I'm pretty sure most of us have heard the popular narrative that Gen Z is wholly unprepared for work. People seemingly take joy in spouting anecdotes about how they can't take feedback, don't want to “grind”, need too much hand holding, whatever. I've seen a few statements claiming that Gen Z is, and I quote, “unemployable.”
This is a ridiculous statement.
Today I'm covering the actual situation using real data instead of “old man corporate” vibes.
I'll be talking about quite a few things today, actually:
1 - How Gen Z actually feels about their future and work itself
2 - Where this generational friction in the workplace comes from
3 - What leadership style and accommodations work best for Gen Z
4 - Whether they prefer remote or in-office work…
And then I'm asking the question that I think is more appropriate than “is Gen Z unprepared?”
5 - Does corporate America need to adjust what it expects from employees instead of just demanding that an entire generation change to fit the model built by generations before them?
Let's start with who Gen Z is.
Gen Z is generally defined as people born between 1997 and 2012, which puts them at roughly 14 to 29 years old as of 2026.
That's a wide age range…Probably too wide for one generation, in my opinion, but I didn't create the generational band, so we have to go with it.
Gen Z includes 14-year-olds who haven't even had their first job yet, all the way through 29-year-olds who might already be 7-8 years (or more) into their career, depending upon education levels. Pieces of Gen Z are likely already managers themselves. We need to keep that age range in mind because when the range spans 15 years, it's much more difficult, and much less effective, to make lump assumptions. It also factors into how I’ll be discussing this topic today. I make a point to break observations from Gen Z into two brackets based upon ages and work experience (or lack thereof).
The main source for today's episode is the “Voices of Gen Z” study, which is an ongoing, multi-year survey performed by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. The survey is designed to get feedback directly from Gen Z instead of just speculating about them, their interests, and their beliefs. It's a nationally representative study and has been running for several years now, which is hugely beneficial because it lets researchers track how generational attitudes and opinions change over time, instead of just taking one snapshot and cementing it as fact.
Let’s start with the portion of Gen Z that's already working.
Broadly, this group is optimistic on paper.
Overall, nearly 8 in 10 Gen Zers (so, about 80%) who are employed agree that they have a great future ahead of them.
But with that optimism comes an undercurrent of stress and concern.
More than half of employed Gen Z report that they are not currently thriving, and they consistently link their mental health struggles to how prepared and hopeful they feel about the future.
There is a specific data point that I want to point out when it comes to Gen Z, and it relates to their desire for purpose.
About 8 in 10 Gen Zers (so, again, around 80%) hope that their future job will center on them helping others in some way, but only around half of the employed portion of Gen Z say they're actually employed in that kind of role. They have a desire to help, to matter, to make a difference, but they don't feel as though they're achieving it. The difference between what they want and what they're ending up with is serving as a source of friction for them when it comes to job satisfaction.
So, what helps them the most?
For employed Gen Z, engagement, support, and a sense of belonging are the biggest predictors of whether they feel prepared for their future. Gen Zers who have existing strong relationships with adults around them, whether that's a teacher, a manager, a friend, a parent, whoever, and who feel like they belong, are dramatically more likely to feel prepared for the future. 81% versus just 27% for those without that type of adult support and belonging. That's a huge gap, and when you consider that this is talking about whether someone feels prepared for the future, you start to understand the importance of valuable adult relationships when it comes to younger people's chances at success or failure.
Where do they feel let down?
Nearly half of employed Gen Z says their work environment doesn't give them a chance to actually do what they feel they're best at.
About 1/3 say they don't have an adult at work, like a manager or a mentor, who recognizes their specific talents.
And per Deloitte's most recent Gen Z and Millennial survey, Gen Z workers actively look to their managers for mentorship, guidance, and for help on setting boundaries around work-life balance. The problem with this is that so many managers are just buried in day-to-day task management that they don't have the time for that. They simply aren't providing what their Gen Z employees are practically begging for.
That's not Gen Z's fault. That's not them being needy. That's new, young professionals not being given the type of guidance and mentorship they so desperately need and deserve.
It's also a failing on the type of job that being a manager has become, but that's a topic for another episode because I can talk about the problems with today's managerial roles for a very long time, so let's put that aside for another day.
The point is, it's not employed Gen Z's fault that they're not getting what they need.
Let's shift a bit and talk about the portion of Gen Z who is still in school, or otherwise not working.
Their fears look a little different than the employed or older portion of the generation.
A lot of the younger group report uncertainty about how to even choose the right path forward as they grow. Around 4 in 10 say that they just don't know how to pick the best direction for their future. Financial constraints are consistently identified as one of the biggest obstacles standing between them and their goals.
Interestingly, though, when this younger part of the group was asked what they actually want out of their future, it's nothing crazy. Most say they want a paid job. About a third say they'd like to eventually start their own business. That's a pretty traditional set of goals, despite the fact that they pinpoint a ton of anxiety around how to actually achieve the goals. Personally, I find it to be a sad state of affairs when kids say they just want to have a job, but are already worried about how to get one.
