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Stop moaning about Gen Z grads – they might teach us something
PwC and Deloitte say new hires lack communication skills, but should these recruits conform to boomer workforce rules?
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By 2025, Gen Z will make up 27 per cent of the workforce in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, and rising.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Isabel Berwick
If there is one phrase guaranteed to get anyone in the office worked up, it’s “intergenerational tension”. These words conceal seething resentments, fears and plain old prejudice. It is a timeless story – as long as humans fear age and irrelevance, we will also fear the young.
These professional fault lines are often hidden behind a wall of basic courtesy, terrible HR “inclusion and belonging” jargon and lofty words about bringing our whole selves to work. But news last week that two of the Big Four consultancy firms, PwC and Deloitte, believe graduate hires have weaker teamwork and communication skills than previous cohorts has thrust the debate back into the open. PwC is asking experienced client-facing staff to become coaches for graduates. At Deloitte, new joiners will attend daunting-sounding sessions on “mental resilience, overcoming adversity and the importance of mindset”.
