When considering how to manage difficult staff, leaders often fall back on generational stereotypes, both positive and negative. Baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964) are often characterized as self-absorbed and technophobic but hardworking. Members of Generation X (born 1965 to 1980) tend to be viewed as independent but at times disengaged. Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) have been stereotyped as tech-savvy and ambitious but less loyal to employers.
Now the newest generation to start entering the workforce, Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012), is receiving its own tough feedback. In June 2023, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,344 managers and business leaders about their perceptions of Gen Z employees, and the results showed room for improvement. A full 74% of those surveyed said they found these younger employees to be more difficult to work with than their older colleagues. Among the respondents, 49% said they found it difficult to work with Gen Z all or most of the time.
These critiques were attributed to perceptions that Gen Z workers lack technological skills (39% of those surveyed), effort (37%), and motivation (37%). Some of those surveyed also critiqued Gen Zers’ communication skills and said they were overly sensitive to constructive feedback.
On the plus side, some managers praised Gen Z workers as innovative and adaptable, and said they appreciated these employees’ prioritization of diversity, social justice, and ethics.
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A Historic Setback
If some employees from Generation Z fall short of older colleagues on certain desired professional traits, this may reflect a couple of realities. Most notably, many members of Gen Z entered the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic and may have been trained and started working remotely. As such, “they lacked facetime and human contact at a foundational moment in their careers,” writes Daniel de Visé in the Hill. “The Covid disconnect may have left them stunted, at least in professional terms.”
“You learn a lot by being onsite in the early years of your career,” ResumeBuilder.com chief career adviser Stacie Haller told the Hill, including “how to interact on a team, how to accept positive criticism, how to give positive feedback.” Those who entered the workforce during the pandemic likely received less of this guidance than previous generations of workers did. They also may have had less oversight and fewer encounters with colleagues, including valuable rapport-building interactions.
Interestingly, although millennials were rated the employees managers most preferred to hire, millennials “struggled with some of the same ennui now afflicting Generation Z,” according to de Visé. A 2016 Gallup report, conducted when many millennials were in their twenties, found that only 29% felt engaged by their jobs and many felt misunderstood. Now, “they and their older colleagues are struggling to figure out the next generation,” writes de Visé.
Thus, leaders who are wondering how to manage difficult staff should consider that the most common issue newcomers face is one that inevitably resolves over time: inexperience.
Wondering How to Manage Difficult Staff?
If you’re trying to figure out how to manage difficult staff, and your most challenging employees tend to be new to the workforce, consider the following suggestions:
- Get them the training they need. Shortcomings you perceive in your staff, such as lack of effort or weak communication skills, may result largely from inadequate training as a result of the pandemic or a trait we’ve all shared as new workers—inexperience. It’s hard to put ourselves in our new employees’ shoes, but essential to do so if we aim to understand them and give them the tools they need to succeed. In particular, consider whether it would be helpful to invest in training aimed at helping new employees overcome constraints created by remote work. In particular, training that focuses on building communication and conflict-resolution skills will help with managing difficult conversations—and will help promote a stronger and healthier organization.
- Avoid overgeneralizing. When dealing with difficult staff, we often fall back on generational stereotypes. In doing so, we risk marginalizing and overlooking certain employees simply because of their age. “Bias against younger workers is unacceptable and no different than the ageism that we typically see against Baby Boomers,” according to Haller. Try to consider challenges that seemingly difficult employees have faced, such as entering the workforce during the pandemic, rather than looking at them as representatives of their entire generation.
- Try “reverse mentoring.” In her book, Reverse Mentoring: Removing Barriers and Building Belonging in the Workplace, Patrice Gordon promotes the value of having senior employees learn from junior ones through formal mentorship programs. A primary goal of reverse mentoring is for employees from historically underrepresented groups to educate leaders about the challenges they and others may face in moving up the corporate ladder, such as racial and gender stereotypes. Reverse mentoring can be a useful way to foster productive but difficult conversations among employees from different generations and levels of experience. And it’s just one way of highlighting the fact that we all bring valuable expertise and knowledge to our organizations.
What other advice do you have for those who are wondering how to manage difficult staff?
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