Decades ago, I read a piece on the social outcomes of childcare. While it was hard to pin down objective facts, one teacher had a striking observation: the kids who’d been in child care from a very early age were ‘brattier’. Combine that with two generations of Everyone-Gets-A-Prize, and endless choruses of ‘I Am Special’, and you get Millennials and Zoomers.
If you thought Millennials were insufferable enough in the workplace, well, the Zoomers are finally entering the workforce. Well, they’re getting jobs: working is another thing entirely.
According to family business researcher Ross Cameron, employers are finding Zoomers lazy and entitled. They will roster themselves off for their birthday or their boyfriend’s birthday. They’re repeatedly late for work and quicker to use up their sick days. Feedback or criticism is regarded as ‘bullying’, leading to tears and ‘mental health days’.
And when we say ‘entitled’, we’re not kidding.
Nearly one in six Americans under the age of 28 won’t even consider taking a job unless there’s a designated snooze space at the office, a mind-boggling new survey found […]
One in five Gen Zers – more than any other generation – say a “fun room,” complete with games like ping pong and other recreational activities, is essential to their work environment, the startling survey results reveal.
And one in five wouldn’t even consider a position if the company’s offices are not pet-friendly, compared to 14 per cent of millennials, aged 29 to 44; eight per cent of 40- to 65-year-old Gen Xers and only four per cent of Boomers, aged 61 to 79.
More Gen Zers – 33 per cent – expect free snacks and lunches at the workplace, more than any of their older coworkers, the poll found.
A whopping one in three said a four-day workweek is non-negotiable, and one in four expect “extended” sabbatical leaves “for personal development or travel.”
And when they do turn up, they treat the workplace as if it’s their living room and the boss is their long-suffering mother.
Some companies have even taken to hiring etiquette coaches to help their new hires touch grass – or at least the particle board of their cubicle.
Rosalinda Randall, an etiquette coach in the Bay area who specializes in helping Zoomers work in the real world, says,
The requests come from tech campus managers, winery execs, and even country clubs. All are a variation on the same complaint: Gen Z employees are treating the office like an extension of their homes.
One supervisor told Randall a new hire repeatedly left food wrappers scattered on the communal lunch table, assuming janitors would clean it up. ‘Their manager didn’t know how to handle it, as they didn’t want to sound like a parent,’ said Randall.
Well, that doesn’t speak too highly to their managerial skills, does it?
And if you thought the dancing TikTok nurses during the pandemic were rage-inducing, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
Newly hired nurses are showing signs of apathy and entitlement. They bristle at overly chatty patients or try to shirk ‘dirty’ tasks. ‘They demand to be released from bedpan duty,’ she said. ‘They don’t like it, so they think they shouldn’t have to do it.’
Instead of simply giving the entitled little shits their marching orders, companies are inexplicably spending a small fortune to try and teach them the sort of stuff most of us learnt before we went to school.
She charges $2,500 for a 90-minute workshop that teaches basic life skills like:
• how to make eye contact
• where to stick your name tag (always on the right)
• how to ask for – not demand – things from your boss.
• personal hygiene (because two new hires did not shower or change their shirts for weeks)
• why being an “office siren” is inappropriate
I can save them $2,500 bucks and 90 minutes:
Get off your arses, you work-shy little shits, pick up after yourselves and do your damn job. Or there’s the door.
