The opinion piece at the OP links to the NYT piece OP's author is writing about: Gen Z wants to make their own schedules, they want paid time off when they aren’t feeling up to working and they want to make everything political.
Here are some of the top recommended NYT reader comments:
[quote][bold]David[/bold] 4775 Recommended
[quote]Almost all of the examples of this generation of 72 million are from a small subset with college degrees living upscale lives in urban areas working for trendy startups. I guarantee the Gen Z farmers don't text their cows that they're not feeding up today because of their mental health, nor do the young lawyers in major corporate firms or explain to one of the partners they can't come in to help meet a deadline because they woke up "not in a good place."
[quote][bold]José[/bold] 3550 Recommended
[quote]I suspect that these differences amongst generations are less marked in other working locales: GenZ-ers who are cashiers at Walmart, flipping burgers at McDonald's, or even working construction might not be quite as lippy. With respect, I found this article rather superficial, a touch tone-deaf, and representative of few outside of the urban, privileged, and mostly white crowd who works in "cool" new economy settings.
[quote][bold]Mark[/bold] 3467 Recommended
[quote]What this author mistakes for “boldness” is actually a combination of entitlement, fragility and narcissism.
[quote][bold]C.[/bold] 2319 Recommended
[quote]I'm 52, live in San Francisco, and I'm friends with a number of these younger people. Yes, they mostly work in tech. They're digital natives, fluent in social justice and the environmental crisis, and want to make a difference. But they have almost no understanding of empathy, communion with others, or self sacrifice for the greater good. Graciousness is foreign to them, a stodgy old fashioned word. And, really, how would they have learned about these things that take time, attention, patience, and guidance? They all report that there was so little of that in their upbringing. I like these young people, and I feel for them. But they're blind to deeper human connectedness and are working with increasingly powerful tools while disdaining critical feedback. Their potential for destruction terrifies me.
[quote][bold]NoName[/bold] 2203 Recommended
[quote]I am disturbed by this piece and the cheery spin about "cracking the code." That may well be another expression for "not doing the work." I've taught these kids when they were in college. Many always wanted extra credit to raise their grades, after failing to complete routine assignments. They asked for special treatment and complained about how red ink on their papers was traumatic. The list was endless. I'd like to see gen-z ask more questions about how they can be like gen-x and not the other way around.
[quote][bold]John B.[/bold] 1933 Recommended
[quote]News flash: the overwhelming majority of Americans of every generation do not work at tech start-ups, trendy marketing firms, and fashion houses. They work in auto factories and meat packing plants, at Walmart, Target and Home Depot, in hospitals and dentists' offices. They are teachers, cops and firefighters, and postal workers. They are associates in big law firms where they are still expected to bill clients 60 hours a week. They drive cabs and Uber cars, trains and airplanes, and tens of thousands of trucks. They work in Amazon warehouses and deliver for UPS and Fedex. They work in oil fields and, yes, even a few coal mines. The number of "Generation Zers" who can tell their bosses what hours they feel like working is miniscule. But count on some in the media to create a "narrative" about something that is not really happening.