Report: Companies Are Firing Gen Z Workers Soon After Hiring

Intelligent.com, an online magazine providing students with higher education rankings and research, surveyed 966 business leaders involved in hiring decisions to explore their attitudes toward hiring Gen Z college graduates. The results show hiring managers find recent college graduates unprepared for the workforce and hard to manage and often fire them quickly after hiring.

According to the report, most companies (75%) expressed dissatisfaction with some or all of the recent college graduates they hired this year. Over half of the companies surveyed fired a recent college graduate they hired this year, leading many to hesitate to hire from this generation. One in six hiring managers is reluctant to hire Gen Z candidates, and one in seven may refrain from hiring them until next year.

Lack of motivation or initiative (50%), poor communication skills (39%), and a lack of professionalism (46%) were the top reasons cited for firing Gen Z employees. Hiring managers also mentioned a poor response to feedback (38%) and a lack of problem-solving abilities (34%).

Hiring managers complain that Gen Zers (born between 1997 and the early 2010s) arrive unprepared for the workforce, struggle to handle the workload, lack motivation and communication skills, require more costly training, and behave in ways they find entitled and unprofessional.

Lateness is a common issue among Gen Z workers: 20% of hiring managers report that they are often late to work, 18% say they are late to meetings, and 15% mention they submit work past deadlines. Additionally, 19% say Gen Z employees don’t always dress professionally and use inappropriate language for work.

Despite the lack of positive experiences, 84% of companies plan to hire recent college graduates next year, while only 5% don’t. The report suggests recent graduates should demonstrate initiative, a positive attitude, and a strong work ethic, become more adaptable, and handle feedback better to increase their likelihood of getting hired. Hiring managers also value punctuality, technical and interpersonal skills, and internship and work experience.

Companies, on the other hand, “have an equal responsibility to prepare recent graduates for their particular workplace and give them the best chance to succeed by implementing formal employee onboarding programs that clearly outline company culture and expectations,” Huy Nguyen, Intelligent’s chief education and career development advisor, said in a statement.