Q. Lazy. Entitled. Can't take feedback. Job-hops for "vibes." You've heard the labels. Which one makes you roll your eyes, which one low-key gets to you, and which one — hand on heart — are you willing to own just a little?
"Lazy" gets the biggest eye-roll—we put in serious effort when the goal actually matters. "Can't take feedback" gets to me, because finding a good mentor is actually how we grow. But I will absolutely own the job-hopping. If a role stops offering growth or feels stagnant, we move on. Blind loyalty doesn't pay the bills.
Q. What does Gen Z look for in a job and workplace?
Autonomy and real impact. Just give us clear goals and let us work without micromanagement. We want a job that funds our lives, our hobbies, and our relationships without demanding to become our entire identity.
Q. You’re doing things differently — what are you building instead?
We are building for extreme efficiency. The old way was grinding through long hours just to prove your dedication. We prioritize the actual outcome over the performative struggle. We would much rather fix a broken process so it takes a fraction of the time, rather than suffering through it just to pay dues.
Q. What’s not being leveraged well about Gen Z? What should workplaces change?
Workplaces vastly underestimate our ability to self-teach and adapt on the fly. The one thing that needs to change? Stop treating "hours spent at a desk" as the only metric for productivity. Measure us by the actual value we deliver.
Q. One thing Gen Z does best at work
We ruthlessly question "the way things have always been done." If a process is slow or broken, we won't respect it just because it has seniority. We will immediately look for a faster, smarter way to get it done.
Q. Finish the sentence
We are not misunderstood. What is actually happening is we are refusing to play by the rules of a corporate world that simply doesn't exist anymore.
--Ends --
Somanath is a 23-year-old software engineer based in Chennai, specializing in cybersecurity, backend, and DevOps. When he isn't architecting cloud-native solutions or optimizing legacy workflows, he can usually be found hitting his running targets, catching the latest Formula 1 race, or unwinding by assembling LEGO Technic models.
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