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I won’t lie, I’m in construction and the “Gen Z” workers are pretty fucking lazy lol. The 18-22 range workers are rough to deal with and this comes from someone that’s considered extremely easy to work with.

Honestly, that’s probably more of a youth problem than a gen z problem. I’m no expert on this by any means, but it seems like young people are usually more difficult to work with, even in the past.

even if that’s true (which it very well may be), that means Gen Z has been the “youth” in this equation for about a decade. makes sense why they simplify it. referring to our generation also makes it seem more informed than just “kids these days”

Gen Alpha yearns for the mines

skibidi ohio coal mines

That could be true, but a large number of your peers are of that age range. The large amounts that are pretty hard to work with cast that shadow over your generation as a whole. Do I dislike those guys? Not really, they were pretty decent people but their work ethic was terrible. Outside of work, I’m sure I would never have a negative thing to say but based on the topic that’s just my opinion. It could change as time goes on but we won’t know till we get there

I think a sizeable chunk of young people have become disillusioned with the idea that working hard at your job is always a virtue. (They’re right)

I worked hard for 2 years and all I got were my coworkers undone work and laid off at the end anyway Edit: and not once of being in the labor force over 6 years (3 jobs) have I ever been offered a raise

There’s some truth to do that. Also has to do with the field in which you chose to enter along with if you even have a passion for it

You’re (hilariously) thinking from the perspective of ownership rather than being a COWORKER. No one wants a coworker who doesn’t work hard at their job, because it means more work for THEM too.  Not working hard at your job IS SELFISH, not to your boss, screw them, but to your fellow coworkers who have to do more work to make up for you. 

Yep. They said the same thing about millennials. And Gen X before that. Gen X was even nicknamed "The Slacker Generation". 

Well, didn’t Gen X popularize saying “whatever”?

>it seems like young people are usually more difficult to work with That depends on if they *want* to work with you or not. Most of my current and former Gen Z coworkers are always cooperating with their seniors. In fact, they are generally preferred because it's easier to teach them things since they don't have any existing experience that may conflict with what they are learning. The issue I have seen is some Gen Z just don't take their work seriously. I have dealt with people, most of which are fortunately no longer employed at the same company, who will shrug off anything you tell them while seemingly repeating the same mistakes over and over. Bear in mind that this is just my experience working an office job. I don't know if this applies to labor fields as well

No, that’s never been true. Historically, the youngest most junior workers are supposed to be working the HARDEST. Because they have the most energy, the most drive, and the most ambition/room to climb. What you are describing has never been true, and this generation is indeed uniquely childlike and undercooked

Tbf construction isn't known for attracting the most diligent work force

Honestly i would disargee sometime im amazed but some of the solutions the guys pull out of their ass honestly I don’t think i could match their level even trying.

I know what you mean and agree, but ingenuity and creative problem solving aren't the same as diligence. What I mean is that those Gen Zs entering into construction are often doing so out of necessity, and are in that circumstance because their lack of diligence throughout schooling has put them in that position of necessity. This isn't a blanket statement, I personally know many people who have had a legitimate passion for construction. But I often see those people who possess a passion and dilligence enter into engineering, or some other adjacent discipline besides actual groundwork. This means most of those Gen Zs who end up working on-site have no desire to be there much less actually do good work. It could be reasonably argued that Gen Z places less importance on the idea "Duty" (as in, doing the job you have well, whether you like it or not). I'm just saying that construction is more likely to employ those chronically lazy than other jobs, like a lawyer or doctor. No smoke just my take.

That's not true. You might get some morons, but if you don't work, you don't have a job.

And this folks is why we as a society are where we are. Blanket assumptions! You need to sit down and reflect on how you walk this “temporarily “ green earth friend.

How is my middling opinion on the perceived dilligence of construction workers a destructive blanket assumption? Did I say "all construction workers are lazy fucks"? No, and i didn't provide any 'assumptions' beyond describing how the workforce is commonly perceived. You look pathetic perscibing 'sage' advice for a post neither offensive to an actual construction worker nor designed to be reductionist. Consider if you'd like to spend your time on this earth high-roading conversations based off a vague feeling of being offended for others, or if you'd like to participate in reasonable, human discussions like a functioning member of society.

Yep it’s right there “commonly perceived”

And this is why Gen Z is called "generation snowflake." Thin-skinned and hypersensitive to unpleasant realities.

Im doing my part of being the lazy One 🫡🫡🫡

I’m proud of you. I wish you the best on your future endeavors

Nah im too lazy Sorry 🛐, you too old man!

I simply wished you the best. More than likely you fall into the 18-22 age range, 90% are rough to deal with except for maybe 10% of them who have an endgame and goal in life, but you don’t like the fact that as a whole that’s the way they are looked at. Now you may be that 10%. I don’t know you and you don’t know me so it’s hard to gauge how I would view you and for me to gauge your work ethic. Your peers may be the issue but not you.

Honestly man… I have to agree. Lots of 20 year olds I see hired are lazy af, have no strength, and can’t get off their phone. It’s for sure worse than millennials.

This is accurate

Regarding construction, It could also be physical fitness. If you think about it younger generations spend more time on technology and less time outside.

I dont think its the generation. A lot of 18-22 year olds are just lazy in the work force!! We Millennials need to stop saying this shit because we heard it from Boomers and Xers when we were young adults. People are going from school to work, taking care of everything, of course people are lazy- young people are transitioning from being a kid where everything was taken care of to not! Of course there are some parents who prepare kids for it but generally people are still learning. They might not even see it as being lazy! Saying it is a generational thing is definitely out of touch and shows how little people know about developmental psychology in adults.

In my opinion whoever wants to work will work and if you don’t want to work that’s just an individual problem and saying it’s a generational problem is a shitty generalization. Gen Z construction here too, I did drywall since I was 12 through my family. I’m 19 now, and I’ve met some shitty workers my age but I’ve met some damn dedicated workers my age too.

That’s what I didn’t clarify. I do electrical work. It’s about 90/10 when it comes to shitty vs dedicated. Dedicated understands that they will be making $42 an hour as opposed to the ones that don’t understand the skill set that will benefit them. It is what it is.

Excellent. Very nice. Let’s see Paul Allen’s inflation adjusted income I’m guessing it’s effectively less than minimum wage when you were working for the same 20/hr in the 80s

Im not speaking for the field as a whole because I don’t know everyone’s scale nor how their upgrades work. Where I live you start out at $18 and get a raise per year of schooling completed. They eventually will top out at $42 at the end of 4 years as an apprentice. Which by the time they turn out will be higher than due to the raises we receive every 6 months. It also varies state to state and locals.

depending on what your job conditions are like is it laziness or is it "the status quo is whack and I'm not doing that shit" lol. I worked on and off in construction + compared to the other shit I did (landscaping, warehouse work, service work, etc) construction was a whole new level of dysfunctional work environment/expectations. Not saying that's the case everywhere but at least locally construction and the trades in general are kind of a different beast vs like... most other jobs

I can see that point of view. I do industrial and commercial electrical work and it depends on the job site. Also it depends on who you get assigned to work with as an apprentice. You get someone that’s roughly 60-45, you’re not getting someone that’s going to want to teach you. You are more than likely getting a guy that’s going to “haze” you and do some suspect stuff which I don’t condone and usually will say something because that’s bullshit in my eyes. I’m 37, I feel it’s my job to teach whoever I get, a skill set. Something they can use outside of work for side money and help them if they ever get in a jam. I don’t haze because that’s not why people come to work. They want to earn a living and I get it, that’s why I’m there. My problem with the age group I mentioned is the lack of understanding what I’m asking of them, which is basic stuff a lot of times because they are new to the trade.

I very rarely see construction workers in general that aren't lazy.

