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What the Generation Zs expect from their boss

Many bosses believe that Generation Z workers are hard to manage because they are self-centred and have unrealistic goals for career advancement.

A local study of 817 revealed that young workers are actually good team players and down to earth when it comes to career advancement compared with older generations.

The Hong Kong-based study conducted by Vital Employee Service Consultancy and career website Recruit looked into the factors which make Gen Z workers feel underappreciated.

Poor compensation (83.4%) tops the reason for staff to feel underappreciated, bullied by colleagues (76.6%) is the number two reason, followed by unfair treatment from the boss (73.8%) and staff feeling they are over-qualified for their job (66.2%).

The 15 to 24-year-old age group gets along well with colleagues, 64.7% felt underappreciated because they are bullied by colleagues, lower than the average of 76.6% across all age groups.

Compared with middle-aged workers, these young workers are also more satisfied with what they do. Meanwhile, 49% of younger workers felt they were over-qualified for their job, while 71.9% of those above the age of 45 felt they were over-qualified, the highest number across all age groups.

However, these young people are very concerned about the image of the job they do – 23.5% are worried about telling people they work in “undesirable jobs” or having to wear an ugly uniform at work, such a concern is only at 16.4% across all age groups.

Today’s younger generation considers manual jobs to be undesirable so companies have been trying to change that perception. For example Towngas has organised awards to recognise the achievements of workers and to promote technical jobs as professional and rewarding careers.

When feeling underappreciated, nearly 50% of 15 to 24-year-olds said they would quit – the highest percentage among all age groups. This demonstrates young workers are not able to deal with negativity and choose to run away from problems instead of tackling them.

ALSO READ: The six things Gen Zs look for in a job

Photo/ 123RF

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