Stereotypes remain, and some bosses have already made up their minds about Gen Z workers. Oscar-winning star Jodie Foster slammed the young employees she met on set True detective as “very annoying, especially at work”, while fellow actress Whoopi Goldberg claimed that Gen Zers “just want to work four hours” but expect to live comfortably.
But the human resources director of the $62 billion giant Colgate-Palmolive counters that young employees are not the career slackers that some predict. Sally Massey sees Gen Z as ambitious and incredibly tech-savvy – essential skills that the consumer goods company behind Colgate toothpaste and Irish Spring soap look for in talent.
“[Gen Z] they grew up with technology. They grew up in a very different way than some of the other generations in the organization,” says the CHRO. Wealth.
“They bring with them new ideas, new perspectives, curiosity,” adds Massey. “They push us to improve and do things differently – I think that’s great.”
Massey admits that Gen Z bring their own distinct “perspectives and expectations” to the workplace. And with 34,000 Colgate employees split across four generations, closing the gap between age groups is particularly daunting. So, to make sure everyone works in harmony, the exec overhauls the usual chain of command; Colgate’s top leaders listen to entry-level employees, fostering the flow of ideas across ranks and generations to drive the best possible outcome.
“We are not isolated by generation or tenure, senior leaders at Colgate want to hear ideas and thoughts from more junior employees,” says Massey. “That’s how we get better, because as you get older, you can drift away. So it’s important for all of us to stay close, connected and learn from each other, no matter the role.”
Employers who value Gen Z talent, especially those with tech skills
Massey is not alone. Not all employers have given up on hiring Gen Zers—despite headlines that suggest otherwise. In fact, many are still looking for young talent with outstanding AI skills.
Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe’s head of data and artificial intelligence, has revealed she is all in on hiring fresh graduates at the $91.5 billion financial services company. Like Massey, she singled out Gen Z’s tech adaptability as one of the in-demand skills she looks for in Stripe employees.
“I’m actually hiring more new grads — now, it’s mostly new Ph.D. grads — but more new grads than ever before,” Glassberg Sands said of Forward Future podcast last year. “Because they have cutting-edge skills and they come up with fresh ideas and they know how to think and they know how to use the latest tools.”
Even as young employees lead their bosses up, CEOs still embrace Gen Z as movers and shakers. Matt Huang, co-founder of the $12 billion crypto investment firm Paradigm, is all too familiar with the temperament of young workers. The company’s first employee, 19-year-old college dropout Charlie Noyes, once showed up five hours late for his first 10 a.m. meeting. The company has also embraced unorthodox, Gen Z-coded ways to pick its top executives; Paradigm’s CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos was discovered on a Discord server while still a teenager.
Hiring these innovative—albeit sometimes capricious—geniuses can sound like a gamble for traditional workplaces. Paradigm’s CEO acknowledged that young employees may come with disadvantages, but the value they generate is worth any havoc they wreak on the office.
“Sometimes it creates an absurd amount of chaos and you want to pull your hair out,” Huang said Colossus Review last year. “But then you see what they can do and it’s like, crap. Nobody else in the world could do that.”
Business leaders are championing Gen Z against lazy stereotypes
Even seasoned business experts who teach legions of Gen Z students deal with criticism. Suzy Welch, a best-selling author and professor of management practice at New York University, hit back at those who branded the younger generation lazy by recalling her career journey. The baby boomer teacher recalled hoping that one day she could be more successful than her parents, but for Gen Zers, that dream of prosperity is out of reach. Welch encouraged bosses to empathize with their unique job and economic vulnerabilities.
“The Z Generator [has] no reason to think they’ll ever have economic security,” Welch said on a podcast last year. “I don’t know about you, but I’m old enough that when I was in college I thought, ‘Sure, I’m going to have more money than my parents.’ And that, ‘If I work really, really hard, I’m going to buy a house one day,’ and that was the assumption.”
“A lot of Gen Z [are] saying only “I’m not even sure we’ll be alive in 20 years because of global warming,” Welch continued. “And ‘the world is probably going to end anyway because of the stupid decisions made by your generations.’
Millionaire and former podcaster CNN Legal analyst Mel Robbins also came to the defense of Generation Z. In response to stereotypes that young people are anxious, addicted to social media and lazy, she posed a question: “Have you stopped to think about what it’s like to be in your twenties today?” Chances are if critics try to imagine themselves putting themselves in their shoes, they’ll be met with the harsh reality that Gen Zers are under immense stress and pressures that didn’t exist just five years ago.
“The world is in chaos — and most twenty-somethings had parents who lived in a very predictable and stable economy,” Robbins said in a TikTok video posted last year. “They went to a corporate job, they reported to the office, they had a network of friends at work. That’s not the typical 20-something experience.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com