Gen Z versus Gen X at work: When the juniors want to be authentic equals (and get a car park)
Help! My co-workers are all half my age and even the juniors want recognition as authentic cosmic equals (and a car park). Here’s how to survive the generation gap at work.
Help! My co-workers are half my age.
When I finished school in 1987, many of my colleagues hadn’t been born.
One of my young colleagues recently admitted that she was born in the year 2000. That was the year I celebrated turning 29 by crying into a bottle of Tia Maria because I thought my life was over.
She’s 25. I’ve got blackheads older than that.
My Gen Z colleagues are the same age as Zendaya, Kylie Jenner and Billie Eilish, while I’m still waiting for the next season of Friends and wondering if Meg Ryan will ever make another rom-com.
But don’t worry – most of the Gen Zers I work with are kind to me. “You look amazing,” they say. “For someone your age.”
Here’s how the generation gap between Gen Z (1997 to 2012) and Gen X (1965 to 1980) is playing out in Australian workplaces right now:
TAKING TIME OFF
Gen Z: “I’m taking a mental health day because Mercury is in retrograde and my chakras are misaligned after someone used the wrong tone in a Slack message.”
Gen X: “I’m taking a sickie because it’s Friday and the weather’s nice. If you need me I’ll be at Bunnings.”
CAREER ASPIRATIONS
Gen Z: “I don’t want to see my job as just work – it needs to be my authentic passion, my purpose and my spiritual calling that happens to provide financial compensation while I change the world.”
Gen X: “The only calling I care about is ringing my boss to ask for a payrise.
WORKPLACE CONFLICT
Gen Z: “I need to report that my supervisor created an unsafe environment by suggesting I could ‘optimise my workflow’. I’ll be consulting my therapist, life coach, and spirit animal before I can return.”
Gen X: “My boss told me I’m doing it wrong. We sorted it out over a beer. Problem solved.”
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT
Gen Z: “I’ve created a carbon-neutral office ecosystem with composting stations and a rooftop garden. I’ve calculated that if we all breathe 12% less during meetings, we can offset our AI emissions.”
Gen X: “I recycle my wine bottles and sometimes remember to put paper in the right bin. I drove here in an SUV that drinks more diesel than a V8 Supercar.”
AUTHORITY ISSUES
Gen Z: “I don’t recognise hierarchical power structures as they undermine my autonomy as a sovereign human being with equal cosmic worth. But I’d have higher outputs if you gave me a car park.”
Gen X: “If you’re paying me, I’ll do what you tell me.”
ATTENDANCE
Gen Z: “I can’t come in today because my emotional support peacock is having separation anxiety and needs me to validate its feelings.”
Gen X: “I come to work to escape my house, where three teenagers are eating everything in the fridge while texting me from their bedrooms demanding money.”
COMMUNICATION
Gen Z: “My pronouns are ze/zir/zirs and I’ve added seventeen rainbow emojis to my email signature to represent my journey through panromantic demisexual fluidity.”
Gen X: “I still don’t understand why we can’t just call everyone ‘mate’.”
TECHNOLOGY
Gen Z: “I’ve automated my entire workflow using AI, created a TikTok about it, and it’s gone viral with 2.3 million views.”
Gen X: “I just figured out how to unmute myself on Zoom calls. It only took me two years and a hundred phone calls to IT.”
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Gen Z: “I practice mindful boundary-setting and will only check emails during my designated communication windows, which I’ve colour-coded in my digital wellness calendar.”
Gen X: “I check emails at midnight while standing in my kitchen eating cereal straight from the box.”
Honestly though, I love working with these bright young things.
They’re brilliant, fearless, and they’ll probably save the world – right after they finish making a podcast about it.
They tolerate my stories about the Y2K bug, dial-up internet, fax machines and how we managed to get anything done at work before the internet was invented.
A part of me would love to see them try to function without Wi-Fi, smartphones, or Google. They’d probably have to actually talk to each other. In person. With their voices.
They, on the other hand, would like me to finally get the hang of my new iPhone and use the right coloured bin for a change.
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Originally published as Gen Z versus Gen X at work: When the juniors want to be authentic equals (and get a car park)
