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Millionaire podcaster and former CNN legal analyst Mel Robbins has called for greater understanding of the pressures facing Gen Z workers, amid mounting criticism from business figures and celebrities over the generation’s attitudes to work.
Speaking on TikTok, Robbins pushed back against claims that Gen Z lacks resilience or work ethic, describing such commentary as dismissive of the complex environment young workers now face.
She said: “We sit here and we look at twentysomethings and we’re like, ‘Oh, they’re weak or addicted to social media, or all anxious.’ Have you stopped to consider what it’s like to be a twentysomething today?”
Criticism from business leaders and celebrities
Gen Z has drawn fire in recent months, with Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey, actress Jodie Foster, and Whoopi Goldberg piling on to question the group’s approach to work. Goldberg argued that younger workers don’t “bust their behinds” and want to “work four hours a day.” Foster reportedly described her younger colleagues as “really annoying.”
Robbins’s comments take a different tone, emphasizing that Gen Z is entering the workforce in an era of significant disruption. Unlike their parents, she said, many are contending with economic instability, limited access to homeownership, soaring student debt, and the isolation that can come with hybrid or remote work.
“The world is in chaos, and most twentysomethings had parents that lived in a very predictable, stable economy,” she said. “They went to a corporate job, they reported to the office, they had a network of friends at work. That’s not the typical 20-year-old experience.”
Gen Z criticism meets empathy and realism
Robbins pointed to recent data showing that only 62% of Gen Z workers are happy in their jobs - the lowest of any generation, according to a MetLife survey. Glassdoor figures suggest just 43% of entry-level staff feel positive about their employer’s near-term business outlook, the lowest since 2016.
“They’re now in the middle of a recession, in hybrid work. The world is shifting, the landscape is shifting,” Robbins said. “If you feel lost, I’m not surprised.”
She urged young workers not to view that feeling as failure. “You’re doing your twenties correctly, there’s nothing wrong with you,” she added.
Her message was echoed by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who said in a Fox News interview that today’s young people should maintain perspective. “These kids, anyone who’s depressed, as long as we don’t have nuclear war, they’re going to have an unbelievable life,” Dimon said. “They should be looking at the world and saying, ‘What can I make of it? What can I do better than the folks before me?’”
As the economic outlook for Gen Z worsens, with fewer job openings and limited financial safety nets, Robbins called on leaders to look beyond stereotypes and recognise the generation’s reality. “It’s a perfectly normal response to the decade that you’re in, based on the moment in history that you’re in,” she said.
