Just as managers hesitated when millennials were first joining the workforce, millennial professionals are now wary of the incoming Generation Z. Last year, the first group of Gen Z-ers graduated from college and entered the workplace.
When it comes to working with Gen Z, millennial managers appear to be the most worried about company culture, according to a national survey of workplace managers by APPrise Mobile, a mobile communications firm.
Their findings are based on a Google Consumer Survey of 1,000 workplace managers in the United States and the U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey.
The survey found that as Gen Z enters the workforce, they are being met with high levels of apprehension and doubt from older generations. In fact, more than a quarter of all workplace managers anticipate major communications and training-related challenges with this generation.
The study also found that 26 percent of respondents believe that it will be more difficult to communicate with employees from Gen Z compared to older generations and 29 percent expect it will be more difficult to train them.
More managers even believe that the heavily criticized millennial generation will be harder workers than Generation Z.
Though millennials have long been plagued by stereotypes about a lack of work ethic and laziness, millennial managers harbor these same resentments toward Gen Z.
Almost one-third of millennial respondents say that it will be more difficult to manage employees from Gen Z compared to older generations and 28 percent say it will be more difficult to train Gen Z employees.
Most millennials remember a time without smartphone and tablets, says Jeff Corbin CEO of APPrise Mobile in a statement, but this generation grew up as the digital revolution took off.
Gen Z also grew up in an internet-connected world and most can't remember a time without it.
That's likely why 43 percent of millennial managers feel that Gen Z's reliance on technology will be an advantage for them as they enter the workforce.
Corbin says that it's necessary for managers of all generations to embrace using more technology as Gen Z enters the workforce. The CEO explains that the majority of Gen Z only knows of things like landlines and AOL through history books and movies.
"Bottom line, this new generation of workers expects technology to touch every facet of their life," he says, "and companies should embrace this sooner than later."
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