No, not all Gen Zs are lazy and don't care about work
We import conclusions about Gen Zs and late millennials from other places, mostly the Global North, and appropriate these findings in ways that are not fully applicable. Or in ways that only apply to Gen Zs or late millennials from elite families.
What you need to know:
- My argument is not that there are no lazy young people.
- You cannot lump everyone in one box based on the experiences of a handful.
An acquaintance I was having coffee with this past week to discuss work told me she was facing a recruitment dilemma. She said the post she is hiring for has been vacant for several months, and this was slowing down things in her department.
“What is the struggle? No good candidates?” I asked.
This acquaintance is in her late 40s and heads the marketing department of a top performing private company.
“Not exactly that. I am receiving applications from potentially good candidates but they have the wrong profile,” she said, confusing me.
She continued speaking when she noticed my blank stare. “I do not want to hire anyone born after 1992. Those guys are too much drama. Post 1995 born, even worse! They are lazy, can’t come to work on time and are extremely entitled.”
I kept quiet for a bit because I am among the people born in her rejected period. Eventually, I found the courage to challenge her thinking.
“So basically, you do not want to hire a youth. Do you honestly believe that people born after 1992 cannot be good employees?” I asked.
“Younger millennials are anxious job hoppers. They do not get their teeth deep into anything. Gen Zs do not even get me started. I have worked with a few. I have also seen what my colleagues who have them in their departments go through – random absenteeism from work, and overall unreliability,” she said in what seemed like a matter-of-fact tone.
Again, my argument is not that there are no lazy young people. My argument is that you cannot lump everyone in one box based on the experiences of a handful.
While researching a bit more to understand the origin of the stereotypes, I came across a 2023 study by the Pew Research Centre that surveyed adults between 18 and 34 in the United States.
The research agreed that, while in some ways, the younger generation is better than their parents’ generation, the young are less likely to own homes, have guaranteed pension and have stable employment.
Some commentaries even went further to say that the reason Gen Zs do not take their work seriously is because they know that regardless of what they do, they will not afford the quality of life that their parents have.
My brain was like, “Yeah! In America, Australia and Canada, maybe. In Africa, we are still dealing with first generation graduates in many families. So no, many young people here take their work seriously, and are going to be richer than their parents.”
Unfortunately, most people read such research or variations of it and begin to assess every young person they meet along these lines, branding them as this or that.
While having this conversation with my office desky, we realised the same way that we take in cultures, wholesale, mostly from the Global North, without critically examining them, is the same way we take in research findings without checking who was sampled.
The result? We import conclusions about Gen Zs and late millennials from other places, mostly the Global North, and appropriate these findings in ways that are not fully applicable. Or in ways that only apply to Gen Zs or late millennials from elite families.
My heart breaks every time the murder of a young person is reported in the media. Usually, they are in their early 20s and university-going.
When their families are interviewed, they use words like “they were our only hope,” “they bore the promise of the family,” “they were going to be the first graduate in the family and lift us out of poverty.”
Such reports are the reason I would hesitate before agreeing with findings such as “young people are lazy”, “they do not care about work” or “they will be poorer than their parents.”
Research by Shujaaz Inc, that sampled 13,000 Kenyans aged between 15 and 24 found 100 per cent of this group has to earn money. Because of increasing financial insecurity, this generation has had to step up to help their families and households stay afloat. Let us not even talk about poverty levels in Kenya.
What negative stereotype(s) do you believe about young people, which you know you need to discard?
The writer is the Research & Impact Editor, NMG ([email protected]).
