Gen Z, Millennials lazier workers than Gen X and Boomers: study

[speed-and-powerrr]

Well something is seriously wrong with STEM university programs because I have hired multiple people over the past 10 years with a B.S. in Computer Science/Information Technology from established state universities and they know next to nothing about the subject, cannot handle pressure, whine about "work life balance", refuse overtime and want to be promoted after a month of doing nothing. The ones I hire with just tech certs (CompTIA, Microsoft etc...) or associate degrees in tech are still employed.

My father is an engineer and he never had a light workload in his life. Nights and weekends were common but his degrees were certainly cheaper, I will agree on that.

That is a really unprofessional way to talk about your former employees. There is nothing wrong with wanting a work life balance, refusing overtime work, or even wanting a promotion. It sounds like you expect alot more from them then they are currently capable of. I wont tell you how to manage your employees, but there are many good resources on this forum on classes, certs, and degrees that likely address this very issue.

I have no sympathy for the lazy and entitled who when hired for a job, are told up front the job requirements, expectations, including hours, shifts, vacation and sick policy then try to renege on what they signed up for. Apparently no one ever told them you cannot dictate to your boss the terms of the job your are employed at. These are hourly workers who get time and a half for overtime which is mandatory (48 hours min) for a few months out of the year and they then have it easy the rest. This is definitely a generational issues which has started to appear over the last 10 years and is getting worse. I work for a billion dollar company and we have no shortage of people applying. I consistently wind up hiring more older workers because they are less likely to be lazy or entitled. My employees are managed very well and well compensated so I don't need any "resources". OT for those we keep can add up to over $20-30K to their yearly salary if they take advantage of it. Ten years ago I would have to send people home because they were working 80+ hours now some young snowflakes cannot be bothered to stay past 5 PM when we need them. These people are quickly cut loose and it is consistently Millennials and Gen Z. If most of them were not still living with their parents their attitude might change.

Well, obvious age discrimination aside, I agree with your premise that if these people actually knew what they were signing up for and then when called upon they refuse to comply (within reason obviously), yeah, hit the bricks.

Entitlement and selfishness doesn't discriminate based on sex, race, age, or anything else. You need to wipe that nonsense about it being a "generational issue" out of your mind. If you hire good people they will do good things. Maybe you need to improve/change your candidate screening process to net better results. It's either a people, process, or system issue. Always target improvements to the system and/or process first. If you nail this down then the people won't be a problem anymore. This is basic RCCA problem solving.