A woman’s ‘Gen Z unpleasant and difficult to deal with’ post generates controversy.
News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 3rd December 2024
A woman’s tweet about Gen Z’s workplace behavior triggered a social media dispute when she claimed that young employees are “rude” and “difficult to work with.” Harnidh Kaur’s message struck a chord with viewers, prompting a rush of replies on social media. Kaur indicated that many of her acquaintances had become afraid to hire Generation Z prospects, not because of a lack of aptitude, but because of perceived difficulties in their workplace interactions.
“So many of my friends are now not hiring Gen Z not because they aren’t smart or good at their jobs (they are) but because they’re rude, difficult to work with, and don’t know how to behave with other colleagues. Honestly, it’s hard to defend a lot of it,” she said in her post.
She further quoted a sentiment from a colleague trying to bridge generational gaps, who said: “They (Gen Z) expect everyone to make space for and care about their feelings, but if you ask them to care about anyone else’s, it’s too much work for them, and they lash out.”
The post opened the floodgates for discussion, with users chiming in from all sides.
Several users defended Gen Z, pointing out their strengths and values. A user said, “I do feel they care deeply about things our generations didn’t care much about. Don’t know how to behave with other colleagues could be a personal opinion, or is this a trend?”
Another user added, “I can say the same for boomers and millennials who don’t want to pay their employees fairly, have no life of their own, want everyone to slog at work, and are mostly intolerant of diversity and yes, they generalise. The new generation wants work-life balance and the old folks hate it and don’t want anyone to question anything.”
A section of the internet was less forgiving as users also called out what they perceived as a sense of entitlement in Gen Z.
“You missed ‘entitlement’. I guess it is based on the Covid era when they saw people established in their careers getting paid for work from home (WFH) while spending their time making Dalgona coffees,” a user said.
Another user added: “Largely agree. Sense of entitlement is too much, without the onus of delivering.”
However, not everyone was on board with such sweeping statements. Several users accused the original post of unfair stereotyping. “Feels too much like stereotyping,” a user said. The debate has highlighted the generational tension often found in workplaces, with no clear consensus in sight. As one user aptly put it: “Every generation has its quirks. Maybe we all need to learn to work together better.
