Solving the Millennial/Gen Z Worker Problem

There is one preoccupation common to all of my clients, without exception. It isn’t AI, by a longshot.

It’s the Gen Z/Millennial generations of workers. These people want a raise without putting in the time. They won’t work overtime, let alone come to work when scheduled. They want the same cushy lives their parents gave them, without putting in the work. They don’t care about getting ahead.

In some regards, I’m not sure how unique the newest workforce additions really are. I was firing young potheads for skipping work in the 1990s, while trying to keep their elders from skipping out early.

But at a recent leadership development program I was delivering, Gen Z and millennial participants offered some arresting perspectives on this question, so much so that I ditched some of my content on the spot so we could continue a discussion of clear interest to all assembled.

The Voice of the Disillusioned

Most of the younger attendees spoke of an American economy whose wages fall so far behind the cost of living as to create a sense of utter futility. One participant recalled being provided for by a single mother raising two children on a stocking job at Wal-Mart. Those were the days. These people regard home ownership as an impossibility. For many, it’s not so much a question not wanting to work overtime as failing to see the point.

Others described growing up hardly seeing parents, one or perhaps both of whom had sacrificed family time for careers – only to lose them in offshorings, acquisitions, or other “rightsizings.” Knowing the painful sense of neglect for nothing, these participants had no desire to inflict the same on their own children.

A New Era for Employers

These folks pose a new challenge to contemporary employers, one perhaps not seen in over a century. It’s not that they’re lazier than their parents. It’s that many question the value of sacrificing family for the sake of an American economy they don’t trust to make good on a promise of the rewards of hard work.

This reality poses a challenge to contemporary American employers, perhaps unique in our history. If the millennial/Gen Z workforce is such a preoccupation to employers today, then perhaps employers have no more urgent issue than this one. These people don’t care about your business. So you’re going to have to give them a reason to care.

Why do you deserve their trust? I know you’re tempted to say that “Only the customer can guarantee our jobs,” but that’s a brush-off, and it won’t cut it. You’re going to have to do better.

Can you explain to them how they can succeed at your business? Can you tell them what you want to an extent so clear to them, and so important to you, that you’ll commit to some kind of reward if they deliver it? Are your leaders and people practices clear and integrated enough that you can make that commitment on day one – not just to sales hires, but to every new hire?

If Gen Z/Millennial workers are such a conundrum to us their elders, lecturing them on our version of what ought to be won’t resolve anything. They’re hardly all noble victims, but employers must understand their America – and offer an alternative employment relationship that creates trust and confidence for both generations.