This article was originally published on Crafting Your Home. A human contributor also wrote and edited the post.
Gen Z has arrived at work with smartphones, strong boundaries, different ideas about authority, and very little patience for workplace traditions that seem pointless. That combination has made them a fascinating generation to watch and, according to some managers, a challenging one to supervise.
A 2024 Intelligent.com survey of 1,000 U.S. managers who supervised Gen Z employees found complaints ranging from excessive phone use to communication problems and difficulty receiving feedback. Still, generational stereotypes deserve caution. Deloitte’s much larger 2025 global survey found young workers are highly interested in learning and career development, even if they are less enthusiastic about the traditional corporate ladder.
The friction seems to come down to one big issue: Gen Z entered a workplace built around rules they did not create, and some are questioning those rules loudly.
Here are nine behaviors employers say are testing their patience.
Staying glued to their phones
Phones are practically an extension of daily life for Gen Z, but managers are drawing a harder line when scrolling starts interfering with work. In a workplace etiquette survey, 51% of managers identified proper cellphone etiquette as an area where recent college graduates struggled. Another survey of hiring managers found 16% had even seen Gen Z candidates use their phones during job interviews.
Checking an urgent message is one thing. Regularly disappearing into TikTok, texts, or notifications during meetings sends a different message: whatever is happening on the screen matters more than what is happening in the room.
Treating punctuality like a suggestion
Flexible schedules have changed the meaning of the traditional workday, but flexibility has not made deadlines, meetings, and start times disappear. About 20% of hiring managers surveyed said recent college graduates were often late to work. In another survey, 38% of hiring managers said they had encountered lateness among Gen Z interview candidates.
Employers can tolerate an occasional rough morning. What frustrates managers is repeated lateness without communication, especially when other employees are expected to cover the gap.
Struggling with constructive criticism
Few workplace moments reveal generational differences faster than the sentence, “Can I give you some feedback?” Hiring managers believe recent Gen Z graduates do not respond well to feedback. A separate survey found 56% of managers considered recent graduates somewhat or highly incompetent at receiving constructive criticism.
Managers generally see correction as part of development. Younger workers may expect feedback to come with more explanation, coaching, and context. When those expectations collide, a routine performance conversation can suddenly become much more complicated.
Expecting praise for ordinary responsibilities
Recognition feels good at any age. Some managers, however, believe younger employees expect applause far more frequently than previous generations did. A 2025 ResumeTemplates.com survey of 1,050 managers with Gen Z direct reports found 76% believed Gen Z workers required more recognition than older generations. Seventy-one percent said younger employees expected praise for meeting basic expectations.
Interestingly, 60% also said Gen Z performance improved when workers received more praise. So employers face an awkward puzzle: they may dislike constant reassurance, yet giving recognition can produce better results.
Communicating too casually
A quick “yep,” an emoji reaction, or a one-line Slack response may feel completely normal to someone raised on instant messaging. In a professional setting, however, managers sometimes interpret that same communication style as careless. More than half of hiring managers in Intelligent.com’s 2024 survey said recent graduates had poor communication skills.
Another study found 51% of hiring managers had encountered poor communication among Gen Z applicants. Knowing when casual communication works and when a situation requires a polished email, phone conversation, or detailed explanation remains an important workplace skill.
Appearing unprepared for professional life
Employers do not expect a 22-year-old graduate to walk into the office knowing everything. They do expect some basic workplace readiness. In Intelligent.com’s survey of 966 business leaders involved in entry-level hiring, 53% believed recent graduates were unprepared for the workforce.
Twenty-one percent said they often struggled to manage workloads, while employers also reported concerns about professionalism and appropriate workplace behavior. That does not necessarily mean young workers lack intelligence or ability. Sometimes the missing ingredient is simply experience with office expectations that previous generations learned gradually.
Bringing parents into professional situations
This is probably the workplace habit most likely to leave a hiring manager speechless. ResumeTemplates.com found 11% of hiring managers had encountered Gen Z applicants who brought a parent, partner, or friend to an interview. A later survey reported that 10% of managers had experienced a Gen Z employee’s parent contacting them after the worker received critical feedback.
Rejecting the “work comes first” mentality
This is one complaint where Gen Z may have little interest in changing. Deloitte’s 2025 global survey found younger workers strongly value work-life balance, learning, financial security, and meaningful work. Only 6% of Gen Z respondents said reaching a leadership position was their primary career goal.
Walking away when the job stops working for them
Previous generations were often told to stay, pay their dues, and wait for things to improve. Gen Z appears less emotionally attached to that script. Indeed reported in 2025 that many Gen Z workers were either looking for another job or open to new opportunities. Deloitte similarly found young employees evaluating careers through a mixture of money, meaning, well-being, and development opportunities.
The workplace may have to meet Gen Z halfway
Some employer complaints are difficult to defend against. Showing up late, ignoring feedback, using a phone through meetings, or allowing parents to manage workplace disputes can damage a young employee’s reputation quickly. But the bigger Gen Z story is more complicated.
The same generation criticized for challenging authority is also pushing managers to explain expectations, provide better feedback, offer development opportunities, and reconsider whether old office traditions still make sense. Deloitte’s findings suggest Gen Z wants mentoring and growth, even while rejecting some conventional definitions of career success.
Gen Z certainly has workplace lessons to learn. Employers may discover they have a few to learn, too.
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