CEO of company shares major difference between Gen Z workers compared to Millennials
The difference between generations is one that might never get a definitive answer, not least because we can't decide where exactly to put the dividing lines.
If we are to accept that there are such things as Millennials or Gen Z then there must also be a point where people being born come down on one side or the other.
It seems like we can't exactly figure out exactly where in the 90s to stick that threshold, and perhaps you might think that while the generations demonstrate some differences we're more alike than not.
I will confess, dear reader, that as a Millennial despite sometimes feeling incredibly old when a member of Gen Z says something I don't understand they are generally an alright bunch.
They're just the latest lot to try and figure out life and the world around them, and deserve a bit of licence to be weird considering what that world which surrounds them is like.
This is what you get when you search for pictures of Gen Z working. They all look so cloyingly happy. (Getty Stock Image)
One fan of the way Gen Z does things is Ubank CEO Phillippa Watson, who spoke about what she likes about them as part of a workforce, as apparently lacks the filter of corporate speak or the sugarcoating to go on their words.
"When you approach a 25-year-old and you ask them a question they will generally tell you the truth," she said.
"Because they have not been socialised through corporate life into understanding that there are things you say to the boss and there's things you don't say.
"I had this wonderful experience with a guy recently, he was new to our business, he'd only been here for three months or so, and I asked him 'how are you enjoying it?'.
"He said 'oh yeah, really good, I'll probably stay a year and then I think I'm gonna go work at another company' which he named.
"I had this moment of 'wow, you've just told your boss' boss' boss' boss that you're not really committed, but it's the truth. He's a high capability guy and so I was on alert to think about how I'm keeping him and his friends engaged."
Workplaces are getting increasingly used to having their ranks filled out with members of Gen Z, and have noticed some differences in attitudes between the various cohorts.
They're particularly alright with people being slightly late to work, as in their minds showing up a couple of minutes after the shift starts is basically indistinguishable from showing up on the dot.
Just think, around about the time we've finally figured Gen Z out they'll be old news and the next bunch will be picking their way along that same path every generation before them had to navigate.
Presumably they'll be castigated as lazy, entitled and workshy with not enough respect for their elders and their noses buried in whatever the latest device is.
Happens every time.