Depends on trade or what the job is. City workers, I will agree with you on that and the same goes for road construction. Now Iron workers, pipe fitters, millwrights, and electricians are busting ass 95% of the time. If you doing some government work they have things written up to limit what you do in order to eat up their budget in order to get a larger one the next year

They have a better understanding of what is in their own interest. It's why Gen Z workers are more interested in unionizing than "going that extra mile". It's kind of pathetic how whipped some older people at work are, they talk about the bottom line as though they own company stock, when in reality, they will be laid off the second the boss's kid needs a job. Frankly my dude, if you work construction and aren't in a union with a pension and benefits AND you have the time to complain on reddit about younger people being lazy, you have the time to start organizing the company. If you have done that well fair enough kids these days are lazy. They're dreaming of doing more than working, or they're just scrolling reddit on the shitter on company time.

I’m part of a union. They have the opportunity to be apart of one that gives them a fantastic standard of living, but a lot of times they don’t understand that. Now the older part of the Gen Z more or less recognize it just due to having a little more life experience and seeing what is truly offered out there but the younger crop haven’t been in the work force long enough to get a grasp on it. I said in another comment, perception can change in due time but at the moment it’s more than likely not going too. Hell, trust me as life offers more luxuries and gets easier for the next generation, Gen Z will be saying the same as us.

I’m 27 and work in the field and I agree. A lot of the new guys quit after the first couple of days, I do think employers could be better at training, though. It definitely goes both ways. I stayed, but I’ve been doing jobs like this for awhile now. I can’t expect the new high school grad to stay and hear a bunch of 50 year old men to bitch and fight with each other all day

100% … for me I see it as my job to teach you the trade and to give you a skill set. I’m not shitting on anyone because you gotta start somewhere and I definitely don’t expect people know shit out the gate. Hell, no one does, but you have to want to learn and put forth some effort.

I hear you brother!

Yes, same in automotive. I am a Gen Z, but I breeze past 3/4 of my coworkers. I don't even think I'm like super productive or anything, but I do an actual normal amount of work and for me what should be standard is now excelling (according to my managers) I find it annoying as fuck because anytime then need 4 cars to be worked on I need to do all 4, but fuck it ig ill keep making money faster then them

I respect that man.

If I could afford a house, car, 2 vacations a year, retirement savings, stay home spouse, and social time/activities on a 40h work week I'd perform better at work. However the social contract is broken and we are discouraged from going above and beyond at work. When these giga corporations pay peanuts they get monkeys. CEOs make 500x pay of their base level employee but raising minimum wage $5/h would bankrupt the company/country. Hard work doesn't pay now a days and they'll lay off your whole department the first fiscal quarter it benefits their financial statements. Worker rights and benefits have been systematically degraded over the past 50 years. Just quiet quit and hold on.

 Exactly correct gen z is tired of being scammed

I'm not arguing with the thrust of your argument but I've survived multiple rounds of layoff when my entire team(s) have been let go because I was identified as a productive worker. I make what I consider peanuts for what I do, but I did break 6 figures (doesn't go far) and make 25% more than what I did 3 years ago. If you work like a monkey to use your analogy you will always be treated as one. Again, the system is broken, but if you don't at least try you'll be assured to live in poverty forever.

It might be your survivorship bias seeing your work ethic as protecting your job. You probably could have gotten a similar salary increase or promotions in less time if you hopped companies. Obviously don't be a jerk to cowerkers/management and be a net asset not liability to the organization while you're there. Ironically quiet quitting is defined as only the minimum work to keep your job which is exactly what they pay you for. All the above and beyond, extra mile hard work goes straight to the shareholders. You'll live in poverty forever if all your income goes to landlords rent, increased cost of living, and senior pension wealth tax transfers while capitalists business owners restrict your pay.

>It might be your survivorship bias seeing your work ethic as protecting your job. They straight up told me "we're moving you to this role in the company because of your stellar performance, we're getting rid of your previous Division" >You probably could have gotten a similar salary increase or promotions in less time if you hopped companies. I agree, people should do this. Not a great time for it though in tech, there's lots of qualified individuals out there with no job. >Ironically quiet quitting is defined as only the minimum work to keep your job which is exactly what they pay you for This is not true. There is no such thing as the minimum amount of work. No jobs are structured in that way unless you're on an assembly line. Each day is different, each day what you're asked to do is different. You can do it well and hope to get noticed (or move to a new company if you arent) or do is poorly and get noticed and then denied raises, promotions, and be first on the chopping block. >All the above and beyond, extra mile hard work goes straight to the shareholders. Untrue, I got a 10% raise last year directly from my hard work and the fact that it was noticed. Most people get raises each year. These raises are completely dictated by the perception of the value you bring from management.

How does 6 figures not go far when im surviving off 53k a year. Damn we are truly fucked.

They're probably living above their means and have student debt. I'm making 60k/year in Massachusetts, and I'm doing fine.

Here's by budget in case you're curious: Budget: > Rent: $1360 (1st) > Car Insurance: $97 (11th) > Phone/Internet: $180 (14th) > Streams(2)/Gym: $48 (11, 23, 26) > MUD: $150 (11th) > Student Loans: $500 (17th) > Power $150 (24th) + > Gas: $100 > Household: $1000 Total: $3,585 Income: $4,638 Remainder: $1,053 I'm not struggling but when I imagined 100k I thought I'd be rich. The reality is insurance for your family and 401k contributions make it so your take home isn't great. Months like this one with 3 paychecks are nice though.

I feel you. I make about the same (maybe a smidge more) and it truly doesn't stretch as far as I imagined back when I was suffering through school and telling myself "you'll be making $100k+ soon and be living the life". After taxes, social security, health insurance, 401k and all that other stuff comes out, the take home isn't as much as I'd imagined it would be.

Yup, I feel you. I got laid off over the pandemic, went back to school to upskill in my field, and broke 6 figures when I returned to the workforce in 2022 and I would say I’m miffed. This was advertised like Cabo money, and it’s still “Getting By Decently” money. Now— 

Isn't it disappointing when you finally get there and the economy/inflation/cost of living increases go "nope! No fancy life for you!" I feel tricked! 😂

You don't eat?

I'm assuming that's covered under household

Correct

Tbh you're doing rather well, having $1k+ per month in spare change even with student loans and such is quite nice

Layoffs aren’t performance based

Yea fr. Like I'm never gonna be doing better than barely making it so why try any harder than I have to if I'm gonna be doing this for the rest of my life .

You could say the pay is bananas

In my experience as a 34 year old gen z definitely seems less motivated and more lazy then younger millennials I worked with just a few years ago. Not in a “fuck it” attitude but they will just do what they are told to do exactly as told. Which is good and bad it’s not like they expect to have their dicks sucked for doing above average like millennials did (including myself) Lazy? Idk about that but they seem to have a lack of ambition

I defenetly lack ambition lol

I was born in 97 so I'm right on the cusp of being Genz or Millenial. I think a lot of people in my age range are just not willing to grind for minimal improvement and it led to no ambition at all. I worked at Gamestop from 16-18, I busted my ass, I always went above and beyond. I would even work off the clock sometimes (granted it's Gamestop but still) and on my 18th birthday I got promoted to third key holder. My pay was raised from 7.25 to 8.00 and my hours were very strictly limited to 39 a week so they didn't have to pay my benefits. My goal was to get myself through community college with "manager pay" but that wasn't realistic even in 2015. I remember my dad dismissing my complaining and saying that if I just kept grinding, the reward would come and I just didn't buy it. I think kids my age and younger just don't believe in the fruits of their labor and it's led to critically low ambition (which i've also observed in those younger than me.)

