Hey managers, we should be answering Gen Z's questions, not just complaining

• It's easy for older workers to complain about Gen Zers as being lazy or entitled.
• Yet some Gen Z workers are questioning norms that need to be reconsidered, experts tell Insider.

We've all heard the complaints about Gen Z and how they're rattling older managers.

They're entitled. They're lazy. They reject the 9-to-5 workday. And let's not even get started on their dress code.

Generational badmouthing is nothing new, of course. Boomers complained about Gen X and millennials and vice versa.

Granted, there are indeed knowledge gaps for Gen Z regarding day-to-day interactions in the workplace, Insider previously reported.

But there are also different forces at play this time between Gen Z — the oldest of whom are in their mid-20s — and their more senior counterparts that should make us all stop and think. In a post-pandemic workplace, the conversation has shifted and the norms of the past decades probably deserve to be questioned.

Indeed, the upheavals are coming quicker now so it's harder for many of us to keep our balance. There's war, the climate crisis, economic polarity, the rise of technology like artificial intelligence, and our broken politics. All of this bleeds into the workplace.

But if we stop to listen to what some Gen Zers, who will soon make up more than a quarter of the US workforce, are really "complaining" about, the things young workers are asking for might not sound so bonkers. In actuality, for all the carping many of us do about kings and queens of TikTok who are showing up — or not — at the office, we can be better teachers and mentors to Gen Z.

People older than Gen Z created the social platforms some Gen Zers are sounding off on. For the first time, a bottom-of-the-ladder worker can have a voice as loud as someone in charge. And it's older corporate honchos and stewards of public policy — including those of the US gerontocracy — who have allowed yawning gaps in wealth equality to fester.

Kenneth Matos, global director of customer people science at Culture Amp, an employee-experience software company, told Insider that successive generations have felt like the promise that hard work leads to success and gratification is becoming more and more untrue.

"So, no, waiting until I'm 60 to be happy is just not a viable strategy," he said.

Matos, who's on the cusp a late Gen Xer and early millennial, said members of Gen Z have watched as older generations struggled with things like job losses and pay that doesn't keep up with expenses.

"There's a lot of Gen Z-generated commentary that is explicitly that statement of, 'The rules change and you keep holding me to old standards that don't result in the same outcomes,'" Matos said.

He said social media has amplified the voices of younger workers. "Previously, you only heard the older generation because they controlled the mechanisms of mass communication. With social media, you know, Gen Z can write their own narrative," he said.

And part of that narrative echoes the things older generations have told younger people, Matos said. "Parents have been telling children for some time that work actually isn't worth it. But they all want everybody else's kids to believe the opposite," Matos said. "If you ask it independent of your employees, people will agree with these maxims of 'you only live once.' When you're talking about your employee who's not getting you what you want, suddenly it's 'Why is this person so lazy?'"

Managers, interact with and train your Gen Z workers

There are steps leaders can take to patch up some of the gaps between younger workers and their older colleagues. After all, Gen Zers came into the workforce during a pandemic that upended decades of workplace boundaries and norms, and when social media remade how we communicate. It's little wonder, then, that some schooling might be in order.

Rebecca Fagan, a 24-year-old senior audit associate at KPMG, told Insider she's been surprised by how useful some of the company's workplace training has been. There were discussions on how to work in a virtual environment, how to present to clients, and even things like what background you should have on video calls and how to write a professional email.

"I was like, 'Oh, I thought I knew how to write a good email.' But I definitely learned tips from that," Fagan said. "Things that I thought might have been self-explanatory, but they really weren't until I really sat and thought about it."

Maia Ervin, the chief impact officer at Gen Z firm JUV Consulting, told Insider the No. 1 thing she hears from older workers is that Gen Zers ask too many questions. Ervin, who at 27 sees herself as a young millennial, said, "Gen Z wants to know why, and they're not settling for the answer 'Because I told you so.'"

Ervin pointed out that because the pandemic rewrote workplace rules, it's no surprise that many young workers "have no idea what's considered normal, what's considered average for a workplace," she said, adding that many young workers had intense political experiences during that pandemic that shaped how they think about humanity.

"Folks are very frustrated with Gen Z but are also forgetting that it is your responsibility to upskill and train them, because they're your employees," Ervin said.

Gen Z wants to write their own narrative, not follow ours

Zaria Parvez, the senior global social media manager at Duolingo, told Insider that Gen Zers are unique even compared with millennials who grew up during a deep recession. Parvez, 25, said millennials facing tough economic times worked hard but still didn't get ahead.

"We kind of learned from millennials saying they put their head down, and they're still struggling to buy houses, to do things that you think that they would've gotten," she said. "So we're Gen Z, we're going to pivot, and this is how we're going to pivot."

The lesson that Gen Z drew from the financial and other hardships that older generations faced is, Matos said, "Conserve as much happiness as I can because I could lose it all in a moment."

He recommended older leaders explain themselves to their younger colleagues. He said too often older workers have authority so they don't have to explain themselves to younger people at work. "That doesn't help people grow. It just makes them subservient. And then you complain that they're not living up to your expectations, but you never actually explained to them why things are the way they are," Matos said.

Failing to explain means older workers and leaders will get pushback from "the generation that's been told, 'Don't just obey because they're just gonna suck you dry.'"