Gen Z, aka the Zoomers, that generation born between roughly 1997-2012, are hitting the workforce and it seems that it’s not going well at all. “Bosses are firing Gen Z grads just months after hiring them—here’s what they say needs to change,” Fortune reported.

“Employers’ gripe with young people today is their lack of motivation or initiative—50% of the leaders surveyed cited that as the reason why things didn’t work out with their new hire.

“Bosses also pointed to Gen Z being unprofessional, unorganized and having poor communication skills as their top reasons for having to sack grads. Leaders say they have struggled with the latest generation’s tangible challenges, including being late to work and meetings often, not wearing office-appropriate clothing, and using language (in)appropriate for the workspace.”

We recall similar complaints when the Millennials were first entering the workplace. The workplace needed to change to accommodate them, said a new breed of consultants who made their living by instructing companies on how to work with Millennials. This generation was ‘special.’ Work/life balance was important to them. Adversity was removed from their lives as they were growing up. Co-opetition and all that. They were like no other generation who had entered the workforce previously, these digital natives, and office protocols needed to be retooled to accommodate them. Remember pieces like this? Learn how millennials have influenced the workplace and their current role in today’s workforce. It’s important to know the best ways to manage them.

They needed to know that their work was influencing the company, no matter that they were entry level. And they expected to be promoted quickly. To refresh your memories, they were often referred to as the extremely entitled generation, coddled by their parents, many of whom found a new business model in training companies to deal with these new workforce entrants. Classic business model: create the problem, then come in with the solution. Yet somehow it all worked itself out, or must have, considering that their college days are long behind them and they’re very much part of the workforce.

And precisely who in the workforce is complaining about Gen Z and firing them? Dare we suggest it? The coddled Millennials, who’ve come of age and are their bosses now?

How quickly one forgets…

Gen Z is different. This is the Lockdown Generation, who spent a good part of their formative college years isolated from their peers. Teaching was done remotely. Getting back out of the house after some two plus years was culture shock, what to speak of being in an office. What did you think would happen? That the Era of Isolation would end, and it would be business as usual? Even formerly full-time employees are reluctant to go back into the office full-time.

As for Gen Z living on their phones – another big employer complain – for two plus years, they were forced to live on their phones just to communicate with the outside world. They were socialized that way. What did you expect the results might be?

As BirdieMachine said in the comments, “Most of the younger generation do not have the communication skills to converse effectively face to face. It’s something new to them. When one has been attached to their cell phone for a few years, actually talking to another person, face to face, is an uncomfortable situation.”

Gen Z also grew up on social media platforms, where certain opinions/points of view were censored and critical thinking not exactly encouraged. For every action there is a reaction. As several parents of this generation told us privately, the results of the isolation is that Gen Z lacks self-confidence. Well sure and lest we forget and speaking of the social platforms, the platforms came of age when the Millennials did. You know, that coddled, entitled generation who felt the workplace needed to conform more to them. So it went with the platforms, where unless one went along with ‘acceptable’ opinions, one was deplatformed. For every action there’s a reaction.

Or consequence.

Of course they lack self-confidence. Were they ever really free to express themselves or their true opinions?

We make no excuses for them, but let’s not give up on them yet. This just in: Gen Z’s Airbnb Arbitrage Hustle Is Pissing Off Everyone. “We know that Gen Z is a creative bunch—and they’re the embodiment of “work smarter, not harder.” Perhaps that’s why so many are pursuing an old side hustle known for scams in a new way: Airbnb,” said Vice. “…You sign a lease for a property, intending to sublet it at a higher price. With your marketing and decorating skills, you can make money on another person’s property without the hassle of actually owning and upkeeping it. That’s the idea, at least.”

Millennial-founded Airbnb has long been accused of taking affordable housing off the market, but now that that generation is settling down and looking to be homeowners, they’re pissed. Especially since this new Gen Z side hustle has come along.

If the Millennials were the entitled generation, it seems Gen Z may well shape up to be the workaround generation. Time will tell but remember, Millennials: you started it. Onward and forward.