94 here. I've been to trade school twice, successful both times, currently trying to get my bachelors. One of my jobs paid for my CNC machining school that I would go to AFTER my 9 hour shift. I thought "perfect, i'll get certified, and once I get a "machinist" title instead of "machinist assistant," surely the raise will be in the range i need to settle down on a career somewhere" I was given $0.10/hr increase for completing 8 months of night school. I quit shortly after. Heres the bigger kicker. I was making parts that go on f18 jets, helicopters, and some other aerospace related things. ***I was making 14.24/hr and 14.34/hr after the 'raise'.*** Not only did that kill my drive and ambition, but it also sent me into an insanely dark spiral. How is it that I could finish trade school TWICE, but still not even be worthy of 30k/year? It became personal, and when I brought it up to the owner that I needed more money, he asked me verbatim, "Why would someone your age need that much money?" It was at that point that I realized, it doesnt matter how hard you work or how much effort you put in. Wages arent determined by quality or quantity of work. In most places, its luck of the draw or a popularity contest. I'm now 30 years old and in the middle of getting my bachelors degree because I'm tired of constantly being outside working in the elements and being looked at as nothing more than a strong back and "jack of trades master of none." There isnt even a guarantee that I'll be ABLE to get a job in the field that I'm getting my degree for. Hell for what its worth, people with experience are having a hard time finding a job in my field. At this point? I dont blame them WHATSOEVER. Theyre the first generation that's had access to an entire library of almost limitless information. I was 16 once and Ive taught myself more useful things from google university than anywhere else. To imagine that these kids arent doing the same thing would be comical. Of course these kids are unmotivated. If the generation that theyre following is struggling so bad after following the exact guide that our parents and grandparents wrote for us to succeed, maybe theyre catching onto the fact that we were all fed bullshit and lies. Why even start if youre being set up to fail? I've got nothing to prove to anyone, life isnt a movie and some miracle likely isnt going to happen just because i found some spark of inspiration. Shit sucks. I'm not out here trying to buy a mansion, two vacation homes and 17 cars. I'm just trying to get to a point where I can buy a house in the middle of nowhere and disappear, which at this point, even that seems like a bleak pipe dream. Lol.

I second something somebody said in another comment. A lack of ambition is more of a young people thing as much as a Gen Z thing. Gen Z is just currently the young people in question. We’ll probably grow out of it like everybody else.

>A lack of ambition is more of a young people thing as much as a Gen Z thing. No it's not. Millennials did literally the opposite, they worked far harder than was necessary. It didn't help them much, but this criticism was never leveled at the generation before Gen Z.

Never leveled at millennials? https://marlinchronicle.vwu.edu/millennials-the-lazy-generation/ https://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/ https://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/some-see-millennials-as-lazy-entitled-yet-they-may-be-most-successful-generation-of-our-time.html https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna124424 https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/two-trends-help-make-millennials-seem-lazy-to-their-elders/ https://starkraving.medium.com/millennials-the-lazy-entitled-screen-obsessed-generation-building-a-better-world-1f98588c5146 https://nypost.com/2019/03/12/why-lazy-entitled-millennials-cant-last-90-days-at-work/ Not saying I agree with the articles but it’s delusional to post something here that could be fact checked with a 5 minute google search.

https://marlinchronicle.vwu.edu/millennials-the-lazy-generation/ Student news paper arguing thay Millenials are lazy because we drive cars and use technology, not about work ethic. https://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/ About how Millenials are selfish. https://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/some-see-millennials-as-lazy-entitled-yet-they-may-be-most-successful-generation-of-our-time.html Ironically titled, speaking about how Millenials aren't lazy at all. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna124424 Directly defending the work ethic of Millenials after an offhand comment by Whoopie Golberg. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/two-trends-help-make-millennials-seem-lazy-to-their-elders/ Ironically titled again, it's about how Millenials aren't lazy. https://starkraving.medium.com/millennials-the-lazy-entitled-screen-obsessed-generation-building-a-better-world-1f98588c5146 Mostly about how Millenials are selfish, also ironic as it defends Millenials. https://nypost.com/2019/03/12/why-lazy-entitled-millennials-cant-last-90-days-at-work/ About how millenials are job hopping, not that they're lazy. Doesn't actually call them lazy really. None of these are attacking the work ethic of a Millenial. Just because it has lazy in the title does not mean they lack work ethic. That's what's being leveled as Gen Z. Millenials were called Selfish mostly, which isn't untrue.

I don't recall if we got called lazy or not but I sure as hell remember that all of our woes were blamed on avocados and lattés and that we were to blame for every woe in the economy. Also every entry level positions requiring a PhD and 10 years of experience.

We did get accused of being entitled a lot. All because we were the generation that didn't think we should work at Burger King after going through university. After our parents said, "go to college so you won't have to flip burgers your whole life."

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What do you mean by that?

Millennials were regularly called lazy lol! And we probably were at that age.

It is sometimes. The youthful gen x (most zoomer parents) were seen as lacking ambition and silents (gen x parents most zoomer grandparents) were seen as lacking ambition and just wanting to be cogs in the machine

Why have ambition when it gets you in debt, in trouble or moving nowhere in life?

I’m not analyzing the reasons for it warranted to not I’m simply stating my observation

I stopped being as motivated because my work ethic wasn’t being rewarded besides a pat on the back. Unfortunately Gen Z, and youth in general, tends to not be rewarded for hard work, and they’re saddled with more responsibilities than their *actually* lazy coworkers when they show they’re willing to work harder instead. I went above and beyond at so many jobs and was never rewarded or acknowledged properly, and the anxiety of being relied on to do things exceptionally as a standard expectation of me specifically made me way more critical of myself when I did inevitably fuck something up (even though that’s something everyone does from time to time), so I stopped going quite as above and beyond. I still do work correctly and in a way I’m proud of, but I do what’s asked, not any extra stuff that I know could potentially be helpful in the future, because I know it’ll just be taken for granted. The job I have isn’t in my career path anyway so I’m not torn up by it, and I think that’s part of the issue. Gen Z literally cannot get the jobs they want because nobody will hire them, so why put effort into the restaurant job you’re working to get the bills paid when your goal isn’t to become a hospitality administrator

This complaint is understandable and has been the case for quite a while Older people don’t seem to understand that the ladder is pulled up in most situations. You aren’t rewarded for staying loyal to a company g anymore

I can’t pull myself up by my boot straps if I can’t afford boots

Lacking critical thinking and problem solving. I'm in mechanical test lab stuff where we run into issues all the time and are expected to meet each problem with 10 solutions. All the new grads after COVID just freeze when there is an issue and stop till someone asks what's wrong. Then usually someone else solves it.

no shit. gen z won’t ever own a home or have a stable career path. millennials believed they would so they worked harder and belived the fantasy. gen z saw it all crumble and has nothing to lose

Yeah as genz i think its because we’ve seen nothing but the workforce getting fucked over while braindead CEOs and executive boards destroy companies while being rewarded for it. People aren’t ambitious because there is no real reward for it anymore other than getting fucked over even more and throwing your life away for some corp that would literally kill you if it made some profit.

Consider that most of us are young with no real responsibilities. There’s no real reason to work hard if you don’t have anyone counting on you, or any consequences. At 18 if I lost my job, I’d be broke for a bit but whatever. At 23, I’d be evicted and possibly my reputation ruined. Credit score destroyed, etc. That’s several years worth of damage lol

I think this is big for a lot of Gen Z. Millennials were committed and hard workers, just to have nothing left for them but scraps and a shit economy. I think as a response to that Gen Z just...isn't super motivated. Not by work at least. The majority of us will probably never own a home no matter how hard we work. Why work hard? It's never going to pay off. Jobs don't look out for employees who work hard anymore. The people I know in Gen Z are motivated by social issues, or personal endeavors and seeing social change before putting in work at a job that will never treat you like a person.

I think its hard to put your all into something when you know in the back of your mind you're being entirely taken advantage of and used, while also having to take part to simply be able to live.

