Dave Portnoy unloads on ‘lazy, entitled’ Gen Z as they take over the workplace
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy didn’t mince words when discussing the “lazy, entitled losers” taking baby boomers’ place in today’s workforce.
Gen Z – the generation born between 1997 and 2012 – has received a bad rap for laziness, entitlement, emotional sensitivity, and poor communication skills in recent years.
Since they’ve overtaken their baby boomer grandparents at the office, the changes are already showing for some of those managing them.
“They don’t want to work. They’re spoiled brats,” Portnoy said Thursday on “Varney & Co.”
“They’ve grown up in a world where it’s [an] everyone gets a trophy generation, and the idea of showing up and going through traffic and being at the office at 8:45 and working until six, they look at you like you’ve got 10 heads,” he continued.
Portnoy proceeded to claim the youngest working age group expects everything handed to them “on a silver platter” and lamented they’re “very hard to motivate.”
He closed out the criticism by branding Gen Zers “really lazy, entitled losers.”
A recent Wall Street Journal report discussing the “locker room playbook” for managing Gen Z looks to the literal locker room where professional athletes – many of whom are Gen Z – have to be motivated and led, just as Gen Zers in other professions.
The outlet highlights that many Gen Zers prioritize things like self-care and work-life boundaries more than other generations before them may have.
Marti Wronski, chief operating officer of the Milwaukee Brewers who has been with the franchise for over two decades, told the outlet the generation typically asks questions that other age groups wouldn’t have asked during job interviews – questions about the amount of paternity leave available, the organization’s values and what it represents and how the role fits their personal “big picture,” indicating a focus on matching jobs to personal interests and life goals.
