Why Gen Z and Millennials Are Struggling at Work—and Why Employers Are Frustrated

Getting fired is rarely about one bad habit. For younger workers, however, a growing set of workplace tensions—from AI replacing entry-level tasks to disagreements over communication, office culture and work-life balance—is making the transition into a career unusually complicated.

Gen Z is entering the workforce at a time when some of the traditional pathways into professional jobs are changing. Artificial intelligence is taking over routine tasks, remote and hybrid work has reduced some opportunities for informal learning, and employers are increasingly demanding that new hires contribute quickly rather than spending months learning on the job.

At the same time, younger employees have different expectations about what work should look like. Many are less willing to accept long hours simply because previous generations did. They are also more likely to question workplace traditions that older employees may regard as obvious.

That doesn't mean Gen Z or millennials are inherently less motivated or less capable. It does mean there is a significant mismatch between what some employers expect from younger workers and what younger workers expect from employers.

Here are some of the biggest sources of friction.

1. AI is changing the entry-level career ladder

One of the biggest problems facing young workers has little to do with their attitude: some of the jobs traditionally used to gain early-career experience are being reshaped by AI.

Entry-level job postings have reportedly fallen by about 35% since 2023, putting pressure on Gen Z workers who are trying to get their first professional foothold.

That creates a difficult contradiction. Employers want candidates with experience, but entry-level positions are supposed to be where people acquire that experience in the first place. If companies can automate routine research, drafting, administrative work or basic analysis, they have less incentive to hire inexperienced workers to perform those tasks manually.

For young employees, the practical response isn't to compete with AI at tasks AI performs well. It's to become useful in areas where human judgment matters.

Critical thinking, communication, relationship-building, problem-solving and the ability to use AI effectively are increasingly valuable combinations. Knowing how to produce an answer is less impressive when everyone has access to an AI tool; knowing whether the answer is correct, what it means and what to do with it is more valuable.

2. Gen Z has developed a reputation for lacking initiative

The stereotype that younger employees don't want to work is difficult to separate from legitimate concerns about workplace performance.

A 2024 survey from Intelligent found that among managers who had recently fired a Gen Z employee, 50% cited a lack of motivation or initiative as the primary reason.

That doesn't establish that Gen Z workers as a whole are unmotivated. It does show that some managers are encountering a gap between what they expect from young employees and what those employees actually deliver.

The solution shouldn't automatically be termination. Managers need to make expectations explicit: What does success look like? Which deadlines matter? When should an employee ask for help? What does taking initiative actually mean in this particular role?

For younger workers, meanwhile, waiting to be told exactly what to do can be risky. Asking thoughtful questions, volunteering for appropriate assignments and identifying problems before being asked to fix them are relatively straightforward ways to demonstrate initiative.

3. Office dress codes are becoming another generation gap

Dress codes used to be relatively straightforward: professional workplaces expected professional clothing, and employees generally understood the rules.

That's less clear in an era of remote work, hybrid offices and increasingly casual workplaces.

Some younger employees may consider jeans, sneakers or other casual clothing perfectly appropriate for a normal office day, particularly when they aren't meeting clients. Employers may see the same outfit as a sign that the employee doesn't understand professional standards.

There is a legitimate distinction here.

A client-facing employee may need to dress differently from someone working internally all day. The problem arises when companies enforce an unwritten dress code without explaining it—or expect relatively low-paid employees to spend a significant portion of their income building an expensive work wardrobe.

A clear policy is more useful than assuming everyone shares the same definition of "professional."

4. Communication styles have changed

Communication may be one of the biggest practical differences between generations at work.

According to a 2024 Intelligent survey, 53% of hiring managers said Gen Z college graduates lacked communication skills.

Gen Z grew up with smartphones, instant messaging, social media and digital communication. For many young workers, sending a message is more natural than walking across an office to speak with a colleague.

That can become a problem when workplace communication requires skills that aren't always taught through digital interaction: reading a room, handling disagreement, speaking to senior colleagues, presenting an idea clearly or adjusting your communication style for a client.

This isn't necessarily a deficiency unique to young people. Workplace communication has changed for everyone. But younger employees may have had fewer opportunities to develop certain face-to-face skills, particularly those whose education and early careers were disrupted by the pandemic.

The practical lesson is simple: technical competence isn't enough. Being able to communicate clearly, professionally and appropriately for the situation is part of doing the job.

5. Work-life balance matters more than it used to

The workplace expectation that success requires sacrificing evenings, weekends and personal time has lost some of its appeal.

Many millennials entered adulthood during the era of "hustle culture," when working longer hours was often presented as evidence of ambition. Gen Z has generally been more skeptical of that bargain.

Older workers who benefited from traditional career structures may interpret that attitude as a lack of commitment. Younger employees may see the same expectations as an unreasonable demand for free labor.