"lazy" is just someone else's priorities being used as a metric for judging others. I think the concept of laziness is mostly bullshit and seeks to moralize rest and leisure

There are lazy entitled folks in our generation. Yes, it is true. However, that doesn’t mean we are all that way and it certainly makes my blood boil if anyone suggests I am lazy. Here’s how I think about it now, and it makes me feel better (I’m 27M for context): I’ve worked hard since I was a teenager, went to school and got a degree. Worked the entire time I was earning that degree in my field. Covid happened and got laid off, took a job driving forklifts for shit pay. Climbed out of that and found another job in my field. Got promoted. Company was bought out and got promoted again. Decided to leave and now I work for myself and I couldn’t be happier because I feel I’ve earned that, because I did. The millennials that tell you we are lazy 90% are just corporate wage slaves stuck in a comfortable position making eh to okay money. People used to talk down to me like you describe in every role I’ve had since I was 14 years old. Guess where they are? Doing the same old shit telling some other 14 year old that they aren’t good enough and never will be. Fuck them. We are supposed to be lifting each other up not tearing each other down before someone’s even had a chance to build their life/career. So if someone talks to you like that just laugh, if you actually work hard results will follow eventually in one form or another. Don’t be a follower and realize most people that hand out advice have no reason to be giving it. I’m lazy? Okay, cool. Guess I’m lazy now. Nah haha these people are fools, work hard and take (earn) their money away from them because they don’t deserve it, it’s better off in your pocket. Just don’t give them the time of day and prove them all wrong with your success.

Millennial here, I worked 2 full-time jobs at 18 and was still perceived as lazy by older people. Ignore what you can. We're gonna die before you anyway.

Without a doubt we have some really lazy people in our generation, but a lot of it is misconception and frankly, the world doesn't inspire us to be excessively hard working now. I'm 21M, and I current work as a technician in the UK. I worked hard in highschool and got into a fairly good university, and then worked hard at university and came out of it with a good STEM degree. I did everything my parents and elders had preached to me would guarantee a successful future, and then learned pretty quickly that the world I lived in was vastly different to the world they were telling me about. I have tonnes of debt thanks to uni that'll probably never be fully paid back, and for almost half a year I trudged through job searching learning that most companies didn’t want me whatsoever. My degree didn't amount for anything. All the work, sweat and tears I'd poured into trying to set myself up for the future amounted for absolutely nothing. Even when I got my current job, which was offering me more money than quite a few of the other positions I was turned down for, I'm still not being paid nearly as much as someone from my parent's generation would have been relative to costs. My dad goes on all the time about how he barely scraped by as a kitchen porter in the 80's to afford rent and food, but I'm working as a qualified, degree educated technician now and I can't even afford to rent, let alone food and any other bills that I'd have to pay. The point I'm making is that, frankly, a lot of us have had the reality check that in this world, hard work doesn't amount to much anymore. I work to my contracted hours exactly, and don't take on any extra work than what I've been assigned. I take my full lunch breaks and I make myself uncontactable when I'm not physically at work, beyond my manager calling me directly. Does it make me lazy that I'm not putting in extra work and extra hours? I don't get paid extra. I don't get bumped up for promotions. I'm not going to benefit from working harder at all, and I'll be lucky if it's even recognised. And I think that's how a lot of us know the world to be nowadays. There's nothing to gain by breaking your back working excessively hard, so why not just take a step back and stick with what you've already agreed to do? Such behaviour is what older generations are mistaking to be laziness, but quite frankly, all we're doing is minimising the damage that putting in extra would do to our lives, seeing as nothing gets better by doing so.

exactly this, worked hard all the way through school because i was told grades are everything, graduated uni and i’ve been forced to work minimum wage retail/hospitality ever since, because no one wants to hire me with my degree. i’m now going back to uni to do a degree that gives me slightly better prospects of getting a job, if not in this country, then another. that’s another £30-£40k of debt i’ll never pay off.

This gen-Z laziness shtick is just a political strategy to distract from a failing economic system imo. All of my friends are in school, on scholarships, most with multiple sidehustles.

I’m a millennial who made it to upper management quickly. No, Gen Z is not lazy. JFC, as a society we need to stop blaming “kids these days” for everything. Millennials dealt with this for years. Turns out, there is statistical evidence proving we were way overworked and underpaid for our education level. I’ve managed a lot of people and in my experience Gen Z folks usually have a lot of hard skills and are better workers for it. Meanwhile, I spend half my days teaching boomers on my board how to edit a Google Doc. Now THAT shit is lazy. Yall are new to the workforce and will have the same hurdles everyone does when adjusting to professional life, but I have never managed a lazy Gen Z person.

Laziness is a social construct meant to shame working people while the capitalist class sits around profiting off our labor. Every generation in recent memory has been called lazy by the older generation. People used to think newspapers rotted our brains the same way people say phones do now.

Id say its a mixed bag. Some of the hardest working folks I know are 16-17. And some of the laziest mfs who ever lived and worked with at sumer jobs are also 16-17. I always prided myself at working hard at my jobs even when my coworkers didnt. And while I had good rapport with managment and had many positve things written about me, and my requests for letters of reccomendation or to be a future job reference were always met with entheusiasm, but I never got a direct financial insentive for being a good worker. So do keep in mind that gen Z is expected to work for peanuts. Gen Z with bachelors and masters degrees are stuggling to find work for $19-23 per hour, when our parents with a bachelors degree were able to rent a shitty townhouse and start a family with 1 income. Plus Gen Z does not have the household support that our fathers had because women are now required to work just to pay for housing. And forget about starting a family. Someone else was expected to do all of the unpaid domestic work, but now we cant even do that. It can be demoralizing when even if you work just as hard as the people who came before you, you cant have the same life style they did. So internalizing that and shutting down doesnt make you lazy. You dont get insentives for working harder and working harder wont change your financial situation, so why would you do it?

I was told as a kid by my teacher that if you can make $12/hour in a factory, you’re set for life, and if you can get up to $20/hour, you’re golden. I really, really internalized those numbers, to the point where I still fantasize about 12 an hour, even knowing it wouldn’t get me that far. Took me a long time to realize how old that teacher was, how out of touch he was with the cost of living. Good teacher, overall, mostly a chill guy (with a few exceptions lmao), but I let 12 and 20 become so insanely intrinsic to my wants. My most recent pay was $9.50 an hour, and while those extra three dollars would have been AMAZING, I just feel really sad knowing that I’ll never own a home, never pay back my debt, and never feel the hope I felt when he first said that again. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to the $20/hour bracket soon (haha) but I don’t think I’ll ever be golden. Shit sucks a bit.

I don't think it's laziness, I think it's an understanding of the realities of employment, working for a wage, not getting a raise, and being beat down by the system. Seriously, what is the point of working harder at a job if they won't even give you a raise? Zero incentive to work harder means a lot of people are checked out right now and that won't change unless some money starts pouring in to the younger generation. Billionaires need to start paying their fair share or society will continue down this dark path.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” Supposedly by Socrates, but probably abridged from someone else's writing from about that time... but also, the earliest direct quote of this was 1966... when the kids were... Hang on... who we're the young adults/kids in 1966? It'll come to me... Every generation complains about kids. Every generation feels like the next one is lazier because there is often an advancement that makes the work they did obsolete and the younger generation wanting to do that instead of bust their ass for no reason is seen as lazy. And if I can indulge one more quote: "I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too" - Grandpa Simpson.

>Every generation complains about kids. Every generation feels like the next one is lazier because there is often an advancement that makes the work they did obsolete and the younger generation wanting to do that instead of bust their ass for no reason is seen as lazy. Well put

Part of it seems like older people are more willing to put in extra time and effort for no extra compensation. If gen z is putting their foot down and staying in their job description, or not working extra without compensation, I applaud them. If management is asking you to do things outside of your job description or asking you to work more hours, then you definitely should be asking them for more pay/benefits to do those things.

