Companies Are Quickly Firing Gen Z Employees

Companies are rapidly firing Gen Z employees just months after they hired them, according to a new report from Intelligent.com, but instead of putting the blame on G Z-ers, one expert told Newsweek whose fault it may really be.
The survey revealed that one in six businesses said they were hesitant to hire recent college graduates over concerns about how prepared they are for the work as well as their communication skills and professionalism.
And a whopping six in 10 employers had already fired college graduates who were hired in 2024. One in seven said they might refrain from hiring new college grads next year as well.
The survey looked at responses from nearly 1,000 business leaders in August, who revealed a strong skepticism from companies about how worthwhile Gen Z-ers are as employees.
“Many recent college graduates may struggle with entering the workforce for the first time as it can be a huge contrast from what they are used to throughout their education journey,” Intelligent’s Chief Education and Career Development Advisor Huy Nguyen said in the report.
“They are often unprepared for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics, and the expectation of autonomous work. Although they may have some theoretical knowledge from college, they often lack the practical, real-world experience and soft skills required to succeed in the work environment.”
And because Gen Z already has a stereotype of being lazy or uncooperative in the workplace, employers might be primed to find problems with the generation of workers that is adapting to full-time jobs for the first time.
“It can be easy for managers to buy into typical stereotypes of Gen Z and dismiss them entirely,” Nguyen said. “However, companies have an equal responsibility to prepare recent graduates for their particular workplace and give them the best chance to succeed.”
Across the board, 75 percent of companies reported that some or all of their recent college graduate hires were unsatisfactory.
Employers most often cited a lack of motivation in their recent graduate hires, at 50 percent, while 39 percent said poor communication skills and 46 percent said a lack of professionalism made this cohort difficult to work with.
But according to HR consultant Bryan Driscoll, the problem likely isn’t Gen Z, but instead the larger education system.
“As someone who went through years of education, including law school, I can tell you this: colleges are not preparing students for real-world work,” Driscoll told Newsweek. “Education today emphasizes theory over practice. Sure, learning Greek mythology is fascinating, but unless you’re teaching it, how does that prepare you to communicate effectively in a corporate meeting or demonstrate professionalism? It doesn’t.”
Driscoll said employers are now asking for skills not prioritized by the education system. When graduates subsequently fall short, companies are not investing in training either, Driscoll said.
“Instead of teaching new hires what they want from them, employers are simply firing workers for not being prepared. It’s a cyclical issue that reflects systemic failure on multiple levels,” he said.
The larger disconnect between higher education and the workforce will likely not be solved without strong onboarding and mentorship to bridge the gap.
“Not only are we creating a generation of workers who feel disillusioned and undervalued, but we’re also stunting long-term growth in the workforce,” Driscoll said. “Gen Z is hungry for development opportunities, but if companies keep treating them as disposable assets, we’re going to end up with a workforce that’s both overworked and unprepared.”
The solution is not to stop hiring people fresh out of school but instead change how education and professional development are viewed, he added.
“Companies are failing workers by not taking responsibility for training and hoping that a college degree can substitute,” Driscoll said. “It never has and, in our current system, it never will.”