Insight into Gen Z work attire

Through my discussions with leaders about working with today’s young professionals, I have heard more than a few stories of people coming across as less-than-professional during virtual meetings.

There are tales of employees attending virtual meetings in hoodies or ball caps or dripping wet hair and a housecoat. I even heard a story of a young professional dialing into a weekly video call with one of their company’s executives from a lying down position in their bed.

Oof.

Before I continue, as with everything I write regarding Gen Z in the workplace, these stories do not apply to everyone.

Remember, generational lenses are used to help us understand and ask questions, not to lead us to paint all people of a certain age with the same brush.

I talk about this in a prior edition of a past newsletter edition (I used to roll my eyes at generational talk), if you want to learn more.)

That said, this issue of sometimes excessive or inappropriate familiarity and informality does come up from time to time.

So, what's the deal with Gen Z work attire? Let’s unpack it.

It feels like they don’t care.

The prevailing sentiment of leaders regarding these types of appearance choices on virtual meetings is,

“It feels like they don’t care about the job or about how they’re coming across to executives on these calls.”

I get why people would turn to this assumption.

Professionals from prior generations seem to have an apparently innate know-how when it comes to how to show up.

So, we assume that younger employees have that same level of knowledge but merely choose not to apply it.

This leads us to then assume they are choosing not to apply that knowledge because they don’t care.

What if they just don’t know?

But what if that isn’t the issue at all? What if the issue is just that they don’t know?

Again, if you’re from a generation that just knows that a certain level of professionalism is needed for work meetings, be they in person or virtual, this might baffle you.

“How can they not know?! It’s so obvious!”

But, again, it’s obvious to you. Is it obvious to them?

From casual classes to casual culture.

Did you attend virtual high school classes during the pandemic? Did you ever roll out of bed to hop onto a Zoom call in university? Casual attire was the norm for virtual calls for them.

Another compounding factor is the number of workplaces that advertise themselves as being “fun” or “casual”.

As it turns out, those terms mean different things to different people.

If you are comparing today’s workplace to the one of 25, 15, or even 10 years ago, then yes, today’s workplaces tend to be more casual.

But if it’s compared to today’s university environment, it isn’t.

Today’s young professionals can’t be expected to know what the workplace of yore was like when, for many, this is their first “real” job.

You said the environment was laid-back.

They are making choices that, in their lives, align with a laid-back environment.

Don’t leave Gen Z work attire to chance.

In a prior edition of this newsletter, Spelling out what goes unsaid at work, I talk about the growing need to spell out things that might not have previously needed saying.

Unless someone tells today’s young professionals otherwise, they are going to assume that their current behaviour is okay.

If the way they dressed for virtual calls during school or part-time jobs was okay, they are going to assume that that attire continues to be okay in their new career, too.

I need to reiterate: they are not necessarily dressing this way to be disrespectful or because they don’t care.

They might just don’t know.

Some leaders assume young employees will take the hint by observing how others dress on calls. Maybe.

But why leave it to chance? Spell it out.

Warmly,

Stephanie

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