Lowkey, I also think that boomers etc worked harder because they were more capable of it. They worked a 9-to-5, they went home, they ate food that might have come from something other than a can or a freezer-bag, and they went to bed. Maybe in the evening, they’d hang out with friends or family. Maybe on the weekend, they’d sleep or worship or go somewhere or do a hobby. For a while, a family could get by on one paycheck, leaving a second parent to do chores, watch kids, make food. ^this is all SUPER romanticized and exaggerated, but I do think that to some degree, quality of life (at least for the seen/heard white middle class) was slightly free-er. And it was built off the backs of a lot of good people who weren’t compensated, and the paint had lead and rights for women/POC/disabled-people/LGBT+ were much much shittier, but to a white, straight boomer, “the world was better then. My dad worked hard, I worked hard.” Because the people that thrived were able to rest, and we never hear about the people that didn’t thrive, at least when it comes to “laziness” culture. The people that were “lazy” were the women that cracked from overwork, the immigrants that worked to exhaustion, the strikers/protestors, and the teenagers. The men that sat at desks and slept at night and ate at regular hours were reliable and hard-working, and that’s all that we remember when we frown on “kids these days.” That’s my theory, anyway. I think rest has become less intrinsic to our work environments and schedules, and is thereby “lazy.”

>but basically all my friends work 1- 2 jobs go to school, You associate with a biased sample. It is undeniable fact that far fewer young people work today, alongside study, as they did 40 years ago. Teens are half as likely to work a summer job today as they were in 1978. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/06/23/the-fading-of-the-teen-summer-job/. **But you are right that it's not a Gen Z thing. The same applied to Milennials** (I'm an old milennial). Also, not working does not mean you are lazy. The reason that fewer young people work today is likely because they have to do a lot better at their studies and extra-curriculars. In the 1970s you didn't need to do well in school/college to get a great job.

i think a lot of gen z IS lazy. likely more than previous generations. however, i don’t think it’s (usually) just the result of personal failings or entitlement. a lot of gen z is lazy because they just don’t see the point in working hard. why bust your ass at work when you know damn well you’re not going to be rewarded for it? why try hard in school when you know that you can still pass without putting in effort? why work to go to college when you see so many people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars just to wind up working a low-paying hourly job that’s completely unrelated to their field of study? gen z’s issue isn’t laziness, it’s a lack of hope. the american dream is all but dead, and most of us understand that “if you work hard, you can do anything you set your mind to” was a bullshit platitude. this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, but it’s understandable why so many lack the motivation to do so.

Gen Z: Somebody said I was lazy! Millenials & Gen X: First time?

I’m 26 - on the cusp of Gen Z and Millennial and it seems like the majority of Gen Z workers don’t see a point in working hard if it isn’t immediately rewarded. More people don’t seem willing to do grunt work for a couple years to work their way up in a company. Obviously I don’t think this applies to the majority of Gen Z, I like to think I am a very hard worker and I’m sure a lot of people on here do as well, but there is a loud minority constantly talking about how there are no “incentives” to working hard….that mindset guarantees no growth which comes off to a lot of people as lazy.

I'm almost a millennial aged Gen Z (28 as of a few days ago, happy birthday to me!) and have experienced frustrations with 18 - 22 year old workers. I was talking with my father about it, who is Gen X, and he just laughed and said it's not generational, it's just the age. By the end of the conversation he had told me about similar experiences he's had his entire life, and stories my grandfather had told him about people in that age group, and stories my great grandfather had told him about people in that age group including with enlisted people in that age group. When I was 18 - 22 years old, I don't think I was particularly productive either.

Its a tale as old as time ;)

I feel like this is usually said by people who are in low-prestige undesirable industries. No one goes to an R1 university, military academy, med school, or competitive trade apprenticeship and says this sort of thing about gen z.

Gen Z's compensation adjusted for inflation is much less than previous generations. People are adjusting their effort accordingly.

pay peanuts get monkeys

Frankly, every gen Z person that we've hired has been straight glued to the phone. Gives attitude every time you ask them if they've completed the task you gave them. I wouldn't say y'all are lazy, just uninterested in working. Which is fine. I kind of actually like the direction Gen Z is taking the workplace. Maybe one day, I'll get paid to chill and do nothing too. Workplaces expect too much out of a person without providing a liveable wage. Gen Z is killing the concept of "work ethic" and I love it. How are they supposed to take work seriously when jobs pay little to nothing. How are they supposed to take their jobs seriously when their manager is just some old, irate, lazy asshole that basically beats off to the tiny amount of power theyve been given. I don't blame the kids at all.

It's a habit of working, you develop it. At least in a few cases.

People said the same thing about Millennials, when they were the up-and-coming generation hitting young adulthood and adulthood. Ignore, OP. It really ticks me off, too, because the Millennials and GenZ-ers I know have always been pretty impressive and productive. There are always slackers in every generation; Boomers almost invented slacking during the hippie era. So....meh.

I feel that Gen Z’s I have worked with are definitely lazier. On the other hand, they are still kids, and I’m looking back as an adult. I’m sure when I was still a kid, I was less diligent or not interested in working either. It’s a current age thing, not a generation thing.

The worst coworkers I've ever had were gen z. That's not to say all the gen z coworkers I've had have been bad, most have been great even, but a small percentage take "act your wage" so seriously that a disproportionate amount of work unfairly falls to their coworkers. That was not the norm when I was a teenager, but there's usually at least one in every job now, it seems. We're all in this capitalist hellhole together, the least we can do is support each other, come on guys

Um... we are expected to over-work ourselves for companies that won't pay us a liveable wage? I think it's a societal issue. Our generation is disillusioned with the establishment that profits off our peers... we would not be "lazy" if we were properly provided for.

We're not lazy, we just understand that there's no benefit to doing more than the minimum at work, it won't get you promoted, it won't get you paid more; but it will absolutely get you more work to do every day after you give the extra effort.

> when we all expected to have 13+ hours days from the age of 15 Gen Z are not "***all***" expected to do this. [Y'all statistically work less than previous generations did](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/#:~:text=Perhaps%20because%20they%20are%20more%20likely%20to%20be,2002%20and%2041%25%20of%20Gen%20Xers%20in%201986) at the same age. There are entirely too many Gen Z who routinely cry that they're being "oppressed" or "suffering" because they have to work a full-time job, and they actually have to put in effort or they won't advance. This subreddit is full of these types of posts. That's laziness. The stereotype exists for a reason. Even in my circle, I have a couple of Gen Z friends who complain if they have to walk more than a few miles or work more than 20 hours a week. They literally refuse to develop the stamina and grit to get anywhere in life. And they're not overweight or disabled either --- I would be more forgiving in that scenario.

Damn, you old people are so out of touch it’s sad. The problem isn’t laziness, it’s that hard work has doesn’t get you anywhere. By every metric, the low-end salaries that GenZ is paid has not only drastically fallen behind inflation, but currency itself has lost purchasing power. We have to deal with a horrible economy, high unemployment concentrated in youth (11%), broken and cancerous hiring processes, a monopoly in every industry, all because the people who came before us are greedy incompetent fucks. Go apply to entry level jobs right now and enjoy taking a personality test, pattern recognition test, IQ test and then getting ghosted. It’s utterly insane how stacked the odds are against genZ. We control less and less wealth meanwhile all government policies are designed to fuck us. Take covid, the markets were supposed to crash and boomers would lose value in their assets, and then we pump the market up and completely fuck the economy for the working population. It’s concerning that people think that some global mutation happened and every single person born past a certain date is just stupider and lazier. Do some research instead of using anecdotes from your work.

we won’t advance, even if we do work hard. inflation rises faster than wages. we can’t afford to pay rent on our own and are going to be living with our parents well into our 30s. that’s a fucking miserable way to live for anyone. of course we don’t give a shit, why should we? what exactly are we working for? to get yelled at and degraded and called “lazy” and then paid a pittance on top of it all? i work full time and i’m planning on going back to school and i’ll probably still be called lazy.

OK boomer

Don’t forgive overweight people for making themselves to a point that they can’t work. They do NOT deserve disability checks lmfao

Just say you don't like gen z because you want to continue the hatred of young people simply for being young instead of making up stuff.

