Gen Z and work: is the ‘lazy generation’ just a stereotype?
Lazy, spoilt, demanding? Gen Z is fighting for its reputation – and it’s their work ethic above all that’s being called into question. Is there anything to the stereotypes?
By Jule Müller
Photo: Janek Stempel, Emil Eichinger
Anyone born between 1995 and 2010 belongs, by definition, to Generation Z, or Gen Z for short – and these days they’re accused of a great deal. They are said to be unwilling to work, spoilt, unable to cope with pressure and to expect too much of their employers. The former CDU member of the Bundestag Thomas de Maizière shares this view. In an interview with ‘Die Zeit’, he said the sense of entitlement among many in Generation Z rubs him up the wrong way. But what is actually behind all these accusations, where do they come from – and is there anything to them at all?
Martin Schröder, professor of sociology at Saarland University, has looked into exactly these questions. In an interview with the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), Schröder admits that he too was initially convinced that Gen Z didn’t want to work. After all, he saw a lack of motivation among the students in his seminars all the time. He set out to prove scientifically what everyone supposedly already knew, using more than 600,000 survey responses from people in over 100 countries. But the result was not what the professor had expected – he found virtually no differences between the generations.
Young people today are actually more active in the labour market than in previous decades.
Institute for Employment Research
A study by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) shows that Gen Z does not lack motivation to work. The employment rate among 20- to 24-year-olds is as high as it was in the mid-1990s. After falling steadily from 1995 to 2015, Gen Z managed to halt the downward trend. Between 2015 and 2023, the employment rate rose significantly again for the first time, by 6.2 percentage points. Compared with the rate among 25- to 64-year-olds, which rose by only 2.8 percentage points over the same period, the increase among 20- to 24-year-olds is above average. The IAB’s conclusion is clear: young people today are actually more active in the labour market than in previous decades.
This trend is mainly due to a growing share of students with part-time jobs. Between 2015 and 2023, the employment rate among students aged 20 to 24 rose by a good 19 percentage points to 56 per cent, and among non-students by just under two percentage points to almost 86 per cent. Shorter degree courses are another explanation. The Bologna reform of 2002 introduced a more flexible system that allows graduates to enter the labour market earlier, after a bachelor’s degree. This contributes significantly to the rise in employment, as many students take up work during or straight after their bachelor’s.
So why is Generation Z still branded as work-shy? In his interview with the RND, the sociologist Schröder explains how the assumption comes about. The observation that young people are less keen on work than older people is initially correct, he says. It’s just not a generational effect. Young people have always been less motivated to work – and all of us are less motivated today than we used to be.
The youth of today love luxury, have bad manners and contempt for authority. They contradict their parents, cross their legs and tyrannise their teachers.
Socrates
Even 2,400 years ago there was a stereotype that young people love luxury, have bad manners and despise authority – the quote is attributed to Socrates, who lived from 469 to 399 BC. Likewise, Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, was labelled ‘slackers’ by the media and pop culture: a lethargic, can’t-be-bothered generation supposedly lacking ambition. In the early 2000s, Generation X’s image changed: now it was widely seen as entrepreneurial and productive at work.
According to Schröder, there is a second reason for the accusations against Generation Z. ‘People just like to discriminate. We like to divide others into groups – preferably in such a way that we belong to the better group, the hard-working boomers, for example,’ the sociologist says. Conversely, it’s just as problematic to lump people together as ‘boomers’ and reduce all their behaviour to boomer stereotypes. This phenomenon of generationism sits alongside sexism and racism. Here, people categorise others not by gender or skin colour but by year of birth. It allows us to see our own group as better than others, which gives us a satisfying feeling. But that is sometimes immoral and often even illegal, says Schröder.
At work, Generation Z places particular value on flexibility, appreciation, good leadership and health promotion. That’s what the ‘Trend Study 2025’ by the Institute for Generational Research in Augsburg shows. According to the survey, younger employees in particular want more flexible working hours and the option of working from home. Around 80 per cent of Generation Z would like to organise their own working hours flexibly – on a par with Generation Y, but well ahead of the baby boomers (60 per cent). Gen Z’s interest in workplace health promotion is high: 35 per cent call for such measures, compared with only around 7 per cent of baby boomers. The offers mentioned include mental health support and sick days for period pain. The younger generation is also reassessing leadership. Around a third of Gen Z want better leadership in their companies – including delegating responsibility and treating staff with appreciation. In Generation Y, only around 15 per cent expressed this wish. There’s another clear difference when it comes to the four-day week: 28 per cent of Gen Z are in favour, compared with only around 7 per cent of baby boomers.
Beyond these figures, the study shows that younger people identify less strongly overall with their employer or their professional role. Trainees and apprentices also feel less attached to their occupation than older employees. Study director Hartwin Maas explains that employees will want even more flexibility in future, so that work can adapt better to their individual circumstances – especially women. The findings show that Gen Z is calling for a modern world of work in which not only efficiency matters, but also humanity, adaptability and respect.
Young, committed, underestimated
Paula S. doesn’t fit the picture either that older generations, such as the baby boomers, have of Generation Z. Paula was born in 2003 – so she belongs to exactly the generation that is supposed to be work-shy and spoilt. But one look at her life shows that these labels don’t apply to her. In 2023, the then 19-year-old passes her Abitur. Two days after the leavers’ ball, she starts training as a paramedic for a voluntary social year with the German Red Cross. So the fresh school-leaver doesn’t have much time for holidays and leisure. During her time with the ambulance service, Paula doesn’t shirk her work. ‘I did day shifts, night shifts and 24-hour shifts and took on all the tasks. So I worked just as hard as the full-time staff there,’ she says. When she isn’t on shift, the young paramedic also works in a fruit farmer’s café.
A year after her Abitur, the now 21-year-old finishes her voluntary social year with the German Red Cross. She then begins a degree in occupational therapy alongside vocational training. But despite her training during the week and her studies at the weekend, she doesn’t give up the ambulance service. Even if that means that on some days Paula goes straight from vocational college to a (night) shift. She says the ambulance service is like a second family; in one year she has come to love the station and made lots of friends.
Photo: Jule Müller