Some other differences between the older and younger Gen Z sets…
The most recent “Voices of Gen Z” data found that younger members of the generation, meaning those still in school, are actually showing rising engagement and rising optimism.
But the older set, the ones already in the workforce, are reporting rising challenges when it comes to purpose, motivation, and their day-to-day well-being. To put it bluntly, which I love to do, the younger end of Gen Z is doing better than expected, and the older portion are struggling more than expected.
Gen Z adults are nearly twice as likely as their still in school, generational peers, to say their life lacks meaning. Now, that could have a lot to do with the age difference because how many 14-year-olds are actually contemplating their life's meaning? But I think this change in attitude can be an indication that whatever's going wrong when it comes to optimism about their futures is tied to their transition into the workforce. This isn’t a fixed generational trait that everyone in Gen Z shares. There is a marked demarcation in optimism levels based upon whether they're still in school, or whether they've started working.
And speaking of their transition into the workforce…
Let's address who Gen Z feels most comfortable with from a generational perspective.
The pattern across multiple industry surveys and workplace research consistently shows that Gen Z tends to gravitate toward Millennial managers and mentors more than Gen X or Boomer ones. The reason is this: Millennials are, generally, more oriented toward coaching types of relationships instead of stricter top-down hierarchies that you see more often from Gen X and Boomer managers and leaders.
Research on Gen Z employees shows that, across the board, the coaching style of management is preferred to more of a monitoring style of management. Gen Z responds well to managers who check in on how someone is doing, not just what they're doing. They respond well to managers who give frequent and specific feedback instead of saving it all up for the annual review, and they respond well to managers who treat their working relationship as more of a two-way partnership instead of a boss/subordinate situation.
Ernst & Young's 2025 Generation Survey found that Gen Z stands out from other generations in how much they work to build their own emotional intelligence and relationship skills. This matters to them at meaningfully higher rates than Millennials, Gen X, or Boomers. This is important because it specifically goes against the whole “Gen Z can't handle interpersonal stuff” narrative. If anything, Gen Z is leaning further into the interpersonal stuff than any of the generations before them. This could also be why it's more difficult for Gen Z to relate to Gen X and Boomers, because as you go up that generational ladder, the level of being in touch with emotion (at least in professional environments) decreases. It was basically unacceptable to show emotion at work for Boomers. Gen X is still pretty stoic, but there's some cynicism and sarcasm and joking around that comes through. Millennials are even more likely to blur the professional the professional, personal, emotional openness boundary. And now Gen Z takes it even further. Gen Z isn't doing anything wrong. They're just different. What matters to them is different, and that's okay.
Deloitte's research backs up Ernst & Young's study, but from a bit of a different angle that ties back to something I mentioned earlier in this post. Deloitte found that Gen Z and Millennial workers look to their managers for mentorship, inspiration, and support in setting boundaries, but they're not reliably, not consistently, getting it. Largely because managers are stretched thin just trying to keep things running. The leadership style that works best for Gen Z isn't complicated. It's being a coach, not a commander. It's being specific, not vague, and it's being consistent, not absent. This doesn't mean that Gen X and Boomer leaders can't connect with Gen Z, or can't serve as good managers and leaders to Gen Z. Plenty of them do. All it means is that Gen Z workers are generally more comfortable with Millennial managers and leaders.
It's worth knowing about this, and being conscious of it, especially if you're a manager of any Gen Zers, or if you're trying to build something like a mentorship program in your organization. You may want to be conscious of who you're pairing up together based upon generational comfort levels.
What kinds of like accommodations and work benefits does Gen Z desire?
Broadly speaking, what Gen Z wants is flexibility in scheduling, opportunities for skill development and growth, and a workplace where mental health can be discussed without it becoming a career-limiting factor.
Deloitte's research found that a majority of Gen Z want to actually be able to talk about mental wellness at work, but only a little over half of them actually feel comfortable doing that, especially with someone in a more senior role to them. They crave a more open environment, but they don't trust that it's safe for them to have the conversations they're wanting to have.
Leaders can do something about this if it's something that matters to them, and I would hope that the psychological safety of team members matters to managers. However, creating an environment where an employee feels safe to say, “hey, I'm struggling today” without the fear of it being held against them is something that is absolutely achievable with a tiny bit of effort.
Now, another popular assumption is that Gen Z wants to work from home, full stop. However, the data on the generation doesn't actually support that assumption.
