’s license.
In August 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that nearly 40 percent of older Gen Zers had an average of $20,900 in student debt and an additional $12,800 in private loans. While most had yet to finish their postsecondary schooling, those loan balances were likely to grow, and many were likely to borrow repeatedly in greater amounts to stay in school. This inability to manage debt will preclude the accomplishments of their generational predecessors, like owning a home. Unlike other forms of debt, which can be erased through a bankruptcy filing, it’s unlikely that student loans will qualify for dismissal through this process.
Gen Z in the Workforce
As employees, Ms. Katz says Gen Zers prefer collaborative environments and are more likely to question the rules and management because they’re used to doing things their own way.However, as The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 3, some employers find that Gen Zers suffer from a general lack of hands-on skills, which renders them “clueless” and even lazy when it comes to performing the most basic tasks, like how to count change at a register.
To fill positions with Gen Z applicants, many employers are forced to lower expectations and spend extra time and money to compensate for their lack of basic skills.
“They’re not looking to be productive,” John Ball Zoo director Laura Davis told The Journal. “If they’re not told what to do, if someone isn’t managing every second and keeping them busy, their inclination is not to self-identify what they can do—it’s to do nothing.”
The “lazy girl job” hashtag is trending on social media. “Lazy girl job” videos on TikTok—primarily featuring Gen Z females sitting at their home desks boasting about how little they are required to do for a paycheck—have amassed over 20 million views.
A survey released by Resume Builder in April shows that 74 percent of business leaders and managers say Gen Z employees are the most difficult to work with compared with any generation before them.
Primarily, Gen Zers are short on technological skills (39 percent), lack motivation (37 percent), and are easily distracted (36 percent) or offended (35 percent). Nearly 60 percent of employers say they’ve had to fire a Gen Z employee, with 27 percent saying they had to let them go after one month, and 20 percent saying they had to let them go within the first week.
Gen Z in the military is another matter.
A March 22 survey titled “Know Your Army” showed that 73 percent of Gen Zers who think they know what army life is like—the most recorded from any other generation—have perceptions that don’t match reality. Around 30 percent of Gen Zers believe being in the U.S. Army will send them to combat, and almost half believe soldiers receive no personal time or vacation days. In reality, only 29 percent of those in all branches of the military ever see combat, and members of the military tend to receive around 30 days of paid leave each year while their civilian counterparts get around 10–14 days.
In the spirit of fun, a 21-year-old U.S. Army soldier named Anthony Gonzales has gone viral with his “Gen Z on the Battlefield” videos in which he mocks Gen Z stereotypes. His first video from a year ago, wearing tactical gear while taking selfies, complaining about the heat and squealing as he runs from the sound of gunfire, has amassed over five million views.
