Gen Z: The Lazy and Entitled Generation

By: Rivy Mosegi, Opinion Editor

In the last few years, phrases like “Gen Z is lazy and doesn’t work hard enough” or “Gen Z is the most difficult generation to work with” have circulated widely. Articles have been written, and news platforms have run stories questioning our work ethic and attitude. But is Gen Z really lazy and entitled, or are they just a group of raging twenty-year-olds with bad attitudes?

Gen Z now makes up about 18% of the U.S. labor force, which means we hold significant influence over workplace culture, expectations, and – perhaps most importantly – technology. I’ve seen the criticisms firsthand, often from employers on LinkedIn writing articles like “Why I’ll Never Hire Gen Z” or even urging other companies not to invest in us. After working in a hospital for the past five years, where half of my department consists of Gen Z workers and the other half are boomers, I’ve learned a lot about why these tensions exist.

From personal conversations, many boomers believe Gen Z doesn’t want to work, that we lack commitment and that we don’t put in the same effort they did. But when I talk to my Gen Z coworkers, I know – and see – that this isn’t true. They work extremely hard. They’re constantly tired, burnt out and overwhelmed. Many are still in school, taking full-time credits on top of their jobs. Nursing school, for example, demands long hours of studying, homework, projects and clinicals. On top of that, students are encouraged to pursue extracurriculars to gain experience in different fields. How can anyone manage all that and still meet the expectations of their employers?

Every generation has faced its own challenges, but Gen Z is navigating obstacles that are financially and socially unprecedented. Take housing, for example. For many young people today, homeownership isn’t just difficult – it feels impossible. In her BBC News article “Priced out of Home Ownership—‘It Makes Me Want to Throw Up,’” business reporter Natalie Sherman writes:

“The median home sale price in the U.S. has jumped by nearly 30% since the end of 2019, hitting $420,000 this spring. At a time of rising property values globally, the leap has been one of the most dramatic in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. And that's not factoring in the added costs from higher interest rates, which now stand at roughly 7% for the typical 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, up from about 3% in 2020. Homebuyers today need an annual income of more than $100,000—well above the country's household median of about $75,000—to comfortably afford a home in most places in the U.S., research firms such as Zillow and Bankrate say. Monthly payments have roughly doubled in just four years.”

Knowing these statistics is one thing – but living them is another. And Gen Z is living them every day. This is the reality we face while juggling work, school and life responsibilities. This is the weight on our minds, not a lack of motivation.

Gen Z isn’t lazy, and we’re not avoiding hard work – we’re overworked. And not just in our jobs and careers, but in everyday life. Eat, sleep, work, school, repeat. For some, that’s the cycle. For others, add parenting, mortgages, or car payments. There’s little time left to care for our mental health, process our emotions, or simply breathe.

The problem isn’t that Gen Z refuses to work hard. It’s that we’re already working harder than ever before – just  to keep up.