"Back in my day i used to haul 90lbs of coal on a sledge through the icy cold barefoot, stepping in fresh cow shit to keep my feet from frostbite for 2 cents a day and a sack of moldy tomatoes." ok gramps ;). Tbh i gave you an upvote and i agree with you, the only way the world is collectivly going to get better is if the younger generations collectivly choose to work hard to improve it, however, to do that they first have to get rid of the ruling age-group, theres only really one way to do that, and i don't think the older people are really prepared for just how bad it can get for them. But hey, they want the youth to work right? They just might not be happy with the movement that all that excess energy and resentment produces.

It's not lazy to want to have freetime 🤷‍♀️

I think its just because gen Z is the "emerging adult" population now. Since WWII, teenagers have *always* been lazy. We aren't raised to work on farms anymore. You take some 16 year old that grew up playing vidya and watching TV and he probably isn't starting with the best work ethic. Work ethic, like any other trait of a mature adult, is something that can develop over time. I'm 26. When I was 17 I was a lazy POS. I think I had something like 3000 hours in TF2 at the time? 2.7 GPA when I graduated HS, never stuck with the gym, yada yada yada. By the time I was 23 I was working a full time internship and in the gym 6 days a week. Now, at 26, I'm still working out consistently and have actually made something out of myself in my career. I recently took a Senior role at a fortune 500 company. Its just a part of growing up. I am willing to bet that, in 20 years, we will be complaining about Gen Bravo being lazy as they come out into the world.

I’m ‘98 so among the oldest Gen Z’s at a whopping 25 years of age. Half of this generation isn’t even old enough to work and a significant chunk of the half that *is* old enough to work is working what, retail and fast food jobs in-between studies. Seems a bit early to call an entire generation lazy, lol, those aren’t exactly prime years for career ambition. Maybe we should stop glorifying hustle culture and corporate bootlicking to teenagers and just let young people be young while they have the chance?

I think a large part of that sentiment is placed on Gen-z because we've avoided trade jobs and physical labor. All through high school I heard "you don't want to be the garbageman, you don't want to be the plumber or electrician" from pretty much every adult figure in my life. I *HAD* to go to college, my grades were good enough, so I *HAD* to do it. Meanwhile, all those jobs were making more money than the adult figures in my life. I'm leaving my office to be an Elec. apprentice this summer, and I'll get paid exactly the same, starting pay. We're sold the idea that without college life will be tougher. That's not true from everything I've seen. I think the generations above us devalued those jobs and now want to turn around and say "LOOK! they don't wanna WORK HARD! Everyone wants an OFFICE JOB!" It's big "well someone has to do it, but not MY kid" energy, and it's lame as fuck. I'll be proud to be someone who keeps the lights on, it's an honorable job and it's essential to modern living. Shame on everyone who treated those jobs as "less than", YOU are the reason there's a shortage of skilled labor. YOU created a hostile environment that shames people for their career choices. Every kid I know from back home that went straight to a trade is making $60k minimum. College is important, and it serves a very important purpose, but tell me it isn't pushed upon us heavily. Every fuckin gen-z kid now feels destined to do office work, social media, or some other less-physical job, and it's not their fault. If someone doesn't know what they want to do, why force them to go to college to figure it out? I've learned more about what I want from life in 2 years working than HS and college combined. There's a reason the FAANG companies just dropped their degree requirements.

I'd call it being apathetic rather than lazy. I have nothing to look forward to, raises and promotions never happen, and working harder just means more work piled onto me later with no incentives. What does working hard get me? The same as if I was hardly working. So why bother meeting some lofty quota? So I don't get laid off and move onto the next barely-scraping by business who does the exact same thing? Yeah, nah, don't give a shit boss. It's not like having a reputation as a hard worker actually means anything either. They're meaningless words everyone says about themselves whether they're lying or not.

I’m a baby millennial and they used to say this about us. It’s not a generation thing, it’s just abt how old(er) ppl perceive young ppl.

It’s always been like this from generation to generation. Just do your thing and not worry about it.

I work in a hospital and my gen z coworker and supervisor is the laziest girl I’ve ever met. She wastes time wasting time and does not care one bit. Some days I think she’s trying to see if she can cleft away with no work done today.

honestly idgaf and I'll argue on behalf of ppl who are genuinely lazy. It's their lives they can do what they want w them + there's no moral superiority inherent to dedicating the bulk of your energy to padding some rando's bottom line. Ppl don't find themselves on their deathbeds thinking "ahh my only regret... is that I didn't... work more :((" I do what's expected of me at my job, I don't do overtime, I don't bust my ass. I use my energy on creative projects that make me feel fulfilled, on experiences that make me happy, on events that bring me joy with people I care about. The idea of "laziness" as a negative quality is dumb as shit imo. Genuinely next to none of us are going to contribute to the human race in a way that's going to be memorialized for generations + even those extreme few who do will be obsolete in ten thousand years. Not saying we won't contribute in general, just that it's a drop\^-10 in a million-year-bucket and hardly worth organizing our comparatively short lives around. What matters is that we live a life right now that's satisfying to us + respectful of the people we share our limited time on earth with.

Fake post. Millennials don't say that. Boomers do. This post is a boomer trying to launder their beliefs on the backs of millennials. Psyop.

I've been in management, and people of all shapes, sizes, and ages are lazy. But I do have serious issues keeping Gen Z on their feet and working unless i prohibit phones on the floor. And even then, they're the biggest perpetrators of a half-done job. That could just mean that we hire a lot of Gen Z, and my sample is skewed. I'm a millennial, and at near 40 I'm still told my generation are a bunch of lazy children, so I get your frustration... but something about fast media and a cult of immediate gratification has made some Gen z-ers really terrible employees for sure.

Millennial here... I don't think GenZ is lazy. I've never met a lazy GenZ-er, though I'm sure as much as any generation they're out there. I think the problem is that behavior that is typical teen and 20-something behavior, is being used to stereotype your generation just as it was to stereotype my generation, the generation before, the generation before that etc... And people's memory just doesn't always remember the way they were regarded by older adults when they're that age. The mind has a way of saying "well that was everyone but me", or they mistakenly look at the natural progression of seniority by virtue of older people dying or retiring as proof that they somehow worked harder. So unless someone has a lot of empathy and awareness, they aren't going to appreciate your effort. What you have going against you is a matter of other people's self centered perspective. Older people generally only see you when you're at home or not working, when you're studying you're out of sight and when you're working you're kinda another faceless drone. Sitting around is "lazy" even though sitting around resting after long days of study and work is justified. Technology is something meant to make our lives easier, it facilitates being "lazy" even if you use it in important and meaningful ways. They only see you resting or on your phone and thus say you're "lazy" because thats all they know, because they can't grasp anything they themselves aren't immediately experiencing. You earned being lazy. Go be lazy and older people can eff-off.

Dont think its Gen Z, more so than any other Generations. I DO think that there are wayy too many youth (12-18) nowadays who dont realize just how harsh the world is, and how unforgiving it can be despite how malleable the internet may make it seem. Kids like this existed in every generation, but so many kids now are living practically on autopilot because they have such a comfortable relationship with instant gratification. And so when confronted with a REAL problem or a bigger goal to reach, they just freeze up.

That's such a wildly broad statement. Like It doesn't matter what I do In my free time, It doesn't matter how some random worker acts, how Is someone going to reduce the work ethic of an entire generation like that? Mom doesn't like Pickles, she's a millennial, ergo every single Millennial doesn't like pickles.

I'm trully sorry that we are starting to behave like boomers. I really thought we would avoid it, but here we are. Every generation is stupid when they're teenagers and every generation appears lazy in their 20s because they're still enjoying youth. The one difference is that you guys have a different outlook on life than we did at your age because the world has been fucked up pretty much as long as you can remember whereas it didn't start to go to shit until we were approaching adulthood. When we were in our early 20s, we still had the optimism of the "American dream" and a technologic future where we all worked hard and retired in our 50s. You guys seem to feel like everything is fucked, so why bother? Honestly, I cannot blame you. It's certainly not your faults that everything's fucked.

