Are Gen Z workers always late?

HENRY CHANDONNET

AS the business mantra goes, early is on time and on time is late. For some Gen Z workers though, late is the new on time.

In a new survey commissioned by Meeting Canary, an AI-powered work meeting behaviour analyser, 47% of Gen Z respondents said they believe that arriving five to 10 minutes late is still considered punctual. The survey also found that 70% of baby boomers believe that being right on time is actually late - opening up a generational workplace battle.

Different timing values

So, are Gen Zers really that late to meetings?

The Meeting Canary study, which surveyed 1 000 people from different age groups, found a significant generational divide in opinions on timeliness. When asked how long after a meeting time one could arrive before being considered late, 70% of baby boomers responded “no time” and that being punctual required arriving early. That same option was selected by only 22% of Gen Zers.

Laura van Beers, CEO of Meeting Canary, was unsurprised by the study’s outcome. She has seen the timeliness gap first-hand, recounting a story about a colleague closer to the baby boomer generation who ritualistically arrived at meetings before the start time. Closer to the Gen Z side herself, van Beers would arrive afterwards, causing the two to clash.

“I don’t really mind if other people are a bit later, but he is always very frustrated,” van Beers says.

She believes this kind of tardiness is incidental, and that recognition of the problem may offer an easy fix. “People will slowly become aware that their behaviour is impacting others in a negative way. Then they can change it,” she says.

Who’s to blame?

Gen Zers have faced their fair share of criticism in the workplace. For instance, a 2023 ResumeBuilder.com survey reported that 74% of managers and business leaders found Gen Z more difficult to work with than other generations. However, when it comes to the issue of timeliness, some experts believe that Gen Z is being unjustly stereotyped.

Mark Beal, assistant professor of practice at Rutgers University School of Communication, works with Gen Z students every day. He sees his students attend class sessions up to 40 minutes before the start of the lecture. Of course there are stragglers and latecomers, but not at a rate different from any other generation, he says.

The punctuality debate may also be a reflection of Gen Z workers’ push to be more effective with their time management. Gen Zers demand a greater work-life balance, and they use tools such as generative AI to avoid getting bogged down by small tasks. Maybe that meeting your Gen Z intern was running late to could have been an email exchange instead.

“Gen Z works smarter, not necessarily harder,” Beal says. “I really do believe that Gen Z is focused on the efficient and productive use of their time.”

* Edited from article first published by Fast Company US