NextGen: How to deal with GenZ?

Here is an excerpt chapter from my upcoming book, The Anti-Hustle Manifesto. A definitive guide to surviving office work (and retiring early).

If one person on the street looks at you and laughs, maybe he is crazy. If every person who looks at you laughs, maybe you should check if your fly is open.

~ Ancient Proverb

The game of being cool on the internet can only be won by the newest generation.

And yet, day after day, I see millennials posting LinkedIn think pieces and reels about how Gen Z is entitled & unprofessional.

But, where’s the counter narrative? Where is the great Gen Z rebuttal thread? I don’t see a viral post from the younger generation. Isn’t that weird? Where are the cool people at?

Are the GenZ on a different digital space altogether making fun of us millennials?

Or maybe, worse for the millennial ego, they just don’t care enough to respond.

***

First let’s dismantle the myth that you are unique in being dealt with a bad hand when it comes to the “next generation not wanting to work”.

Here is a walk down the historical lane of “Nobody wants to work anymore”. 1

“I think it’s because nobody wants to work these days.” replied Mr. Jarr
1924

“Calls for workers are plentiful but nobody wants to work,” says Superintendent S. J. Smrcina of the U. S. Department of Labor Free Employment bureau in Wausau.
1929

“Gosh, it’s a snap working nowadays,” says Mr. Currie. “Only 10 hours a day—just think of it! For years I used to work 16 and 18 hours. On 10 hours a day I feel like I’m on a vacation. Nobody wants to work anymore. That’s what’s wrong with the country. Heck, there’s acres and acres of land in every county where a man could work spare time and raise enough for his family to eat from eight months a year. Fellers haven’t got the gumption they used to have, I guess.”
1935

Mr. Mahon stated that everybody was thinking about the big situations. But there are a few little things we ought to pay attention to. “It seems to me nobody wants to work anymore.”
1948

I heard somebody say the other day that everybody was getting too darned lazy and nobody wants to work anymore. That’s the truth if I ever heard it.
1952

Look Ma, No Brains. That’s the modern battle cry, for no one wants to work anymore.
1956

“People today only think about pleasure. Nobody wants to work. They are all too busy crying out for less work and more pay.”
1960

Does anybody want to work anymore?
1963

“It seems nobody wants to work anymore. They want money but don’t want to work for it.”
1974

‘’Nobody wants to work anymore. I got three sons; they don’t want to know about it. They just want to go to school, get a job in an office, wear a shirt and tie. Now, what kind of work is that for a man?’‘
1980

I am getting sick and tired of hearing how bad the economy and unemployment are. Nobody wants to work.
1986

“The problem is the same as it always has been in Scotland. Nobody wants to work.”
1997

“Nobody wants to work anymore,” Cecil said. “They all want to work in front of a computer and make lots of money.”
1999

“I can’t fill the jobs. It seems kids don’t like to work anymore.”
2002

Every generation is different. No one has any work ethics anymore. Nobody wants to work anymore.
2007

Unless it’s on their own terms, it seems nobody wants to work anymore.
2011

That’s the problem with young people today. Everybody wants to be a star right now, and nobody wants to work for it.
2019

“They’re making more money not working. People just don’t want to work anymore.”
2021

“I have the best advice for women in business,” Kim says. “Get your fucking ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”
2022

“I can’t hire anyone! Nobody wants to work anymore!”
2023

And Finally

“The GenZ are a lazy entitled bunch. None of them want to work” [Insert your own name here]
2026

***

How to deal with GenZ, you ask?

The answer is, you don’t.

Your problem with GenZ isn’t frustration, it’s jealousy.

They are doing something you desperately wish you had done twenty years ago. You want to be like them, but it’s too late now.

I can understand why you feel that way. When you invest two decades convincing yourself that the corporate ladder leads somewhere meaningful, it’s psychologically impossible to wake up one day and admit that the ladder was leaning against the wrong establishment.

The sunk cost of your own life doesn’t let you see another way to live it.

So when a twenty-three year old doesn’t pick up a work call at 9:00 PM, you say “How dare you! Why couldn’t you be more like me, when I was your age?”

When they don’t see their job with reverence, you are not bothered by the ‘irreverence’‘ itself. You too have lost faith in the corporate world. But you are bothered by the fact that how could the next Gen do it so soon in their career. You’ve earned your cynicism. How dare they develop the same cynicism in their twenties?

But, Gen Z had an advantage.

They have seen a social experiment play out while growing up. The hypothesis of the experiment was “If you work hard, you will succeed in life. You will be happy.”

And when they joined the workforce, they saw the “Conclusion” section of the experiment.

You.

‘You’ are the result of the experiment.

When they see you, they don’t see a happy person. They see your bitterness. They see a person that is angry at life.

At times when you open up, they see glimpses of passion you have for things other than work, and they see your unrealized potential.

When you say “I haven’t taken a leave in the last three years. At times when HR has forced a mandatory leave, I have applied for leave on the system and came to work nevertheless.” You say this with pride. You expect to be applauded. You want respect.

But they have seen the other side of this life, with their own parents. They experienced their parents cancel vacations. They’ve watched their birthdays being celebrated on calls. They’ve seen the frustration of their parents being laid off or snubbed for promotion despite giving it all.

You are not fooling anybody with your pep talk. The illusion is over. Once you’ve seen backstage, it’s very difficult to believe the magic again.

If the experiment would have worked, you would have been a walking endorsement of being “the hardworking corporate employee”.

You are angry at them because you know that if you had won the lottery of being born 20 years later, you’d be doing the same thing. You’d be talking about ‘boundaries’ instead of some ‘motivational bullshit.’

So, don’t dismiss the whole generation as lazy. Look inwards. Maybe your fly is open.

Note for GenZ:

You fucking lazy bunch. Just defend yourself on the internet, will you? This millennial (writer) has to do the work that you are supposed to be doing. Gosh, it’s as if you don’t care at all.

And stop laughing at us.