Employers Complaining About GenZ Need to Get a Grip

👋🏽Hi there - workforce development consultant here. I’ve been talking about this for a few years now, but I see we’re going to continue having this conversation. So let’s have it. Prepare yourself for real talk.

There’s an article circulating about how displeased employers are with GenZ and how they are so fed up they are firing early career professionals and blaming universities that students don’t have the skills to enter the workforce.

Let’s see what they report as the problem.

Employers are characterizing GenZ as

• “Difficult to work with”

• “Late”

• “Unmotivated”

• “Unorganized”

• “Unprofessional”

• “Poor communicators”

• They don’t “wear office appropriate clothing”

• They “use inappropriate language”

• And they need “a positive attitude and more initiative."

Employers are saying these traits all add up to being unprepared for the work world. Scan that list again. Each of these are traits of unsupported neurodivergence from a neurotypical point of view. 

Neurodivergence impacts how we engage with environments, clothing choices, how we communicate, and what motivates us. In unsupportive environments, neurodivergent pros experience executive function challenges that can look like time blindness, disorganization, task initiation challenges like working up against a deadline, prioritization challenges, attention and focus challenges, and not being physically able to sit still for lengths of time. A neurodivergent brain sees through man-made hierarchies and norms (unwritten rules and expectations, like what professionalism means to different employers). Neurotypical systems, structures and processes exclude and disadvantage us. And we aren’t allowed to ask “why” questions without repercussions.

Neurodivergence comprises at least 20% of the general population (we have lots of reasons to believe it’s higher). In the 2023 ZenBusiness Survey, more than 50% of GenZ identified as neurodivergent.

It’s time for employers to stop blaming parents and universities and to instead commit to neuroinclusion.

You try having a creative, pattern recognizing, entrepreneurial brain and being told repeatedly to sit still for eight hours doing task work that's disconnected from org or customer problem solving, but don’t ask too many questions about why we do it this way. Just do it every day and, oh yea, smile more. 

It’s like being expected to just “be motivated” even though you literally have a neurotransmitter difference that shapes your motivation circuits and what’s required to sustain effort toward completing tasks. 

It’s a lot like going to work and being told (for the love of capitalism) “Be positive!” We need positive attitudes and initiative around here - pay no attention to the genocide, surveillance state, violence perpetuated by the federal government, or pervasive sense of dread that there may not be a future to be positive about. Compelling this generation to smile more isn’t going to motivate them to ignore humanitarian harms when their justice sensitivity (that’s a neurodivergent trait) is triggered all day every day. The fact that employers expect them to look away - well, I hate to break it to you - they don’t respect you. It’s no wonder you’re hearing colorful language in the workplace.

And guess what. This isn’t new. Neurodivergence has always been here, but GenZ is an IDEA and ADA generation. They have had access to supports throughout their education that accommodate them in spaces and education structures not designed for their way of being. Those who are identified early have been afforded multiple-means educational opportunities to demonstrate their brilliance, even though it presents differently than neurotypical kids. They have learned they are whole as they are, and they self-advocate for themselves and others like no other preceding generation.

So it's time for employers to ask themselves: How can WE adapt to neurodiversity in the workforce?

Here are a few tips to get started.

• Realize and accept that it is well past time to examine the “way we do things.”

• Realize norms are made up. For GenX it was visible tattoos that were considered unprofessional. What is considered professional is culturally defined and it changes. It’s time to make the invisible rules visible and re-evaluate. Don’t forget to include the diverse voices impacted (and that’s more than neurodivergent pros).

• Audit your environment, systems, policies, processes, and communication expectations (both explicit and implicit) for opportunities to become neuroinclusive.

• If you have questions about the terms I’ve used here or about the rising prevalence of neurodivergence, read my article on the fundamentals.

• Read books like Honeybourne’s The Neurodiverse Workplace, Praslova’s The Canary Code, and Gaynor’s Is That Clear: Effective Communication in a Neurodiverse World to inform your conversations and neuroinclusion work.

• Hire a workforce consultant (like me) to facilitate audits and training.

Employers, this is a YOU problem. Are there employees that aren’t neurodivergent and just plain not into work? Sure. Every generation has that. But it is time employers take responsibility for perpetuating inequitable, inaccessible, dis-abling structures and then passing on the blame to the people who are disproportionately disadvantaged.