Love in the office, Gen Z needs a talking to, and other likely tales…

This week we round-up some of the most eye-catching statements received by Personnel Today over the past few days and present them nakedly – make of them what you will. If there’s a pithy comment to be made, however, we probably won’t resist making it. Valentine’s Day proves a predictable angle for some of our contributors.

Gen Zzzzzzzz …
From Resume Builder: “3 in 10 hiring managers say they avoid hiring Gen Z candidates. Hiring managers say Gen Zers ask for too much money (42%), lack communication skills (39%), and don’t seem engaged (33%). Gen Z candidates don’t dress appropriately and struggle with eye contact. They exhibit entitlement (60%) and are too difficult to manage (26%). A third of hiring managers say they’ve had to fire a Gen Zer within a month of their start date.”

In response to Resume Builder, from Tom Cornell, senior IO psychology consultant at HireVue: “Every older generation gripes about the newer generation entering the workforce – workers should focus on how to work better together instead of attempting to force younger generations to experience the same struggles they did. If you’re hiring based on appearance and eye contact, you’re hiring for the 1980s and missing a potential employee’s potential.”

I think I’m falling in love – with Chat GPT
From Definition: “Valentine’s Day is around the corner, raising discussions on AI companionship. New research shows that a fifth of UK workers talk to AI tools like a friend (21%) and ask them for advice on their life (28%), finances (19%), career (15%), and romantic relationships (9%). Respondents said AI makes them feel accepted (16%), comforted (16%), understood (24%), safe (17%), like they have a friend (13%), and less alone (6%). Five per cent of all respondents said they talk to it like a therapist.”

(PT: This was astounding news to us and some of us were deeply sceptical, as we prefer to talk to – you know – humans about these issues.)

My job makes me unfit
From PureGym: “New research from PureGym has revealed that over half the UK’s population (56%) feel their job stops them from keeping fit – an alarming figure given the proven mental and physical health benefits of regular exercise. The UK Fitness Report reveals which professions feel their jobs regularly stop them from being able to exercise … with those working in HR and the arts affected the most. 41% say they’re too tired to exercise after work, while 1 in 3 say their job means that they don’t get time to exercise. Over half the UK’s population (56%) feel their job stops them from keeping fit. Currently, workers in retail, hospitality and transportation exercise the least.”

(PT: PureGym is definitely on to something with this – but, also, it keeps pouring with rain whenever I want to go for a run and it’s always dark. It could be that it’s the UK that’s stopping us getting fit!)

Workplace love affairs
From instantprint: 63% of respondents think office romances should be kept private and personal. 45% of Brits revealed that they have dated a work colleague. The workplace is the second most popular place to meet your partner with 1 in 5 of us meeting our current partner at work. 1 in 6 Brits would rather date someone who earns more than them. 1 in 12 UK office workers believe that if their date earns more, they’re expected to pay for dinner. Asking a colleague on a date, out to lunch or for a drink are the most common ways to catch their attention, but Brits aren’t willing to pay.

(PT: the statistics would appear less dramatic if the word ‘only’ is inserted before ‘1’. We thought overall “nothing to see here.”)

Stress among local authority workers
From The Calculator Site: “Five locations where employees are the least stressed in the UK: The study examined each local authority’s mean number of annual paid overtime hours per person in 2023 … to determine the top two local authorities least at risk of burnout in 2024. Barnet and Redbridge rank in joint first place, with an annual mean paid overtime of 16 hours per person, 60.97% less than the national average in 2023. Inner London, Lambeth and the City of Edinburgh follow in joint second place. These three local authorities each had 21 hours of annual mean overtime per person, 48.78% less the national average in 2023.”

(PT: Will the council employees at these five local authorities be chilling out by 5pm today when this article is launched or will they still be around to read about how ‘unburned out’ they are?)

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