Gen Z is lazy because they were always told they were winners

As a motivated member of Gen Z, Caleb Bond offers a unique insight as to why Gen Z tradies are falling so short.

OPINION

Billy Ocean once sang that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Now they seemingly just up stumps and go home.

A slew of tradies told news.com.au this week that it has become nigh on impossible to find Gen Z staff and apprentices who want to put in the hard yards and prove themselves on worksites.

One said he had to go so far as attending an apprentice’s house every morning to rouse him from bed.

Apprenticeship numbers are down 5.3 per cent in NSW and more than 18,300 apprentices dropped out in a 12-month period.

Perhaps they can’t hack the hard yakka.

Plumber boss Tommo described having to pull a Gen Zer out of bed for work. Picture: Supplied

An American survey of bosses last year found nearly half believed Gen Z were difficult to work with “all or most of the time” and four fifths said they were the most difficult generation to employ.

I’m a member of Gen Z. My parents always told me they didn’t particularly care what I did so long as I was happy and earned an honest living.

I’ve worked hard to create my own opportunities – no one else will create them for you – and always worked multiple jobs since I was 17.

I have been knocked back from more jobs, proposals and pitches than I care to count. But as a young man trying to make a career in media, I worked out the worst anyone could say is no.

Some opportunities have been right place, right time. Others were entirely of my own creation.

But Gen Z have been taught that everyone gets a medal. Winning doesn’t matter – the most important thing is that you have fun.

It seems sweet on the footy field with kids. But the reality of life is that winning does matter and winning only comes from effort.

Equalising the playing field at school has taught young people that success – or rather this warped version of it – does not require effort. You deserve support and adulation in any case.

Caleb Bond is a member of Gen Z and his parents said they just wanted him to be happy. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

It’s hardly surprising that this attitude – which is admittedly a product of their upbringing, not something they have created themselves – has transferred to the workplace in adulthood.

Newspaper colleagues often tell me of the battle to get younger journalists in the office – not because they’re at the pub or lunch where they ought to be, cultivating contacts and gathering stories, but because they’re all working from home.

Nothing signals minimum effort more than refusing to go to the office. Shirking from home is rife.

It’s anathema to everything I learnt as a cadet journalist. Editors would often say they didn’t want to see me in the office – but they expected me to be out pounding the pavement and meeting people, not sitting at home in my pyjamas.

But completing an apprenticeship or a cadetship involves not just effort, but hierarchy. You have to accept that you’re at the bottom of the ladder.

The removal of discipline and authority in the classroom has made that difficult, too. Why would you respect authority if its importance has not been impressed upon you?

Nothing great was created by people aiming to meet the bare minimum. It comes from a will to win, to be the best and achieve to the height of your abilities – abilities that you constantly strive to improve.

It’s sadly lacking in Gen Z – and it’s been bred into them by their parents and schools.

Caleb Bond is an Sydney-based commentator and host of The Late Debate on Sky News Australia.

Originally published as Gen Z is lazy because they were always told they were winners