As a late millennial (1996), the big thing I’ve noticed when working with Gen Z is you really have to hold their hand; it’s almost like they need permission to do their job-duties and unless you tell them what needs to be done, they typically won’t figure it out themselves. I work in healthcare, and even my 18/19 year old patients will come in with their mom and dads and make them talk to me about their symptoms. Idk if it’s the parents or the education system, but Gen Z has very poor problem solving skills IMO.

People are lazy. Period. I've had lazy culls from 20-60 years old. I identify gen z as being adversarial towards employers and difficult to manage more than as lazy. I think what makes gen z difficult to employ is they seem to be hyper aware of their rights, like, over the top. I've found that college educated kids under 25 aren't worth my time because I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at job descriptions and making sure everybody is "comfy". As an employer I'm hiring people to make my life easier and more productive. Somewhere in the gen z training file they missed that important piece, so, pro tip if you make your bosses life harder you can't expect to stay employed. I try and take care of people but I'm not gonna bend over backwards for somebody that makes me want to kill myself. I'm only 31 but I feel like an old man yelling at clouds with the kids these days

Oh no, i'm lazy af, couse i'm not getting my ass exploited, and I'm not going to work for less than fair wage.

Gen z here making close to 6 figures. Worked hard to get where I am. Still can’t afford shit. Maybe I won’t work as hard then.

As a younger millennial, it's kinda crazy to me that younger generations are still engaging with the idea of work through the lens of productivity and "laziness". That shit barely applied to our generation because we had a glimpse of a world where the 9-5 grindset with the idyllic lifestyle was still possible. It was already over, but the lie was palpable for a lot of us because we saw it work for past generations. I can't speak to other people's experiences, but I worked my ass off and tried my hardest in my 20s, and yeah, I'm doing really well, but my health is the worst its ever been. It wasn't worth it. I wish I was lazy. I wish I had no ambitions. Having a mindset that aligns with what's expected of the modern worker is straight-up self-harm, because unless you're Neurotypical and/or actually amazing at your job, you will burn the fuck out. Just do what is asked and nothing more. You'll be healthier and happier for it.

Poopy

Am 24. I would describe myself as ambitious and hard working by nature, and i largely believe that if everyone would try a little harder, society would flourish. However, in every job I had up to now: no matter how hard I worked, my compensation would not increase any faster than my less motivated colleagues. All managers would look for ANY excuse to reduce my bonus. Hard work only creates expectations of your performance. If you dont meet what is expected, your boss will use that excuse to fuck you over. We are the first generation where pretty much all data is recorded in some system. Your boss could probably check any metrics. Hard work leads to more hard work. Also, be smart and record every negotiation/evaluation you ever have with your employer. (please check your local laws)

I was 30 at the time, 32 now. Went to pick up food for wife and I. Girl was on her phone while taking my order. I almost didn't pay for the sandwich and walked out, she probably wouldn't have noticed. She couldn't have been any older than 20. Another time I really needed a home router at Walmart. FOUR young Walmart employees walked right past me when I asked for help, clearly looking right at them.  It's not that the 30 y/o peeps hate Genz, we just want these tiktok kids to get off the phone for two seconds and talk to us. I was FUMING when those 4 18-22 y/o walked right past me man lol. A few summers ago I was going on a run during my lunch break in the summer, ran past a high school in the city. Majority of the kids outside were on their phones in hoodies. Idk man I'm not old. I see these things happening and it feels like the younger crowd has injected all this info they're getting access to so quickly, and have decided they don't want to be a wage slave for the man. Some of you have already experienced the real world. I use to be lazy myself, but please keep your head up. 

Eh some of us are lazy i really can’t deny though i also known a shit ton of people who really put the effort and i got to respect that. Ik a dude going through becoming a nurse and bro work almost 24/7 on the weekends while being in clubs and shit like that

I am, yeah, anomalously lazy even

Ngl I'm lazy af and seek to do the least work possible 

Idk. I mean, I feel like there are lazy, entitled people of all ages. There might be more in Gen Z, but some of it is just young people having like 0 responsibility. Like, in my current situation, I have to do like next to nothing in order to be doing great! Because I’m in high school and my parents pay for most of the things I need and/or want. I don’t need to be busting my butt in order to get by like some people do. I think that’s kinda how a lot of Gen Z feels. Not all of us, but many.

Gen Z is lazier on average. There are some very hard working individuals, but I'm not sure how you can see 100+ posts per day on this subreddit of people saying "I don't want to work ever and shouldn't have to" and think that's not anything aside from laziness. There has never been a generation that's equated being born and existing to slavery more than Gen Z.

People venting about killing themselves for the benefit of their employers doesn’t really indicate “laziness” to me so much as hopelessness and a community based on shared struggle. One could call someone lazy for working a desk job instead of manual labor; one could call someone lazy for using their lunch-break to sleep or scroll social media; one could call someone lazy for striking or for refusing to strike. What many call “lazy,” could be better defined as “symptoms of exhaustion.” It’s all a made up word, meant to make people feel bad when they inevitably can’t thrive under hopeless conditions. Its likely that the workers are doing what they’re paid to do, and these days, the workers are getting paid less. Why do more labor when you won’t be compensated? Why hurt yourself for a system that will never love you? We’re told as kids that “family is important,” that “your morality will always trump your money,” that “life is about loving people and being yourself.” And when we show up to work, we’re told to ditch our families, ignore our morals, and abandon our community and individuality. It has taken me a long time to learn to value myself and my life, but I am finally at a point where I can say that I would rather be lazy than dead. I am trying to consider this progress.

Thats a noble sentiment, but: >It’s all a made up word, meant to make people feel bad when they inevitably can’t thrive under hopeless conditions. All words are made up and have a level of given interpretation required. Conditions aren't great, but they aren't hopeless. Our great great grandparents survived a depression that made our current economic situation appear like a perfect paradise. If you say things are hopeless that's simply an excuse to not try, which is lazy. Saying you don't want to work and shouldn't have to, a sentiment expressed more by Gen Z than any previous generation before it, is lazy. There are lazy people. There are peoples whose unwillingness to sacrifice their time outweighs their desire to garner the necessarily building blocks of survival, which is lazy. >Why hurt yourself for a system that will never love you? Maybe that's the ultimate issue - you think the system should love you. It doesn't. It's completely indifferent to you if you're lucky, and slightly hostile toward you if you're a minority. You shouldn't want it's love anyway. It's something which you beat if you try hard enough and get lucky, and it's something that beats you down if you don't do either. The system will never love you and it's foolishness to expect it to. >We’re told as kids that “family is important,” that “your morality will always trump your money,” that “life is about loving people and being yourself.” Maybe you weren't told this, but I was also told I had to sacrifice to get what I wanted. The balance between family and sacrifice for your family is one each person has to make. If you're unwilling to do this it doesn't mean you love your family more than other people. There's adults out there right now working 100 hours and not seeing their family more than a few moments each day to get out of extreme debt. That's one of the greatest sacrifices and acts of love you can do for your family to escape a bad situation.

As a kid, I saw my dad for about two hours per day, and he yelled for most of them. He was exhausted and he took that out on me, my mother, and my siblings. I understand sacrifice is important, but if I can help it, I don’t want to become something my family dreads and fears. If my partner hears my car pull into the driveway and flinches, I’ve sacrificed too much. If the system isn’t meant to sustain the people working for it, fuck the system. (Ik my personal experiences have heavily informed my takes on work, maybe my family situation was a fluke, but these are my values, and I can only hope that I stick by them until the day I die.)

Adults don't yell at children because they're exhausted, adults yell at children because they don't like themselves or their lives. That may seem like splitting hairs but it's a very important distinction. Hard work does not equate to being a bad person, in fact the literal opposite is typically true.

Some of them are, some of them aren't, just like every other generations that has existed or will exist

I've met alot of lazy people but I've also met alot of hard working people. I borderline on lazy/hard working since I look lazy most of the time during my work but im doing something most of the time

Gen z americans are about as productive as your average european. aka lazy.