Gallup's research found that only 23% of Gen Z want to work fully remote. Now, we have to acknowledge that only 6% want to be fully on site. Who can blame them? But still, what Gen Z workforce data shows is that the overwhelming majority, 71%, actually prefer a hybrid work model, and there's at least one broad workplace survey that indicated that Gen Z is actually the most pro-office generation in the workforce right now. They were more interested in having a physical office space available to them than Gen X or Boomer respondents in the same survey. We all know millennials overwhelmingly support not being in the office, so it's no surprise that the Millennials were the least interested in having office space available to them.
But anyway, back to Gen Z.
The explanation for their desire to have office space available likely connects back to the fact that they're still newer to the workforce, they're still building their professional relationships, and they're still seeking out the mentorship that they need to develop into fully functioning professionals.
We can't deny the fact, no matter how much we support remote work, that a lot of that early professional relationship building is much easier to establish when you're in person. So, don't assume that remote is what Gen Z wants. Flexibility is what they want, and for a lot of them, flexibility means hybrid, not fully remote.
Let's bring this all together - What does Gen Z actually need to succeed in corporate America?
They need four things. Four things. That's it.
1 - Real mentorship from someone who takes an interest in them and with whom they feel comfortable.
2 - Specific, frequent feedback instead of once-a-year evaluations where there is anxiety over what to expect.
3 - Workplace flexibility, which for many of them means a hybrid work structure.
4 - A workplace culture where being honest about mental health and wellness doesn't come back to bite them in the ass.
These are not unattainable and unreasonable asks. These are four simple things that shouldn't be difficult to provide for them.
After all is said and done, this is the big issue:
When people say Gen Z is unprepared for work, is that actually the problem? Maybe instead of pointing the finger at Gen Z and saying “they're not ready”, we need to be asking whether corporate America's expectations need to change.
Maybe corporate America is no longer ready for the younger generations.
Much of the current corporate expectations, attitudes, structures, and behaviors were built by, and for, an entirely different type of labor market, an entirely different type of economy, and a different generation's life circumstances.
Maybe it's not Gen Z's responsibility to conform to corporate. Maybe it's time that corporate began to conform to the newer workforce.
There are two opposing sides arguing over this exact thing in the business world right now. On one side, NYU professor and business journalist Susie Welch has argued publicly (and pretty freaking bluntly) that some of Gen Z's self-stated core values, things like achievement and a strong drive to work, only show up as a priority for a small portion of the Gen Z students she surveyed. Susie Welch believes that this is a problem because it comes across as disingenuous to say that you have these core values of achieving things and a strong drive to work, and yet fail to demonstrate them or show them, and that employers are right to be frustrated by it.
On the other side, other researchers and business writers argue that what looks like a Gen Z skills deficiency is really a system failure. The system Gen Z has to contend with is filled with disconnected teams, managers who don't have time to teach or mentor, and workplaces that reward immediate results over growth and development. One Forbes contributor put it this way: every single generation arrives in the workforce somewhat unprepared for what it inherits, so the unpreparedness and the need to learn isn't a new problem. We've literally all been there. What's different with Gen Z, though, is how much of what appears to be a “them” problem is actually a workplace design problem. And these workplace design problems were already causing problems for the rest of us, we just learned (or were forced) to adjust and deal with it.
The only difference between us and them is that Gen Z has the unfortunate luck of experiencing these failures after they've already failed, and the failures are so bad that they don't know how to function within them.
My humble Millennial opinion, based on my experience and education, is that this is not an either-or situation.
Gen Z does have some adjusting and growing to do. Every generation does when they enter the workforce.
But the organizations that are going to win the “talent war” over the next decade or so, as more Gen Z enters the workforce and climbs the corporate ladder, won’t be the ones who demand that Gen Z conform to, like, a 1985 model of working. The ones who are going to win the Gen Z talent war are the ones willing to do some internal organizational reflection on which of their expectations, hierarchies, feedback processes, and other requirements just aren't that effective anymore, acknowledge that they haven't been effective for some time, and then they'll do something about them.
Gen Z didn't invent these problems. They're just the first generation in a long time who is willing to be loud enough about them and use their leverage to bring about some real change.
Here's what I want you to take from this:
If you manage or work alongside Gen Z, make an effort to provide them with the mentorship they crave. They want to learn, so teach them. Provide them with specific feedback that also helps them learn and allow them some flexibility in their schedules.
If you can do these things, you will reap the benefits of a working generation who is more emotionally engaged, and more relationship focused, than their generalized stereotype gives them credit for.
And if you're Gen Z and you're listening, know that the discomfort you're feeling isn't a personal failing. It's a new generation pushing back against a system that needed to be reevaluated and changed before you were even a glint in your parents' eyes. This is not your fault.
It's no one's “fault.”
So, let's come together and start making a positive change. Let's work to create a corporate America that better fits with today's industries, today's economies, today's life circumstances, and today's working populations.
I hope you found this content useful. I'm Lauren. This is Glass Ceiling Smashed. Go grab your hammer and let's break something together.
You can find the sources used to write this episode/article in the show notes for this episode linked at the beginning of this post.
