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Stereotypes stick, and some bosses have already made up their minds on Gen Z workers. Oscar-winning star Jodie Foster slammed the young staffers she encountered on the set of True Detective <\/em>as \u201creally annoying, especially in the workplace,\u201d while fellow actress Whoopi Goldberg claimed that Gen Zers \u201conly want to work four hours\u201d yet expect to live in comfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the chief human resources officer at $62 billion giant Colgate-Palmolive is hitting back that young staffers aren\u2019t the career sloths some typecast them to be. Sally Massey credits Gen Z as being ambitious, and incredibly tech savvy\u2014critical skills that the consumer products company behind Colgate toothpaste and Irish Spring soap is looking for in talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Gen Z] have grown up with technology. They\u2019ve grown up in a very different way than some of the other generations in the organization,\u201d the CHRO tells Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThey bring with them new ideas, new perspectives, curiosity,\u201d Massey adds. \u201cThey\u2019re pushing us to get better and to do things differently\u2014I think it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n Massey admits that Gen Z are bringing their own distinct \u201cperspectives and expectations\u201d to the workplace. And with 34,000 Colgate employees spread out among four generations, bridging the divide between age groups is especially daunting. So to ensure that everyone is working in harmony, the exec is revamping the usual chain of command; Colgate\u2019s top leaders are hearing out entry-level staffers, stimulating the flow of ideas between ranks and generations to generate the best possible outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not siloed by generation or tenure, the senior leaders at Colgate want to hear ideas and thoughts from the more junior employees,\u201d Massey says. \u201cIt\u2019s how we get better, because as you get more senior, you can get further away. So it\u2019s important for all of us to stay close, connected, and to learn from each other\u2014regardless of the role.\u201d<\/p>\n Massey\u2019s not alone. Not all employers have given up on hiring Gen Zers\u2014despite headlines that suggest otherwise. In fact, many are still scoping out young talent with standout AI skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe\u2019s head of data and AI, revealed she\u2019s all-in on hiring recent graduates at the $91.5 billion financial services company. Just like Massey, she singled out Gen Z\u2019s tech adaptability as one of the in-demand skills she\u2019s looking for in Stripe employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m actually hiring more new grads\u2014now, they\u2019re largely new grad PhDs\u2014but more new grads than ever before,\u201d Glassberg Sands said on the Forward Future<\/em> podcast last year. \u201cBecause they have the cutting edge skills, and they come in with fresh ideas, and they know how to think, and they know how to use the latest tools.\u201d<\/p>\n Even when young employees drive their bosses up the wall, CEOs are still embracing Gen Z as movers and shakers. Matt Huang, the cofounder of the $12 billion crypto investment firm Paradigm, is all too familiar with the temperament of young workers. The company\u2019s first hire, then-19-year-old college dropout Charlie Noyes, once showed up five hours late to his first 10 a.m. meeting. The business has also embraced Gen Z-coded, unorthodox ways of choosing its top executives; Paradigm\u2019s chief technology officer, Georgios Konstantopoulos, was discovered on a Discord server while he was still a teenager.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hiring these innovative\u2014albeit, sometimes finicky\u2014Gen Zers may sound like a gamble for traditional workplaces. The Paradigm CEO admitted that the young staffers can come with drawbacks, but the value they generate is worth any havoc they wreak in the office.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes and you want to pull your hair out,\u201d Huang told Colossus Review<\/em> <\/em>last year. \u201cBut then you see what they can do and it\u2019s like, holy crap. Nobody else in the world could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Even the seasoned business experts teaching legions of Gen Z students are cutting in on criticism. Suzy Welch, a best-selling author and professor of management practice at New York University, hit back against those who brand the young generation lazy by reminiscing on her career journey. The baby boomer professor recalled having hope that she could one day be more successful than her parents\u2014but for Gen Zers, that dream of prosperity is out of reach. Welch encouraged bosses to empathize with their unique job and economic vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cGen Z [has] no reason to believe that they\u2019re ever going to have economic security,\u201d Welch said on a podcast last year. \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m old enough that when I was in college, I thought \u2018For sure, I\u2019m going to have more money than my parents.\u2019 And that \u2018If I work very very hard I\u2019m going to buy a house someday,\u2019 and this was the assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of Gen Z [are] just saying \u2018I\u2019m not even sure we\u2019re going to be alive in 20 years because of global warming,\u2019\u201d Welch continued. \u201cAnd \u2018The world is probably going to end anyway because of the stupidity of decisions your generations made.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Millionaire podcaster and former CNN<\/em> legal analyst Mel Robbins also came to Gen Z\u2019s defense. In response to stereotypes that young people are anxious, addicted to social media, and lazy, she posed one question: \u201cHave you stopped to consider what it\u2019s like to be a twentysomething today?\u201d Chances are if critics try and envision stepping into their shoes, they\u2019ll be met with the harsh reality that Gen Zers are under immense stress and pressure that didn\u2019t exist just five years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is in chaos\u2014and most twentysomethings had parents that lived in a very predictable, stable economy,\u201d Robbins said in a TikTok video posted last year. \u201cThey went to a corporate job, they reported to the office, they had a network of friends at work. That\u2019s not the typical 20-year-old experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nEmployers who value Gen Z talent\u2014especially those with tech skills<\/h2>\n
The business leaders backing up Gen Z against lazy stereotypes\u00a0<\/h2>\n