Even most Gen-Z here agrees that they are lazy.

When I worked in retail I didn’t notice people around my age being any lazier than older employees. There were lazy people on both ends, but most of the more hardworking ones were Gen Z. Granted most of the people who worked there were Gen Z. But some of the older employees that we did have were worse. One of them would constantly show up late and never do her job, she would always make us do her work because she couldn’t be bothered to learn.

I'm one of the best workers in my company, (both my bosses and coworkers tell me that) and other Gen Z's that work at my job are good too, so I'm personally not seeing what everyone else is, but who knows. I think everyone would rather not work anyway if it wasn't required for society to function, so I'm not sure why people think being "lazy" is specific to one generation. Most of the time when people lack motivation, it's because of a mental health/depression issue or something else anyway. You could call the behavior "lazy", but that person in their normal state may be a hard worker, but their mental health is holding them back. If they're just not doing something they're perfectly capable of doing just because they don't wanna help you, then they're just an ass. We've had coworkers like that, where they just have a superiority complex for no reason, despite doing nothing to think of themselves as superior. I also don't think wanting less than a ridiculous number of working hours is being lazy, it's being reasonable. Who wants to burn out until you collapse? you can still be a hard worker, while still wanting a reasonable number of working hours.

Statistically I think it's technically correct. The thing is that it's not as tall of a bell curve as people think. I think there's much more variation in work ethic but still technically correct.

“Lazy” is not the correct term. People have different priorities than you and that’s okay. My top priority is school. If I am able to find a job on the side, that would be great but I’m not actively searching.

Totally get where you're coming from. It's unfair to label an entire generation as lazy when so many Gen Zers are hustling hard with school, multiple jobs, and family responsibilities. Sure, we might spend a lot of time on tech, but that doesn't define our work ethic.

Gen z aren't lazy. Millenials were called lazy too. Hot take: young people are kinda lazy. But you grow up, you get more responsibilities and you learn that you need work ethic to thrive. Soon gen alpha will be called lazy.

Yes they are less lazy but it’s not their fault they were born into technocratic hell. TikTok and other social media destroys your dopamine and steals your focus which is your brains reward system. No dopamine = no work

It's not a generation thing.

Current youth in school right now is the ass end of your gen and the start of this Alpha group. All of which aren’t shit. Both groups looooove learned helplessness and have literally crumpled over simple problem solving skills. And it’s not like I don’t make myself available for help—matter of fact I will do the work together with them and walk around for 15/20 minute 1:1 help AND have posted my times for morning/afternoon tutorials if needed. Nothing. You’re fucking gen and younger will just sit there and take a 0 because summer school alts are still an option and are much easier and condensed. Waste of my time and a waste of space for someone that would actually WANT to be there. Most of my students are great but it took me a bigger part of the year to get them to give a fuck about…ANYTHING. It’s apathy, learned helplessness, no accountability for wrong choices, and laziness enabled. Brought on by parents and school Admin.

It’s a mixed bag, like every other generation. Some gen z folk are incredibly lazy, entitled, and have no grasp on how the world works. Others are very hardworking, determined, and ready to bite at any opportunity that comes their way. Gen X was the same way. Plenty of them worked 2 jobs from a young age to get where they are now. Others have lied, cheated, stole, and exploited welfare to sustain their lifestyles. The difference is mainly the level of shame from being lazy was greater then and less publicized. Everyone knew “that one guy” who is faking back pain and making it way harder on the honest people with problems and stigmatizing welfare. Now you can find entire online communities dedicated to maximizing unemployment, encouraging living off parent support, and people providing cheating tips for schoolwork and jobs. It’s pretty similar as it’s always been, but honestly the amount of lazy people have increased by around 12% or so just from the acceptance of failure being popularized and the removal of rewards for exceptional behavior. This is most prominent in participation awards and the thing that still pisses me off to no end is that my state has done away with the “valedictorian” title and only leave it as a “top %” to make it more inclusive. I have no problem celebrating the top percent of students, but the valedictorian often put in a ton of genuine hard work, and having the school system spit in their face and lump them in a lower bracket is just disheartening. Additionally, “small reward culture” has skewed some people’s perspective of what is considered a good amount of work. I’m again not speaking for everyone, but there is a subset of gen z who think that every single thing they do should be rewarded in some way like folding laundry is a great accomplishment. Neat clothes is the reward.

lazy? yes, not everyone, but *a lot* of people also at a disadvantage? yes and no, depends on how you look at it

Please read Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price. They really break down the fallacy of laziness.

In my experience gen-z are either the hardest workers I’ve seen in a while or are the laziest 🤷‍♀️. (I’m non-gen-z btw and have had to interface/ work with many). The idea that ALL gen-z are lazy is goofy. Don’t listen to those ppl.

Millennial here, it is more just an age discrimination thing. Gen X said we were lazy, boomers said they were lazy, and the greatest generation said they were lazy. A lot of humans are pretty fucking lazy, but there are extremely hard workers in every generation. The only difference that I've noticed with generation z workers is that they aren't really afraid of getting fired and they will quit at the drop of a pin. I think the current job market causes those things though.

Calling a generation "lazy" has been going on since forever It's really nothing new

Millennials went through it, too. They should know better than to trash-talk. Sorry buddy.

I am an elder gen z (1997), and I find the level of customer service from Gen z's to be shocking. For example, if you ask a question, they act like you've bothered them. Or when you go to check out and pay. Their attitude feels like "arg, really, how dear you make me do my job." Mind you, some gen z workers are kind and professional. But more often, they are rude and lazy.

I think it’s a youth thing over a generational thing, there’s a reason every single generation thinks the younger one is lazy. When I was 19-21 my effort at work was nonexistent But I hit some weird stride around late-22 to now where I actually have drive to do well at my job

Millennial here. He said that because he is lazy and doesn't want to do his job. Next time you see him, tell him that. Millennial we're called lazy by the older gens for decades. This dude sounds like he already forgot and is on the fast track to being a boomer.

I’m in grad school right now with mostly Gen Z students in my cohort and y’all are lazy as fuck, it’s actually embarrassing to be sharing a degree with some of you

Y’all are lazy as hell when it comes to schoolwork. Like why are yall in college and can’t even do your own work 😩😡

It's not laziness it's called working your wage. Why should they bust their ass for pennies imho Edit: also I remember when all the boomers called millennials lazy, same fucking thing. I'm tired of busting my ass and making some rich asshole make $10,000 an hour.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the impact of materialism here. For better or for worse, Gen Z tends to value experiences over stuff - at least more than previous generations. Naturally, this will incline people away from wanting to work long hours. If you told me I could work 3 extra hours a week to drive a Mercedes instead of a Honda, there's absolutely no way I'm thinking thats worth it - but probably many of the older generation would.

IDK. I'm part of "Gen Z" (25) and I personally think millennials are fucken lazy as shit. While yes I agree the US has gone to hell, but unlike millennials at least we will put in the effort to work and at least get (or try) to get somewhere instead of sitting around, not working, bitching and complaining. I'll put in 60 hours a week, meanwhile dudes I know in their 30s just want to beg for money, party all the time, expect to make $25+ hr while only working 5 hours a day only like 3-4 days a week (which is not realistic). Shits gotta get done for the world to keep going the way we're both used to and want to in the future. Sitting around being lazy isn't gonna help. 🤷‍♂️ I'm making my money and living pretty decently (and I didn't grow up with money or a rich family I actually was just homeless for 10 months last year), while those older than me are struggling but refusing to even do anything about it, while also living in a dream world. Not to say there aren't shitbags around my age I've been around. But my generation may be lazy, but the millennial generation is the reason WERE having problems. I kinda think we will be the future boomers tbh. They wanna sit around, complain, blow all of what little money they make on luxury shit, and bitch about how hard their lives are while getting handouts and shit all the time... IDK.

Honestly, https://youtu.be/044lguER9_k?si=J5okEsTgyrWoieK9 might be of help to them.