Gen Zers know they're stereotyped as 'snowflakes' but say they're resilient, having lived through the pandemic and 2008 financial crisis, report says

• Gen Zers know they're stereotyped as "snowflakes" and "strawberries," an Oliver Wyman report said.
• But they say they're realistic after living through a financial crisis and pandemic, per the report.

Generation Z members are well aware they are referred to as "snowflakes," but say that, by contrast, they are resilient, a report by US consulting firm Oliver Wyman found.

Gen Z, the title given to those born between 1997 and 2012, has often been stereotyped with negative adjectives, including lazy, mollycoddled, and entitled. This has led to Gen Zers being labeled as "snowflakes" or "strawberries," per the A-Gen-Z report.

However, Gen Z disagrees with these stereotypes, according to the report. Having lived through the 2008 financial crisis, a global pandemic, and the opioid epidemic, among other crises, this generation considers itself to be unsentimental, resilient, and practical, the report said.

Gen Z is the most resilient generation so far because of all the devastation that has happened in their lives, per the Oliver Wyman report. As a result, they've become a generation of activists who fight for what they believe in, it added.

Although Gen Zers feel the most stress after such adversities, they're more proactive than other generations about their health and will try out various methods to improve their wellbeing, including social-media trends.

They're also not afraid to find new jobs that offer them improved benefits and seek an employer who is engaged in social issues, the report said.

Despite being young, many Gen Zers saw their parents muddle through the financial crisis in 2008 and later, the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically affected them, as well as their families. They've taken the learnings onboard, per the report. From now on, they want to ensure their finances are stable and secure.

The research in Oliver Wyman's report was collected over the course of two years and involved a poll of 10,000 people in the US and the UK, it said.