Bosses are firing Gen Z grads just months after hiring them—here’s what they say needs to change

Fortune ^ | 3/10/2026 | Orianna Rosa Royle

[simpson96]

After complaining for years that Gen Z grads are difficult to work with, bosses are no longer all talk, no action: Now they’re rapidly firing young workers who aren’t up to scratch just months after hiring them.

The numbers are stark. According to a survey, six in 10 employers admitted they had already sacked the Gen Z workers they had hired fresh out of college.

Intelligent.com, a platform dedicated to helping young professionals navigate the future of work, surveyed nearly 1,000 U.S. business leaders. It found that the class of 2024’s shortcomings are shaping how bosses hire next—and it’s not good news for future grads.(snip)

So where is it going wrong for fresh-faced graduates?

Employers’ gripe with young people today is their lack of motivation or initiative—50% of the leaders surveyed cited that as the reason why things didn’t work out with their new hire.

Bosses also pointed to Gen Z being unprofessional, unorganized, and having poor communication skills as their top reasons for having to sack grads.

Leaders say they have struggled with the latest generation’s tangible challenges, including being late to work and meetings often, not wearing office-appropriate clothing, and using language appropriate for the workspace.

Now, more than half of hiring managers have come to the conclusion that college grads are unprepared for the world of work.

[MinorityRepublican]

if jobs want people to work their butts off you better give the employees a good reason to work their butts off

💯

[Whatever Works]

Bingo. I saw this happening when I was teaching them. Everything had to be child friendly. No grades. No homework. Parental badgering of teachers. Only games could be used to teach. No memorization. Total indulgement and affirmation. Gen Z comes as no surprise.

[mitchjackson1972]

And that’s why no white guys work for you LOL but hey keep on hiring those illegals

[ladyjane]

Kids don’t work in high school anymore. The focus in high school is getting into college. To do that they must do volunteer work, have a sport and be involved in school clubs, newspapers or student government.

Unfortunately, half the kids going to college these days shouldn’t be there. Even recent admits at Harvard need remedial math and English, something like 30% IIRC.

[sport]

The Department of Education is doing its job.

[Albion Wilde]

Now, more than half of hiring managers have come to the conclusion that college grads are unprepared for the world of work.

But they know all about intersectionality, the oppressive legacy of slavery, capitalist imperialism, the gender spectrum, and their rights!

[ansel12]

“””””if I had to work at a job where I was treated horribly and got no benefits I too would only put in the minimum work, if jobs want people to work their butts off you better give the employees a good reason to work their butts off”””””

You are merely revealing what kind of worker you are, people work at their own natural level and while everyone in the group is getting the same pay (high-low-or whatever it is), some are good and hard workers, and some aren’t.

[1FreeAmerican]

And let me add one more thing - in the “work zone” - you don’t deserve anything until you earn it.

Same as the .MIL - you’re a private - until you are better than a private.

I’ve had more than a few employees that thought they were very good at what they did and that that was good enough. I’d ask “is that all you are or can be? No matter how good you are you can always be better if you want to be. Do you want it?”

[1FreeAmerican]

Hey dumb a$$ - tell me what is Ohm’s Law?

[MotorCityBuck]

“You should see what it takes to try and find someone who isn't the rare good worker to dig a long 5 foot deep trench.”

LOL!

Thankfully that is not my line of work, nor what I'm looking to hire. ;)

[ViLaLuz]

We do have a good job with good pay, supervisors, benefits and bonuses. It’s easy work, too. Retail sales with commission. What I’m describing is a generation that wasn’t properly trained at home or school, but were instilled with a toxic spirit of entitlement. And even in spite of that, there are still a few good workers. Obviously their families trained them well and instilled good work ethic.

[rdcbn1]

This is very accurate.

A lot of the problem is due to general cultural issues but a lot of it is due to our education system itself.

Obama pretty much destroyed our educational system at the K-12 system and the politically correct, identity politics DEI movement has really destroyed our university system.

I can't overstate that enough.

At most all of our “Elite” universities that jumped on the abolish standardized testing DEI admit policies the level of quality of students dropped off so dramatically that the Profs in all of the serious classes and even some in the DEI identity politics study areas were appalled at the number of low functioning yet stunningly entitled morons who were in their classes They are moving swiftly to reinstate hard quantitative test results as part of the admit process but it's going to take a while to clear out the dead wood.

[ViLaLuz]

Yes. That’s how we advanced. Now so many are ruined by a spirit of entitlement and narcissism.

[ansel12]

It is a more difficult job to fill than an office job.

[mitchjackson1972]

Do you know why costco is hard to get a job at? Because they barely need to hire because almost nobody quits, right on the first day you get full dental and medical, they get lots of vacation days, the stores always have more than enough employees so any employee is not overworked or overstressed, plus they pay 5-10 dollars more per hour than any other retail store of similar kind. Once again, if you want good workers you gotta bend over backwards and give them a reason to be good workers

[JZelle]

Well said. Both things can be true.

[chajin]

There was a time when work was a klesis, a calling. You worked, as the Bible teaches, as if you were working for God, regardless of what your work was--and that included housework. Few if any outside the church--and unfortunately not that many inside church either--have this attitude anymore. I don't expect most of you will agree because one of the effects is that people use you, but your reward comes from the Lord and is eternal, not just the money from the boss.

[ansel12]

That is your dream job Costco? That is the job and the pay that would change you from the shallow, angry, unhirable smart-ass lazy guy on this thread to being a sharp and motivated, mission oriented team worker?

People don’t change like that, if a worker at Costco is a good worker it is because they always are, before and after Costco employment.

[catnipman]

my guess is that they also lie through their teeth whenever they don’t know something instead of admitting their ignorance and learning what they don’t know ... you’re only supposed to fake it ‘til you make it, not fake it forever ...

[Robert A Cook PE]

Bush II started that educate-to-failure trend, I think because his was an ill-ed (er, elementary school teacher, and wanted (er, demanded ) a touchy, feely, fruity-tooty school program. For everybody.