They want to be promoted after only a few months, treat the office like their bedroom, show up in sweats or skimpy office-siren fits, FaceTime friends from their desks, and ghost their managers.
This is the gist of employer complaints about Gen Z workers, who seem to be having a uniquely hard time getting along in the office — much worse, managers say, than the generations before them. In a December 2024 survey of 1,000 employers by Intelligent.com, 12.5% said a Gen Z candidate had brought Mom or Dad to a job interview. The bosses are fed up.
Gen Zers, meanwhile, see things differently: From their perspective, millennial and Gen X managers have no work-life balance. “No cap. My manager Slacks me at 10 p.m.,” said Kevin, a 23-year-old engineer who lives in SoMa. “That’s not OK.” It appears to be a common theme. “Still waiting for that work-life balance they promised us,” one young person tweeted in response to a complaint about Gen Z employees.