Warfare in the workplace: on intergenerational disconnect and Gen Z’s communication dynamics
By Jasmine Krnjaic
September 26, 2025
Generation-on-generation warfare is an age-old social trend. It wasn’t long ago that the internet targeted Boomers for their tech illiteracy, and mocked Millennials for their avocado obsessions and devotion to monochrome furniture. Even Plato criticised the youth of his time in The Republic, writing:
“They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?”
Not even the 4th Century BC teenagers could escape the reprehension of their elders. However, as Gen Z enters the hotseat, older generations are grasping far beyond silly pop culture trends, insulting the cohort’s inauthentic service and ‘lazy’ work engagement as youth unemployment rates in Australia rise to 9.7%, a two per cent rise since 2022. While these claims are not wholly misguided, perhaps Gen Z themselves aren’t solely to blame for this negative shift in workplace culture.
‘Ghosting’ is one of many new issues that are affecting young jobseekers and workplace culture. It refers to the ceasing of communication with a candidate without any explanation, and a recent survey conducted by Greenhouse showed that 61% of candidates had been ghosted by recruiters after an initial interview, a nine per cent increase since April 2024.
Joseph Tilley is a Gen Z student who experienced a lack of candidate closure throughout his jobseeking journey earlier this year.
“The worst time,” he said, “was when I applied to 25 jobs online in an afternoon and didn’t get any response from any of them. On a few occasions, even after I’d gone down for an interview, they couldn’t even make the effort to reject me.”
He believes that providing some sort of closure, even if it is just an automated message, will allow candidates to move on.
“You’re just putting your job search on hold for nothing,” he said.
In a study about generational wellbeing in the workplace, Gen Z were found to value social relationships above anything else at work, and ‘ghosting’ is discouraging many from engaging with the job market.
“As a candidate,” said one social media user, “getting ghosted can be a hit to your self-confidence.”
For those fortunate enough to find employment, Gen Z’s expectations for employers are higher and harsher than previous generations, placing emphasis on authentic relations, instantaneous feedback and flexible working hours. Gen Z was raised during a time of heightened mental health awareness, and Thomas Lee, CEO of First Place for Youth told Forbes that a focus on employee wellbeing aligns well with Gen Z’s holistic view of work and life.
“We’ve always practiced trauma-informed care in our work with foster youth,” he said, “but we’ve found that applying these principles to our workplace culture has been beneficial for all our employees, especially our Gen Z staff who came of age during the pandemic.”
In addition, 87% of Australian retail workers experienced customer aggression in 2025, and as the dominant generation in the retail sector, Gen Z are the most affected. Their low status shield may contribute to their harsh treatment at work, as customers perceive them as low-paid, low-skilled and less-useful members of society. Additionally, rising inflation during Gen Z’s entrance into the workforce has resulted in global price increases, and customers may be displacing their aggression toward the economy, directing it toward innocent service workers.
“I get rude comments all the time about how expensive our food is,” Tilley said, “and I tell them, you know, I don’t control the prices!”
For some young workers this continual abuse manifests itself in physical resignation, inflaming social criticisms from their elders about their ‘transactional’ service.
The ‘Gen Z stare’ has become a viral buzzword in recent months, deriving from a TikTok video explaining how Gen Z service workers are handling difficult customers, opting for a blank, expressionless stare instead of lashing out or catering to their every whim. After all, this is a generation raised on the old adage that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. However, the internet twisted the original message, using the term as a way to critique Gen Z’s ‘entitled’ work behaviour.
Instead of using it as another excuse to condemn the youth, Sujay Saha, president of Cortico-X, revealed why the ‘Gen Z stare’ is the reason employers need to make the extra effort to accommodate the emerging generation.
In conversation with Forbes, he said that this phenomenon may display a generational social disability due to the COVID-19 lockdowns shaping their formative years.
“Gen Z entered the workforce in an era defined by screens, social distancing and remote communication, and companies must now close the experience gap with empathy-focused onboarding and support, not judgment,” he said.
As Gen Z are predicted to make up 33% of the workforce by 2030, Saha explains the vitality of adapting workplace culture to better accommodate Gen Z’s values.
“Instead of saying the Gen Z workforce lacks direction or purpose or is difficult to work with, re-frame the conversation to understand how their unique context can help push firms in a newer direction.”
Gen Z may have some high expectations for instantaneous feedback and workplace wellbeing, and they might react with a cold stare when you complain about the extra cost for a paper bag — but considering their contextual struggles, they can’t solely be blamed for their workplace behaviour and engagement.
Like every generation before, they’re entering the workforce with fresh perspectives and expectations, promising a brilliant learning curve as experience is gathered and mistakes are made. In the meantime, Gen Z has the potential to shift workplace culture for the better — but not unless the intergenerational warfare ceases and senior cohorts agree to mentor the youth, not mock them.
Saha is certain that the onus is now on elder employees and employers to foster a constructive workplace culture in collaboration with the new generation.
They are the future after all, and considering the economic and social state of the world they’re growing up in, they aren’t doing so bad.
References
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