Gen Z needs to learn the valuable life lessons of having a job

Telegraph

07-04-2025

A first job is rarely thrilling. From my late teens to early 20s , my experiences ranged from serving slices of ham in a supermarket, handing out club-night flyers on the street, spritz-ing perfume in a department store and working in a dreary office on an isolated business park.
The jobs were a means to an end, paying for my travelling after university, a tacky sixth-form holiday, an extra £1 vodka Red Bull on a Thursday night out in Watford.
But these jobs also came with important life lessons, and sometimes were even quite a lot of fun. There's a lot to be said for a humdrum job at the start of adulthood. For example, it's unlikely The Office sitcom would exist if Ricky Gervais hadn't drawn on his own memories of stale corporate life.
But these experiences seem to be fading away. Three in five young people who are neither learning nor working have ever had a paid job, according to figures published last week by the Learning and Work Institute.
Most of those not in education, employment or training (Neets) are also not even looking. As rates of mental ill-health and inactivity soar among young people, enough hasn't been said about the benefits of working a mundane job early in life.
A screen-obsessed generation picking an idle life over work will look back with regret. Even if they don't realise it yet, avoiding adulthood means missing out not only on important interactions and opportunities but also on life's more uncomfortable-but-necessary moments, such as dealing with criticism.
That's not to say that people should put up with nasty, unpleasant bosses picking on them, but that some constructive feedback and debate is part and parcel of working life. ‌
Bosses are getting frustrated with younger workers who they feel don't get it.
Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel 4, said a few years ago that young people were coming into the workforce with no capacity for opinions that differ from their own.
Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag claimed this year that modern footballers struggle to cope with criticism. 'The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct,' he said.
While it's no bad thing if old-school managers learn to use a little sugar-coating, there are limits.
Not having a paid job until much later into adulthood (and not studying either) means that life can become an online echo chamber with no structure, and as we know, that bubble can quickly become a dangerous one.
More than half of parents said their children would be happier if social media did not exist, according to research by More in Common and the New Britain Project for the National Education Union. As life becomes more inward and online, looking outward can look like a scarier and scarier prospect. Having skipped those banal early jobs and perhaps spent some time as a Neet, those who do enter the workforce later on can then show an intolerance to discomfort or difference.
A London law firm that pays its graduates £180,000 a year recently advertised for a so-called support lawyer as it said Gen Z staff need 'more hand-holding' to get through the working day.
Lawyers posting on legal blog RollOnFriday, which first reported the job advert, complained that Gen Z trainees were refusing to accept criticism and were complaining to HR when told they were wrong.
I don't agree with the stereotype that Gen Z are a bunch of snowflakes – there are clearly mental health challenges affecting this age group, which have been fuelled not only by Covid but also the rise of social media.
But among healthy young adults who are able to work but are not looking to do so, the benefits of a job have clearly been undersold. Meeting new people (which importantly includes ones who are not like-minded), gaining structure, learning from feedback, working out what you do or don't want to do in life – the list of benefits is endless and long-lasting.
Yet there are countless studies explaining why Gen Z might want to snub the grind. Many will think why leave the house for some dreary shifts with a jobsworth boss, especially if saving feels pointless as a growing number give up on the prospect of home ownership.
After all, just 10pc of British workers say they are actively engaged in work, according to a poll by Gallup – not exactly good PR for employment.
Some of that disconnect will be down to a complete lack of career guidance. Research published by the London Interdisciplinary School last week found that 23pc of 18 to 24-year-olds do not believe that there is a degree suitable for their desired career, while 45pc of 25 to 34-year-old graduates said they felt shocked by their lack of readiness for real-life challenges once they started working.
If more Neets took on odd jobs, they could figure out from an earlier age what it is they want from a career. Others might have watched parents or older siblings get dragged into a rat race that they simply don't fancy being part of. According to a survey by Santander UK, 76pc of those born after 1996 do not want to work for someone else. But all entrepreneurs need to learn from somewhere, and they certainly need to be able to take on criticism in order to master their craft.
Work can be the ticket out for those who feel stuck in a rut, but accepting feedback and a bit of friction needs to be a part of that. A first job won't be a dream come true, but it's certainly not a young person's dream to feel trapped at home all day.