Gen Z workplace readiness questioned as studies reveal skills gap and shifting attitudes

Boomers claiming young people nowadays do not want to work may sadly have a point, according to recent studies by institutes like the Chartered Management Institute highlighting that Gen Z could not actually be ready for the workplace after all.

Several industry leaders from major companies like Booking Holdings and Whole Foods have highlighted this underpreparedness already.

Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings said in 2024 that younger employees may be in need of more training and guidance on how workplaces today are structured and what is expected from them.

Similarly, a report by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) released in July this year revealed that only 6% of managers believe that young recruits are workplace-ready. This is despite 45% of Gen Zers believing that they already possess the skills needed.

“Too many young people are leaving education with ambition, talent and potential, only to discover they haven't been prepared for the realities of the workplace, and that the managers responsible for supporting them haven't been equipped either,” Ann Francke OBE, CEO of the CMI, said in the report.

She added: “If we want to tackle youth unemployment, improve productivity and build the next generation of leaders, we need to stop treating workplace readiness as somebody else's problem. Government, educators and employers all have a part to play.”

A 2024 study by Hult International Business School surveying 800 HR leaders highlighted that instead of hiring a recent graduate, 37% of leaders would rather have a robot or AI do their job, while 45% would rather hire a freelancer.

Around 30% of leaders would also rather leave a position unfilled than hire a recent graduate.

What workplace skills are Gen Zers missing?

According to the Hult study, the biggest skill missing among most younger workers is resilience, with 91% of managers revealing that this gap is starting to affect performance as well.

Around 98% of HR leaders also said that communication was a key skill younger workers needed to bring with them, while 93% highlighted curiosity and a willingness to learn.

For 92% of HR leaders, the main skill missing was collaboration, whereas 90% pointed to creativity. Approximately 87% of HR leaders believed that critical thinking was missing among Gen Zers.

According to the CMI study, only one in 10 managers, or 12% said that young people in their companies are advancing as expected.

In cases where they do not progress as much as expected or do not pass probation, apart from a lack of resilience, a lack of motivation, poor workplace behavior or etiquette and poor time-keeping are the main culprits.

Around 97% of HR leaders in the Hult study also said that it was important for new hires to have a strong foundational understanding of tech-related topics like AI, IT and data analytics, however, only 20% of recent graduates felt they possess this.

Why Gen Zers don’t want to work anymore

While these workplace concerns may be valid, Gen Zers are also facing a materially different work landscape than earlier generations. Some of them may have grown up seeing their parents work the same job for decades, while their grandparents built a house, raised a family and retired all on a single income.

In contrast, the workforce they entered was irrevocably changed by a post-pandemic landscape, with most employers still caught up between the extremes of return to office (RTO) mandates and 100% remote working and digital nomadism.

Today, many millennials and Gen Zers genuinely feel like they may have to work all their lives and could never afford to retire.

According to recent research from People’s Pension, 12% or 2.2 million young adults in the UK have completely stopped saving completely for retirement as they believe they will have to work forever.

Many also feel like they may never be able to buy a house or be able to afford life milestones like a wedding.

Combine this with increasingly frequent tech layoffs, global geopolitical tensions, wars and extreme weather events and it is no wonder that more Gen Zers do not exactly feel like working anymore.

Several younger people may also have witnessed their parents suffering burnouts, toxic workplaces or stagnant careers despite being yes-people for decades, which has led to a dramatic shift in their own workplace ethics, expectations and boundaries.

This may be anything from refusing to take on extra unpaid work for “exposure” to leaving the office on time instead of countless overtime hours.

Are colleges partly to blame for this skills gap?

While companies may be increasingly wary of hiring younger employees nowadays, a significant portion of the blame could also lie with colleges and current undergraduate degrees.

Around 90% of HR leaders in the Hult study feel that colleges should provide personal career and development coaches or mentors to students to help them become workplace-ready. However, only 36% of students feel that they have received this.

Similarly, 91% of leaders believed exposure to global perspectives through a diverse student and teacher body was important, yet only 39% of students claimed to have experienced this.

Over 90% of leaders also emphasised the importance of colleges implementing a challenge-based learning approach to better solve real-world business problems, along with a focus on teamwork and developing the core business knowledge employers today need.

However, less than half of young workers felt that they had learned these skills in college.

“Traditional undergraduate curriculum has not kept pace with an evolving global workplace, and the chasm between what’s being taught and what employers need has become more apparent,” Martin Boehm, EVP and global dean of Undergraduate Programs at Hult, said in the report.

He added: “Schools need to prepare students in new ways, with a focus on building both the skills and mindsets needed for continuous learning in a rapidly changing world.”

Jason Desentz, chief human resources officer at Toshiba, also highlighted that colleges and companies alike need to first teach young people about what work is, as reported by Business Insider.

This includes what is expected of them in the office, how to socialise and how to use tech like AI to enhance current processes.