We Should Talk About Why the Gen-Z Workforce Is So Angry

Hey Google, Apple, Amazon. All you tech companies. Got a second? We need to have a little sidebar about Gen Z because you've got a major problem bubbling. Here's the thing. The way you've always approached work -- the 9-to-5, the org structure, the career ladder, the assumed authority -- they don't want any of it. I wrote a post last week about the deterioration in tech company culture, in which I said: "We're seeing a generational shift in how and where we work. I feel like maybe the boomers established modern-day' work, Gen X rebelled against it, Millennials are borderline revolting against it, and Gen Z sees it as completely foreign." Holy smoke, that line resonated. You're essentially asking Gen Z to do what you've done your whole life, but do it wearing clown shoes. Man, I love a good/terrible metaphor. Look. I'm not talking to Gen Z in this article, a group that's catching a lot of strays these days. I'm also not talking for them. I did not appoint myself the spokesman for a generation. I tried that with Gen X and I couldn't get them to rebel, so I know that won't work this time either. Honestly, I don't even want to be here. This time, I'm talking directly to the companies themselves. And I'm not here to cause a scene, I'm just giving you a heads-up. Gen Z is pissed. At you. Not "them." You. It Runs Deeper Than Generational Differences This is not just an issue of sitcom-ready generational differences between age groups. That's the first mistake the tech companies make when thinking about it, which is why I'm not surprised that you don't have answers. This is more than malaise. This is not about anarchy. It's not a lack of generational understanding on either side. But this is the first place where Gen Z is catching strays. You're blaming natural generational differences, which skims over the real issues and just makes it worse. It's not about quiet quitting or presenteeism or creative loafing or -- honestly, I can't keep up with the buzzwords anymore. All those articles with the splashy headlines are wrong. It's deeper than that. Gen Z fully knows what you're "about." They're just rejecting it. What the Tech Companies Think Gen Z Is About Is Irrelevant I'm not a big believer in generational dynamics. I mean, everyone says "Remember when Saturday Night Live was actually funny?" I get it. There are some obvious generation-defining touchstones: References, trends, and especially technical advancements. I'm more inclined to point to the PC generation, the internet generation, the mobile generation, and the social generation, because those labels have more of an impact on group behavior and dynamics than a somewhat arbitrary milestone like age. But this still isn't that. Gen Z is not angry because you're keeping them out of their TikToks and their text chats. And this is the second place where Gen Z is getting maligned. You're blaming the victim here. And what's more, you're doing it without actually doing it. You're not blaming Jane, you're blaming a person roughly the same age as Jane who isn't Jane but then also connecting every misdiagnosed personality trait from that unspecified person to Jane. Which, obviously, just makes it worse. OK, so what is their problem then? When You Started Work, It Was Work With every generation that came before Gen Z, when we became a part of the tech workforce, you gave us actual work to do. It had meaning. Gen X didn't invent the internet, but we worked with it to make it into something that no business, and eventually no person, could live without. Apologies. But even then, I saw the technical evolution start to create a divide. The generations that came before us needed us to work with the technology, because they didn't really understand it. But make no mistake, they decided how that technology would be harnessed to build things and run businesses. They still do. And then, when our jobs didn't feel like jobs, which was like 25 percent of the time, they came to us and said "Well, I know you're bored and unsatisfied, here's a program. Here's a policy. Let's get you out of your cubicle and give you something else that isn't typing commands into beige boxes." They didn't say exactly that. They weren't that clever. But this is when our workdays started filling up with TPS reports and other garbage to keep us occupied but didn't let us accomplish anything. There's an entire movie about it called Office Space. Highly recommend. Oh, also, this is what pushed me into entrepreneurship. Each Generation Has Had Less to Do The Millennials didn't invent mobile or its platform, but you gave them enough work to do with it to occupy, let's say 40 percent of their time, and the other 60 percent was just filled with fluff. This could be anything from "running Hubspot" to "Slack moderator" to ... literally nothing. Speaking of art imitating life, one of the funnier aspects of a workday at Hooli, Silicon Valley's stand-in for Google or Yahoo, was not how little most employees did, but how accepted it was. Same guy that did Office Space. Mike Judge. Visionary. Now here we are with Gen Z, and work isn't work anymore. It's all fluff. Man, it's not that they don't want to come back to the office. They don't want any part of what they do when they get there. The reason there isn't any work-life balance isn't because life has gone away, it's because work has gone away. It all just blends now. Now work is all programs and policies and TPS reports. Work is literally connect-the-dots and paint-by-numbers and fill-in-the-(Agile)-blanks and check-the-(Jira)-boxes. The only place it isn't like this is in the very early days of tech startups, which is why so many GenZers want to be entrepreneurs. So the anger comes out as against BS programs, office culture, corporate culture, tech culture, jobs, careers, capitalism, and democracy, and then you get your anarchy. Ultimately Gen Z wants satisfaction, not just participation. They see through the fluff because it's all fluff. And by the way, you're also telling them that AI is already making them redundant anyway. Not helping. Also not true. As I mentioned earlier when I saw this devolution of work begin to happen, I lucked into startups and entrepreneurism, and I never looked back. I'm not rich. I don't have a vacation home or a boat or a country club membership. But I don't wake up angry every morning. Ultimately, that's the thing. That's all Gen Z wants. I think. Anyway, I'm sure they'll tell me if I'm wrong. EXPERT OPINION BY JOE PROCOPIO, FOUNDER, TEACHINGSTARTUP.COM @JPROCO