I am genuinely having a hard time with my Gen Z employee. I have to go through everything step by step each time and it just seems like nothing sticks. I even create documentation for him and he just can’t follow it fully.
Have you tried video tutorials? I have noticed that a lot of younger people are more likely to look up tutorials on YouTube than written ones.
As a GenXer, I’m kind of horrified by how much of the “how-to” universe is shifting from written instructions to video.
(No, I don’t want a video tutorial for how to knit a scarf. I want a normal pattern. Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.)
Seriously, though, the next time you go through something with this employee, use a screen recorder to capture the process and then share the recording with him. Maybe it will help.
For me it depends on what I need instructions for. Some things, like maybe fixing something in my car, I’m going to go directly to YouTube… But for things I might have more familiarity with and don’t need a constant visual, I’ll take written every time.
I also don’t want a video because I can READ a helluva lot faster than it takes to watch a video.
I can also reference back to WRITTEN information much faster. Everything about shifting from written medium to video is about commodifying content, rather than a better exchange of information. And it sucks.
But I also know a decent amount about the failure of literacy education in the US in the past 20+ years, so I’m not surprised that many people in the younger generations prefer video. For too many of them, reading is a chore.
Hell, I know plenty of people in my own generation who will tell you they haven’t read a novel since high school like it’s a point of pride.
To me, that’s just a difference in how people learn things in general. Some people will learn better from watching a tutorial, some people learn from reading instructions and some learn by fiddling around until they figure it out. The best way to figure out how to educate someone is to figure out how they learn things. Not everybody’s brains work the same way and that’s just true for everyone regardless of age.
Make a tiktok with “apple” by charli xcx in the background, subway surfers footage in the corner, and make the camera move further away from the screen (whats screen recording?) at random points.
I was saying I don’t really have any issues with them. I’d have them run through the steps in front of me and then ask them to come up with a strategy for.the parts they messed up on. But didn’t think it was helpful to say
So much fucking this. So many people these days are straight up just useless at their jobs, but companies and managers tend to fall into some sort of toxic positivity bullshit and it’s just so hard to give negative feedback to someone notoriously bad at their job somehow. An advice would be to just keep it honest and expect some sort of improvement, otherwise they may try their luck somewhere else.
I was giving him positive reinforcement his first year (honestly thought it would work with him to reinforce the good things he does), this year is the brutal truth year.
Are you in a union position? Because I’ve never had a non-union job where there was any difficulty in firing anybody for literally any reason whatsoever, and they did it all of the time.
I am genuinely having a hard time with my Gen Z employee. I have to go through everything step by step each time and it just seems like nothing sticks. I even create documentation for him and he just can’t follow it fully.
I’m truly baffled and any advice is welcome.
Have you tried video tutorials? I have noticed that a lot of younger people are more likely to look up tutorials on YouTube than written ones.
As a GenXer, I’m kind of horrified by how much of the “how-to” universe is shifting from written instructions to video.
(No, I don’t want a video tutorial for how to knit a scarf. I want a normal pattern. Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.)
Seriously, though, the next time you go through something with this employee, use a screen recorder to capture the process and then share the recording with him. Maybe it will help.
For me it depends on what I need instructions for. Some things, like maybe fixing something in my car, I’m going to go directly to YouTube… But for things I might have more familiarity with and don’t need a constant visual, I’ll take written every time.
I also don’t want a video because I can READ a helluva lot faster than it takes to watch a video.
I can also reference back to WRITTEN information much faster. Everything about shifting from written medium to video is about commodifying content, rather than a better exchange of information. And it sucks.
I agree with you one hundred percent.
But I also know a decent amount about the failure of literacy education in the US in the past 20+ years, so I’m not surprised that many people in the younger generations prefer video. For too many of them, reading is a chore.
Hell, I know plenty of people in my own generation who will tell you they haven’t read a novel since high school like it’s a point of pride.
To me, that’s just a difference in how people learn things in general. Some people will learn better from watching a tutorial, some people learn from reading instructions and some learn by fiddling around until they figure it out. The best way to figure out how to educate someone is to figure out how they learn things. Not everybody’s brains work the same way and that’s just true for everyone regardless of age.
Make a tiktok with “apple” by charli xcx in the background, subway surfers footage in the corner, and make the camera move further away from the screen (whats screen recording?) at random points.
spoiler
/s , hopefully obviously.
Also make sure at one point to have a really poorly masked video of yourself talking over the background video
Maybe he’s trying to perform above his IQ. Some people can’t learn some things.
I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about how nobody can get through the AI filters when applying for jobs.
These are the people who get through the filters.
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This is the best advice for dealing with zoomers.
I was saying I don’t really have any issues with them. I’d have them run through the steps in front of me and then ask them to come up with a strategy for.the parts they messed up on. But didn’t think it was helpful to say
Fire him. Not able to follow procedure. So many people do not deserve jobs.
May you live in exactly the kind of society you ask for.
That’s kind of gross… Maybe they don’t “deserve” the job that they have, but they deserve jobs.
UBI now
So much fucking this. So many people these days are straight up just useless at their jobs, but companies and managers tend to fall into some sort of toxic positivity bullshit and it’s just so hard to give negative feedback to someone notoriously bad at their job somehow. An advice would be to just keep it honest and expect some sort of improvement, otherwise they may try their luck somewhere else.
I was giving him positive reinforcement his first year (honestly thought it would work with him to reinforce the good things he does), this year is the brutal truth year.
Are you in a union position? Because I’ve never had a non-union job where there was any difficulty in firing anybody for literally any reason whatsoever, and they did it all of the time.