Why bosses are hiring etiquette coaches for Gen Z staff

Researchers have claimed that Gen Z drink less, don't have much sex but are particularly interested in astrology. Now these teens and 20-somethings face a new accusation – that they don't know how to behave in the workplace.

Bosses in San Francisco are hiring etiquette coaches to teach young workers about everything from eye contact to personal hygiene.

Sweaty and skimpy

Employers complain that Gen Z workers "want to be promoted after only a few months, treat the office like their bedroom, show up in sweats or skimpy office-siren fits, FaceTime friends from their desks, and ghost their managers", said The San Francisco Standard.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Some Gen Z workers leave food packaging on staff room tables, expecting cleaners to throw them away, and don't shower or change their clothes very often, said one boss. Other young staff didn't know how to ask their manager questions politely or how to make eye contact.

Often, the problems begin before the worker is even hired. In a survey of 1,000 employers last year, one in eight said a Gen Z candidate had brought their mum or dad to a job interview. And a study by Resume Builder last year found companies complaining that Gen Z candidates at interviews didn't dress appropriately (58%), made unreasonable salary demands (42%), and didn’t seem very interested or engaged (33%).

Once they're hired, the researchers found that Gen Z workers behave in an entitled way (60%) and are "too difficult to manage" (26%).

Soft skills

Some firms in San Francisco have come up with a novel solution to the Gen Z problem: appointing etiquette experts to coach young employees in basic workplace manners.

One etiquette coach, Rosalinda Randall, said enquiries have risen by 50% over the last two months. Bosses "didn't want to deal with it, so they hired me", she said. Randall has given workshops on everything from how to make eye contact to where to stick your name tag and "how to ask for – not demand, things from your boss".

Another coach, Melissa Franks, has been "flooded" with requests for help, particularly from employers who feel like they're being "challenged by their young colleagues". She said she encouraged bosses to think of such "pushback" as "youthful curiosity" rather than "insubordination".

Jenny Simmons, global head of onboarding and employee learning at Salesforce, has "revamped the company's processes for new workers to beef up the training of soft skills". There are now classes on "presentation, emotional intelligence and Slack etiquette".

But all this is just a "new thing" for companies to "waste money on", said Gizmodo. It's hard to believe that Gen Z is "any better or any worse than any other generation of American worker".

As for Gen Z workers themselves, they "see things differently" to their bosses, said The San Francisco Standard. From their perspective, millennial and Gen X managers have "no work-life balance" and don't offer it to their staff. They're "still waiting for that work-life balance they promised us", said one on X.