Gen Z employees are already being fired. Six in 10 employers who hired college graduates this year have already been letting them go. Now as a trainer that concerns me, as well as personally as a parent – my two youngest, Ethan and Reese, they are Gen Z entering the workforce.
So what is the concern? Employers are saying that they’re seeing a lack of motivation, lack of effective communication, and lack of professionalism. Well, I’m not necessarily surprised. If we think about the educational system, especially within the college environment, a lot of them are exposed to more theory and principles.
So when they graduate and they interview for that position, on paper, a lot of those hard skills are already there, especially when we think about the technology piece, right? College graduates are very highly proficient with that. But what about what we would typically categorize as those soft skills – the way to interact with people, good communication skills, professionalism, the drive and desire to do well within their role?
Even if they were highly motivated in their college career, what high motivation looks like in a corporate environment or in their day-to-day job is completely different. So we have these expectations as leaders and organization, that all of a sudden these recent college graduates will absolutely know how to function within a corporate environment.
Let’s level-set some expectations here. Typically, I would say I’m quick to fire. If it’s not the right fit, go for it. However, as we’re thinking about this generation, I want to challenge you to think about all of these Gen Z employees that are not meeting expectations that you might be quick to fire. What is the potential damage, the risk that you’re taking for the future pipeline?
This is your future. These are your future leaders.
So what’s happening if you’re getting rid of them? Where is that high-potential talent? Where’s that leadership pipeline going to be filled from? How do we, instead of being quick to fire and instead of also having expectations that the educational system is going to completely prepare them (because it’s not) – as leaders, how do we then partner with these Gen Z recent college grads to help them uncover how to have that motivation in a corporate environment?
How to have effective communication within your specific culture, how they can show professionalism, what that looks like. This partnership, yes, they absolutely need to take ownership, but how could you potentially guide them through that? How could you potentially offer resources, coaching, and development?
That investment that you’re putting into them should help build your pipeline for your future leaders. So instead of placing blame, instead of being quick to dismiss, how do we come together? How do we build a true partnership, to build the leaders of our future?