Recent news has shown that Gen Z hires are being rapidly terminated from their positions. In a recent study, six out of 10 employers states that they fired Gen Z workers hired from college within the past few months. Rates from 2024 to 2025 show these workers being fired only months after obtaining a new position. But one Ohio woman thinks they’re not being dismissed because they’re unsatisfactory or unprofessional employees. She says they’re being fired because they won’t “bend the knee” to their employers.
Gen Z is generally seen as those who were born between the years 1997 and 2012. These workers are reportedly being fired from their positions at alarming rates and the major reasons why are still unclear. As TikToker @theflickofdariss says, she’s pretty sure she has the reasons figured out. She thinks that Gen Z workers “know there’s no real return or investment” from the moment they obtain a job. They’ve been trained to see through jobs as a whole, understanding that what you put in may not be what you get out.
This TikToker goes on to say that Millennials and Gen Xers have “ego trips” in the office. She says that’s why Gen Z workers won’t bend the knee at these jobs. As she says, workers who have been there for a long time tend to get better benefits. They’re allowed to stray from work uniforms and show up to work whenever they please. But she says that Gen Z workers are expected to do everything perfectly and never question anything. This leaves it open for them to be taken advantage of in the workplace. As she states, things need to be treated “equally” for everyone across the board.
Perhaps the problem does lie within the fact that Gen Z workers aren’t given the same “flexibility” as other grandfathered workers, as she says. Interestingly, other commenters agreed. As one shared, “’Gen Z doesn’t want to work’ yeah okay. I’m 29 and I learned at like 16 I have to work till I die and no one is gonna live or die if I don’t get this marketing assignment done by 5pm.” Another commented, “’Why do you want to work in this company?’ To get paid. Literally that is it. All this mental and social gymnastics pretending to care about the company.”
The truth is, workers carry a heavy load in many jobs. Unfortunately, unhealthy attitudes toward the workplace are common and, in many cases, originate from the work environment itself.
