You’ve built your entire career on hard work.

Long days, busy weeks. Deadlines met by powering through. Head down, no complaints. And now you sit as a manager or entrepreneur across from a new generation of employees. Smart, creative, ambitious... but they also come in with questions you didn't hear before. Can they work here for three or four days? Is unlimited vacation days an option? They suggest moving a meeting because it 'might be too much otherwise.' And you think: wait, what?

You wonder: how do you collaborate with Gen Z? Not because you underestimate their talent, but because it feels like you’re playing by different rules. What you see as efficiency feels to them like a toxic rhythm. And what they call boundaries sounds to you like parenting with kid gloves.

Why collaborating with Gen Z sometimes clashes

In the workplace, you see it in small moments. An appointment that is set in stone for one is flexible for another as long as the result is achieved. Feedback meant to help is received as criticism. And a short, clear message can come across as distant or blunt.

This is not about unwillingness, but about differences in interpretation. Especially in teams with multiple generations, communication problems often arise without anyone being able to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong. Gen Z employees, millennials, and experienced colleagues each bring their own communication style, work pace, and vision of good collaboration.

Recognizable generation differences in the workplace

At first glance, it seems primarily a matter of work ethic. Experienced employees often value physical presence, long-term loyalty, and visible effort more. Younger colleagues, including many Gen Z employees, are more likely to choose hybrid working, autonomy, and a healthy work-life balance from day one. You can see that difference in practice:

• Scheduling meetings versus coordinating ad-hoc via chat.

• Formal, occasional feedback versus regular, informal updates.

• Working until it's done versus maintaining boundaries, even when the work is still ongoing.

Understanding Gen Z better

When you look at collaborating with Gen Z, it's not just about forms of communication or process agreements. It's about how work relates to the rest of their lives. About autonomy, balance, and the inherent right to set boundaries.

Working with young people means understanding that they grew up in a time of constant change. While earlier generations learned that security came from hard work and loyalty, they have learned that security is never a given. This makes them pragmatic and critical. That critical eye can sometimes come across as impatience. Their need for autonomy can feel like a lack of discipline. And agreements about structure can feel to them like distrust.

This is how Gen Z views your way of collaborating

And just as you sometimes have trouble understanding their choices, Gen Z often struggles to place yours. Why there are so many meetings. Why deadlines are sacred, even if it means working overtime. Or why changes are slow, while they think it could be sorted out by tomorrow.

These aren’t necessarily differences in motivation, but mainly in reference frameworks. Without discussing it, assumptions remain: and these form the core of many communication problems in the workplace.

The hidden costs of communication problems

If expectations in the workplace go unspoken, they grow larger. Misunderstandings lead to frustration. Frustration leads to less engagement. And less engagement increases the chance of turnover. According to Gallup, only 23% of employees worldwide truly feel engaged with their work.¹ That low percentage costs organizations an estimated $8.9 trillion annually in lost productivity.

First step towards better collaboration with Gen Z

Collaborating with Gen Z does not require overhauling your entire corporate culture, but it does require a different starting point. Not assuming that everyone follows the same rules of the game, but making expectations explicit.

How do we work together? When do we give feedback? How do we respect each other's boundaries? By discussing these kinds of questions, a shared reference framework arises. This makes teams more agile, productive, and creative.