A new report finds that companies are laying off Gen Z workers just months after hiring them straight out of college.
Six out of ten employers had already fired a number of graduates they had hired earlier this year, questionnaire performed by Intelligent.com found.
One in seven employers said they may stop hiring recent graduates next year after discovering a number of problems with young workers.
Business leaders said they were concerned about issues such as communication skills and professionalism, making them reluctant to hire Gen Z.
They also said that employees of that age are often unmotivated and need to be told what to do instead of taking the initiative themselves. That is another problem.
Business leaders admitted they laid off Gen Z employees earlier this year
“Many recent graduates find it difficult to enter the job market for the first time, as it can be a stark contrast to what they have been used to throughout their education,” Intelligent’s Huy Nguyen wrote in the report.
“They are often unprepared for a less structured environment, the cultural dynamics of the workplace and the expectation of autonomous work,” he explains.
Three-quarters of the companies surveyed indicated that some or all of their recent graduates were dissatisfied in some way.
Half said their Gen Z employees lacked motivation, making it difficult to work with them.
The survey was posted on Reddit under the topic “Companies are quickly laying off Gen Z workers,” prompting one user to write, “Yes, that’s right.
However, HR consultant Bryan Driscoll argues that it is not only young workers who are a problem, but also the education system itself, which does not prepare its graduates for the job market.
Another wrote: ‘As a millennial working with Gen Z, I have to admit I’ve told a couple not to wear their weird, trendy, dirty ’90s Filas to work.
‘As a young person, I never thought something like this would be appropriate in an office environment.’
A third person said, “At my work, they have a hard time showing up every day, so it’s mostly attendance issues.”
“As someone who has spent years in education, including law, I can tell you this: colleges do not prepare students for the real world,” Driscoll told Newsweek.
“Education today emphasizes theory over practice. Sure, learning Greek mythology is fascinating, but how does that prepare you to communicate effectively in a business meeting or to demonstrate professionalism unless you teach it? It doesn’t.”
“Instead of teaching new employees what to expect, employers simply fire workers because they are unprepared. It’s a cyclical problem that reflects systemic failures at multiple levels,” he argued.
Nguyen acknowledged that some of the workplace problems were due to colleges not properly preparing their students.
“While they may have acquired some theoretical knowledge at university, they often lack the practical, real-world experience and social skills needed to succeed in the workplace,” he wrote in the report.
“Companies are failing their employees by not taking responsibility for training and hoping that a college degree can be a substitute,” Driscoll concluded.
“That has never happened and in our current system it never will.”