Actor Jodie Foster describes working with young people as “really annoying … they’re like: ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10.30am.’” Gen Z certainly has a reputation for not complying with “normal” work practices, taking random days off, working hours that suit them and prioritising their mental health.

The issue has been making headlines after a report found a higher proportion of people in their early 20s are economically inactive because of health reasons. It said 6 per cent of younger people have been signed off work, more than in any other age group below the late 40s, and a rise in mental health issues seems to be the driving factor.

Younger workers have earned a reputation for not complying with “normal” working practices.Credit: Getty

My own experience is mixed. I work with at least as many highly focused, career-minded young people as those who struggle to turn up. But some behaviour is perplexing.

A case in point. I recently organised a filmed discussion to explore the different stages of women’s careers. I lined up speakers for each of the key milestones, including a CEO, and checked in with everyone the day before the in-person recording. The youngest failed to show up and did not respond to phone calls or WhatsApp messages.

I spent the day trying to check that she was OK to no avail. No one else seemed to think it was anything out of the ordinary – even her company seemed relaxed, although she had been expected in the office. I continued to worry until someone informed me that she was back at work the next day, no explanation given or apparently needed for being AWOL for 24 hours.

But the odd no-show doesn’t justify labelling an entire generation “snowflakes”. Is much of the criticism actually just a classic case of older people despairing of the “youth of today”, forgetting how lazy or unmotivated we might have been at the same age?

We should help unmotivated young people see that even with all today’s big challenges, they can create exciting prospects for themselves.

I went searching for evidence. Here in Britain, we haven’t collected historic information on young people’s attitudes to work, but in America, an ongoing study called Monitoring the Future has been surveying 12th graders (18-year-olds) since 1976, with the data available right up to 2022. In short, it’s a study of work ethic right the way through from Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) to Gen Z (mid-1990s to 2010s).

Jean M Twenge, a psychologist and author of Substack account Generation Tech, interrogated the data to see whether today’s young people really are less willing to work than previous generations.