Colgate Executive Counters ‘Woke and Lazy’ Criticism, Stating Gen Z Workers Are ‘Pushing Us to Get Better’

Stereotypes persist, and some employers have already formed opinions about Gen Z workers. Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster described young staff she encountered on the set of True Detective as “really annoying, especially in the workplace,” while fellow actress Whoopi Goldberg suggested they “only want to work four hours” yet expect to live comfortably.

However, the chief human resources officer at the $62 billion giant Colgate-Palmolive is pushing back, stating that young employees are not the career slackers some portray them to be. Sally Massey credits Gen Z with being ambitious and incredibly tech-savvy—essential skills that the consumer products company, known for Colgate toothpaste and Irish Spring soap, seeks in its talent.

“[Gen Z] have grown up with technology. They’ve grown up in a very different way than some of the other generations in the organization,” the CHRO told .

“They bring with them new ideas, new perspectives, curiosity,” Massey added. “They’re pushing us to get better and to do things differently—I think it’s great.”

Massey acknowledges that Gen Z introduces their own distinct “perspectives and expectations” to the workplace. With 34,000 Colgate employees spanning four generations, bridging the gap between age groups presents a significant challenge. To ensure harmonious collaboration, the executive is overhauling the traditional chain of command; Colgate’s senior leaders are now listening to entry-level staffers, fostering a flow of ideas across ranks and generations to achieve the best possible outcomes.

“We’re not siloed by generation or tenure, the senior leaders at Colgate want to hear ideas and thoughts from the more junior employees,” Massey stated. “It’s how we get better, because as you get more senior, you can get further away. So it’s important for all of us to stay close, connected, and to learn from each other—regardless of the role.”

Employers Recognizing Gen Z Talent, Particularly Their Tech Prowess

Massey’s perspective is not unique. Not all employers have abandoned hiring Gen Z individuals, despite reports suggesting otherwise. In fact, many are actively seeking young talent with exceptional AI skills.

Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe’s head of data and AI, is fully committed to recruiting recent graduates for the $91.5 billion financial services company. Like Massey, she highlighted Gen Z’s technological adaptability as one of the in-demand skills she looks for in Stripe employees.

“I’m actually hiring more new grads—now, they’re largely new grad PhDs—but more new grads than ever before,” Glassberg Sands told the last year. “Because they have the cutting edge skills, and they come in with fresh ideas, and they know how to think, and they know how to use the latest tools.”

Even when young employees prove challenging, CEOs continue to embrace Gen Z as influential innovators. Matt Huang, co-founder of the $12 billion crypto investment firm Paradigm, is well-acquainted with the temperament of young workers. The company’s initial hire, 19-year-old college dropout Charlie Noyes, was late to his first 10 a.m. meeting. The business has also adopted unconventional, Gen Z-aligned methods for selecting its top executives; for instance, Paradigm’s chief technology officer, Georgios Konstantopoulos, was discovered on a Discord server while still a teenager.

Employing these innovative—though sometimes unconventional—Gen Z individuals might seem like a gamble for traditional workplaces. The Paradigm CEO conceded that while young staff may present drawbacks, the significant value they generate outweighs any disruption they might cause in the office.

“They create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes and you want to pull your hair out,” Huang told last year. “But then you see what they can do and it’s like, holy crap. Nobody else in the world could do that.”

Business Leaders Defending Gen Z Against Stereotypes of Laziness

Even seasoned business experts who teach numerous Gen Z students are challenging the criticism. Suzy Welch, a best-selling author and professor of management practice at New York University, countered those who label the younger generation lazy by reflecting on her own career journey. The baby boomer professor recalled her youthful expectation of surpassing her parents’ financial success, a prospect she believes is unattainable for many Gen Zers. Welch urged employers to empathize with their distinct employment and economic vulnerabilities.

“Gen Z [has] no reason to believe that they’re ever going to have economic security,” she stated on last year. “I don’t know about you, but I’m old enough that when I was in college, I thought ‘For sure, I’m going to have more money than my parents.’ And that ‘If I work very very hard I’m going to buy a house someday,’ and this was the assumption.”

“A lot of Gen Z [are] just saying ‘I’m not even sure we’re going to be alive in 20 years because of global warming,’” Welch continued. “And ‘The world is probably going to end anyway because of the stupidity of decisions your generations made.’”

Millionaire podcaster and former CNN legal analyst Mel Robbins also weighed in. In response to stereotypes portraying young people as anxious, social media-addicted, and lazy, she posed one question: “Have you stopped to consider what it’s like to be a twentysomething today?” She suggested that if critics truly empathized, they would confront the severe stress and pressures Gen Z faces, which were absent even five years prior.

“The world is in chaos—and most twentysomethings had parents that lived in a very predictable, stable economy,” Robbins said in a post last year. “They went to a corporate job, they reported to the office, they had a network of friends at work. That’s not the typical 20-year-old experience.”