Neither interpretation is automatically correct.

Some jobs genuinely require long hours at certain times. Others don't. The important distinction is whether additional effort is connected to meaningful responsibilities and recognized appropriately—or whether employees are simply expected to be permanently available.

Companies also need to recognize that a worker who maintains boundaries isn't necessarily less productive than someone who stays at their desk late every night.

6. A degree doesn't teach you everything a workplace requires

One of the stranger features of the modern job market is that young workers can simultaneously be overqualified on paper and underprepared in practice.

For years, employers increasingly emphasized college degrees as a hiring requirement, while many companies reduced or shifted responsibility for workplace training. The result can be a graduate who understands the theory behind a job but has little experience applying it in a real organization.

The pandemic made that transition harder for many young workers. Remote and hybrid environments can make it more difficult to learn the informal parts of a job simply by observing experienced colleagues.

Mentorship is particularly important here. Adobe research cited in the original report found that 83% of Gen Z respondents said a workplace mentor was crucial to success, while only about half said they actually had one.

That gap matters.

Young employees don't just need instructions. They need feedback, context and examples of how experienced people handle difficult situations. Companies that expect inexperienced employees to perform like veterans without providing that development are creating part of the problem themselves.

7. Punctuality still matters—even in a flexible workplace

Remote work blurred one traditional workplace rule: where and when work happens.

For some employees, especially those who began their working lives during the pandemic, the distinction between "being at work" and "getting the work done" can feel less important than it did to previous generations.

Employers don't necessarily see it that way.

Being late to a meeting, shift or client appointment can affect other employees, disrupt schedules and create problems for customers. A flexible workplace still needs reliable people.

The answer isn't to pretend punctuality no longer matters. Younger workers need to understand when timing is genuinely part of the job, while managers should distinguish between missing a critical meeting and simply preferring employees to follow an arbitrary schedule.

If a company has specific attendance expectations, they should be communicated clearly rather than treated as common knowledge.

What Gen Z and Millennials Can Do to Stand Out

The labor market isn't becoming easier for younger workers, so adapting matters.

That doesn't mean accepting every outdated workplace expectation. It means understanding which behaviors are actually limiting your career and fixing those that are within your control.

A few habits can make a substantial difference:

• Learn to use AI rather than simply fear it. Understand the tools relevant to your field and, more importantly, learn how to verify and improve their output.

• Develop communication skills deliberately. Practice writing professional emails, speaking in meetings, presenting ideas and talking to people who have different communication styles.

• Ask for feedback. Don't wait until a performance review to discover that your manager thinks you're falling short.

• Find mentors. A good mentor can explain workplace expectations that aren't obvious from a job description.

• Volunteer for meaningful work. Taking responsibility for a project is a more convincing demonstration of initiative than simply saying you're ambitious.

• Learn the culture of your workplace. Every company has norms around meetings, dress, communication and availability. Some are reasonable; some aren't. Knowing the difference is useful.

• Keep your boundaries, but understand your obligations. Work-life balance and reliability aren't mutually exclusive.

The goal isn't to become the stereotypical employee from another generation. It's to become someone an employer has a strong reason to keep.

The Bigger Problem Isn't Just Gen Z

The debate over whether younger workers are lazy misses a larger change happening in the labor market.

Gen Z and millennials are dealing with an employment environment shaped by automation, expensive education, changing workplace structures and uncertainty about long-term financial security. At the same time, employers are demanding more adaptability from workers while sometimes providing less of the training that earlier generations received.

That creates a vicious cycle.

Companies want experienced candidates for entry-level jobs. Young workers can't gain experience without getting hired. AI reduces some of the routine work that once gave new employees a chance to learn. Remote work can make informal mentoring harder. And when inexperienced workers struggle, employers can interpret the problem as a lack of motivation rather than a training gap.

There are legitimate performance problems among younger workers, just as there are among workers of every age. But blaming an entire generation doesn't solve them.

The more useful approach is for both sides to adapt. Younger employees need to become better communicators, more proactive and more comfortable with AI. Employers, meanwhile, need to set clear expectations, provide realistic training and recognize that an entry-level employee cannot be expected to arrive with years of experience.

Both generations are trying to navigate a workplace that is changing underneath them.

According to a NerdWallet study cited in the original article, 75% of millennials and Gen Z respondents believe they may have to work until they physically can't anymore. Whether that pessimism ultimately proves justified is impossible to know. What is clear is that younger workers are entering a labor market where the traditional promise—work hard, gain experience, climb the ladder and retire comfortably—no longer feels as straightforward as it once did.

The answer isn't for young workers to blindly accept the old rules or for employers to dismiss them as entitled. The workplace has changed. Both sides need to change with it.