AI isn’t the biggest threat to Gen Z workers right now, says leadership expert — why ‘youngism’ is to blame for holding this generation back

And one leadership expert says youngism is holding back members of Gen Z (those born approximately from 1997 to 2013).

“Youngism, the set of stereotypes and practices that discount younger workers as unreliable, lazy and disloyal, has outpaced any other type of ageism — and the economic impacts are startling,” Jennifer Moss, who specializes in leadership development, wrote in Fortune (2).

What is youngism?

All generations face damaging stereotypes in the workplace: Boomers are resistant to change, Gen Xers are disengaged slackers, millennials are entitled commitment-phobes and Gen Zs are unprofessional with a poor work ethic.

For Gen Zs, who are just starting in their careers, negative stereotypes can make it hard to get a foot in the door.

More than half (52%) of employers believe young people aren’t job-ready, citing “significant gaps in workplace skills and social adaptability,” according to a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the U.K. organization for human resources professionals. On top of that, 71% of employers say young people often don’t know how to behave in professional settings (3).

Another survey of 9,000 young people and 2,000 employers, published by the charity UK Youth, found that one-third (34%) of employers believe young workers are overly sensitive and one in 10 (9%) had rejected a young person for a job because of their age. From the perspective of young people, a majority (93%) say they’ve experienced negative treatment at work because of their age (4).

One young worker, Courtney Chatterton, told CNBC she’d experienced “microaggressions” tied to her age and gender. Chatterton — who was 27 at the time of publication — recalled one of her first jobs at a tech start-up.

She said her older colleagues were “constantly dismissive of me” and that her decisions were always questioned. “I felt so unsupported and completely defeated,” she added — and she quit after 18 months (5).

An uncertain work environment

Precarious work can also lead some older coworkers to dismiss Gen Zs’ desire for more mental health supports and better work-life balance.

“Today’s early adulthood is tougher to navigate, with higher costs, unstable entry roles, and later milestones, so Gen Z pushes for stability, mental health, and flexibility,” Moss wrote. “Older coworkers often misread those priorities as lower effort” (2).

Thanks to stagnating wages, high housing costs and a rising cost of living, many Gen Zs find themselves unable to achieve traditional financial milestones, like buying a house.

And many supplement their income with gig work — a Fortune-Harris poll found 57% of Gen Zs have a side hustle — which can further increase stress levels (6).

There’s a “rising sense of financial insecurity among Gen Zs and millennials” for the fourth year in a row, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey. Nearly half of Gen Zs (48%) say they don’t feel financially secure, and more than half live paycheck to paycheck.

How AI is impacting career paths

Gen Zs are also navigating the changing world of work; 74% of Gen Z respondents to the Deloitte survey believe generative AI will impact the way they work in the coming year (7).

A study from Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab found that AI could already be having a “significant and disproportionate impact on entry-level workers in the U.S. labor market.” It found a 13% drop in employment for workers aged 22 to 25 in fields with the most “AI exposure” — i.e. with the most jobs that could potentially be replaced with automation (8).

So, while members of Gen Z are facing fewer job prospects — at a time when there’s a lot of economic uncertainty — they’re also facing discrimination in the workforce.

And there aren’t a lot of places to turn for help. Age discrimination laws are designed for older workers: the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects those 40 years and older (9).

What Gen Z workers can do

To adapt, young workers are focusing on “training and skills development to prepare them to work alongside the technology,” according to the Deloitte study. But they also see value in developing soft skills, “such as empathy and leadership” (7).

But the changing world of work is also making some Gen Zs rethink their careers altogether. A Zety poll of 1,000 Gen Z workers in the U.S. found that 43% have already changed or adjusted their career plans because of AI.