Generation Z — Not a Popular Employer Choice

A new poll of 1,000 hiring managers in the U.S. by ResumeTemplates finds that 24% of hiring managers are blaming Generation Z employees for losing clients because of their behavior.

If you don’t remember, Gen Zers were born between 1997 and 2012.

Julie Toothacre is the chief career strategist for ResumeTemplates. She said these are the top complaints about Gen Z employees from clients and customers:

Unprofessional tone — 52%

Lack of attention to detail — 48%

Being non-responsive — 35%

Difficulty handling conflict — 35%

Communication issues — 34%

Lack of enthusiasm — 33%

Failure to follow-up — 32%

Unwillingness to go above and beyond — 32%

Reluctant to take responsibility — 31%

Poor problem-solving skills — 23%

Tardiness — 25%

Toothacre says Gen Z behavior is likely due to the amount of time they spent online as kids.

"With virtual internships or remote roles often marking their early career experiences, their customer service exposure differs from older generations, who remember a time before email," Toothacre said.

Unprofessionalism is the top reason hiring managers hesitate to hire Gen Z. This is especially true if they have to interact with customers. Here is a list of the worries:

Unprofessional tone — 41%

Lack of attention to detail — 40%

Unwillingness to go above and beyond — 38%

Lack of enthusiasm — 37%

Tardiness — 34%

Problems due to communication — 35%

Difficulty handling complaints or conflict — 35%

Not taking responsibility for mistakes — 34%

Poor time management — 33%

Poor problem-solving skills — 30%

Failure to follow-up — 27%

Being non-responsive — 24%

Making avoidable mistakes — 21%

Toothacre said as a result, 12.5% of hiring managers say they aren’t willing to hire anyone from the Gen Z generation to do any kind of work with customers.

"It's unfortunate that a few negative experiences could lead some managers to hesitate in hiring from an entire generation,” Toothacre said. “Managers should remember that Gen Z is diverse — there are many dedicated professionals among them who excel at working with people and are eager to contribute.”

She also pointed out that, while Gen Z is getting a hard knock about their customer service skills, they aren’t the only generation that has faced those kinds of complaints.

"Older generations may have simply forgotten what it was like to be 'green' at work,” Toothacre noted. “Most people probably have a few stories of early career missteps or challenging customer interactions.”

She suggests more training for Gen Z employees trying to figure out the ins and outs of customer service.

"Many of these concerns are valid and should be proactively addressed in training, especially for customer-facing positions, or through regular feedback from managers," Toothacre said. "After all, they can't improve what they don't know is an issue, and some may need additional guidance.”

As an asterisk, Toothacre noted that Generation Z might need more training than the generations that preceded them because of the “unique circumstances” of their upbringing and things that shaped them.

"But, with guidance, they'll adapt,” she said. “Just as those before them did."

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/40VZn0G