‘Yelling’: Millennial boss on ‘soft’ Gen Z employees

A Millenial boss has divided people online by revealing the reality of working with “soft” and “fragile” Gen Z employees.

Millennial boss Rachel Lynch is fed up with seeing Gen Z staff not being treated well by their older managers.

Ms Lynch, 34, runs an online coffee company with a team of six and is sick of seeing young workers misunderstood by their Millennial and Boomer bosses.

The understanding boss took to TikTok to share that she’d recently seen two Generation Z employees reduced to tears because of their older managers.

Both times, the incidents happened in hospitality.

Ms Lynch said she’d been left disappointed when she overheard an older boss “yelling” at a Gen Z employee over her forgotten order at a cafe

Ms Lynch had ordered a sandwich but the staff member that served her was frazzled and forgot her order and when the waitress confessed the mistake to her boss he was less than understanding.

“She goes inside and she had obviously told her boss that she had forgotten the order. The door closes, and like that is going to help, it is an old Queenslander building, we can hear everything, and he starts yelling at her,” she said.

“She’s panicking and starts crying.”

Ms Lynch called it a “crazy display” of older people not working well with Gen Z and, although “nobody is technically in the wrong”, she felt the situation could have been handled better.

Millennial boss Rachel Lynch has revealed a common mistake she sees managers making. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

She thinks bosses are often too hard on Gen Z. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

The Queensland local had seen a similar situation again a couple of weeks back when a young worker waitressing was left crying and panicking over a “f**ked up” order.

She said the Gen Zer’s manager was quite “vocal in their outrage”, not to the point that anyone needed to step in, but enough to make the employee hyperventilate.

“It was loud enough that everyone in the restaurant could hear,” she said.

Ms Lynch said that older bosses need to understand that Gen Zers are “soft”, more “fragile” and want to work collaboratively.

Online, people were divided and quick to slam Generation Z for needing to harden up at work.

“This is why kids need to be taught how to fail. Resilience is nearly absent in Gen Z,” one argued.

Similar comments followed.

“That’s got nothing to do with Boomers, Gen X and Z. That’s just an employee not cutting it.”

“Nope. Those tears are a tactic. They’re a way to try to spin the focus of the situation away from themselves.”

“Millennials and Gen Z are babied too much and can’t handle the pressure”, another wrote, and someone else jumped in and said Gen Z needs to do what they are “told”.

She is a also a boss and she never yells. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

People were divided in the comments. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

Ms Lynch told news.com.au that when she sees scenarios where Gen Z staff are left in tears, she considers it bad management.

“I think it has a lot to do with generational differences,” she told news.com.au, saying that there are a lot of Gen X and Boomer bosses who don’t take the time out to understand how to manage different generations.

Ms Lynch, who manages Gen Z staff herself, said that the youngest generation are just more “in tune with their feelings” and want different things from work than previous generations.

“They like making a difference at work, feeling heard, and they want more work-life balance,” she said.

Instead of fighting against their needs or ignoring them, Ms Lynch embraces it and reckons more bosses should do the same.

“We give our staff additional paid adventure leave on top of their standard leave and we also don’t dictate start and finish times,” she said.

She believes you need to adapt to Gen Z. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

And take a softer approach. Picture: TikTok/thirtynotthriving

As long as the work gets done, she’s not fazed by it, and she thinks bosses who try to treat Gen Z like they were treated at the same age are hitting their heads against a brick wall.

“I see a lot of Gen X bosses expect their Gen Z workers to just work hard, suck it up, and get on with it. Which just doesn’t slide,” she claimed.

Ms Lynch makes a point of adapting her management style to get the most out of her young team.

“We know them very personally and check in with them regularly to see how they’re feeling, how home life is going, if there’s anything they want improved or changed,” she explained.

She takes a holistic approach to management. It’s not about just ordering them around but getting to know them.

“We speak openly about mental health and have created a safe space for the team to be honest and raw. We encourage them to speak up and advocate for what they want from life. We are an extremely lifestyle-focused business,” she said.

It also goes beyond ensuring that they are happy at work. She wants them to enjoy life outside of work, too.

“We encourage side hustles or pursuing hobbies. We organise paid team camping trips every few months to hang out. We allow them to text when they’re sick instead of phone calls. Flexible working hours. We don’t track hours, we work on an honesty system. We avoid a hierarchy and focus more on collaboration,” she said.

The result? Far fewer tears and no yelling.

Originally published as ‘Yelling’: Millennial boss on ‘soft’ Gen Z employees