Companies are laying off Gen Z workers just months after hiring them straight out of college, according to a new report.
Six out of ten employers had already laid off some college graduates they had recruited earlier in the year, a survey Powered by Intelligent.com found.
One in seven employers said they would also be unable to hire recent college graduates next year after encountering a number of problems with young workers.
Business leaders listed concerns in areas such as communication skills and professionalism that made them cautious about hiring Gen Z.
They also said that workers of that age are often unmotivated and need to be constantly told what to do, rather than using their initiative, which is another problem.
Business leaders admitted to firing Gen Zers they hired earlier this year
“Many recent college graduates may struggle to enter the job market for the first time, as it can be a stark contrast to what they’re used to throughout their educational journey,” Intelligent’s Huy Nguyen wrote in the report.
“They are often not prepared for a less structured environment, cultural dynamics in the workplace and the expectation of autonomous work,” she explained.
Three-quarters of companies surveyed said some or all of their recent graduate hires were unsatisfactory in some way.
Half said their Gen Z employees lacked motivation, making them difficult to work with.
He The poll was posted on Reddit under the subject line ‘Companies are rapidly laying off Gen Z employees’, prompting one user to write: ‘Yes, that’s correct.
However, HR consultant Bryan Driscoll argues that it is not just young employees who pose a problem, but the education system itself, which fails to prepare its graduates for the world of work.
Another wrote: ‘As a millennial who works with Gen Z, I have to admit I’ve told a couple of them not to wear their weird, dirty 90s Filas to work.
“I literally never thought that would be appropriate in an office environment when I was younger.”
A third person said: “They have trouble showing up every day where I work, so it’s mostly attendance issues.”
“As someone who went through years of education, including law school, I can tell you this: universities are not preparing students for real-world work.” Driscoll told Newsweek.
‘Today’s education puts emphasis on theory over practice. Sure, learning Greek mythology is fascinating, but unless you teach it, how does that prepare you to communicate effectively in a corporate meeting or demonstrate professionalism? It doesn’t.’
“Instead of teaching new employees what is expected of them, employers are simply firing workers for not being prepared. It’s a cyclical problem that reflects a systemic failure at multiple levels,” he said.
Nguyen acknowledged that some of the workplace problems were due to universities not adequately preparing students.
“While they may have some theoretical knowledge from college, they often lack the practical, real-world experience and soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace,” she wrote in the report.
“Companies are failing their workers by not taking responsibility for their training and expecting a college degree to replace it,” Driscoll concluded.
“It never has and, under our current system, it never will.”
