I learned a little bit from this one. But I know from experience for a Gen z's it hard to work with them. At least the ones that work with. As they always seem to be on the phones. Which is something this millennial doesn't understand or get. I'm also a millennial raised by baby boomer parents. So it could be I'm just out of touch.

As a millennial working in HR, I thought this would be a great read to understand more about recruitment and retaining of staff.
Unfortunately, I found this book to be fairly negative about Gen Z and actually not helpful. It was clearly written by someone who wasn’t too keen on the work ethic of Gen Z, or their desire to change the grind for the better, instead making them sound like snowflakes who need to learn the value if hard work.

I think this book was perhaps written for Boomers to u sweat and a little more about Gen Z, but not at all written for those who want the best if Gen Z or sympathise with their working styles, their desire for flexible working and their inability to ever be able to own property.

One of my students was working on an argumentative research paper about transformations in the workplace for Gen Z, and I thought this would be a helpful resource. However, while I felt the book had a useful perspective, my Gen Z student ended up not using it, complaining that most pundits she's studied like Jean Twenge and the authors of this book, come across as negatively judgmental of Gen Z. I think the audience for this book is more older generations who want to learn about Gen Z than members of the generation themselves.

Struggling with how to keep Gen Z employees motivated? Many of us working with Gen Zer’s who started during the pandemic might surmise that some of these employees are lazy, especially with all the social media chatter around “quiet quitting.” Working with Gen Z, A Handbook to Recruit, Retain, and Reimagine the Future Workforce after COVID-19” by Santor Nishizaki and James Della Neve demystifies the behavior of Gen Zers and offers practical insight into how to understand and motivate them.

Clearing away the confusion of the generational phonetic nomenclature, Nishizaki and Neve explain that a Gen Z employee includes anyone born between 1995-2012. Gen Zers were shaped by key historic events, including most recent and pointedly relevant to work, the Covid-19 pandemic.

A couple of months ago, I was went to an event hosted by a crypto start up in Miami that was filled with Gen Zers. There was unlimited booze, flame-throwing dancers, and 180 degree rotating selfie sticks. Overtly missing was IRL socializing between the attendees. Nishizaki and Neve explore how Gen Z’s “lack of face-to-face interaction” is singular and carries over to difficulties into the workplace including struggles to develop professional emotional intelligence. Put into context it makes sense that the started forgoing traditional teenage activities like spending time at the mall or movies with virtual interactions would have a higher barrier to entry when it comes to developing workplace EQ.

According to Nishizaki and Neve, Gen Zers do have a “work to live attitude” with 78% desiring to work between 35-45 hours a week. Interestingly, Gen Zers are fine with outside of the norm 9-5 workplace hours, even taking on weekend and late night work, as long as they have sufficient time for other pursuits. So it may be that Gen Zer’s are less about quiet quitting and more about efficiency. This coincides with what Nishizaki and Neve focus on shift to “task based” work as opposed to the facetime culture of the past.