San Francisco Employers Hire Etiquette Coaches for Generation Z Workers

Employers in San Francisco are hiring etiquette coaches for their Generation Z employees, many of whom are learning fundamental skills such as hygiene and making eye contact, as reported by the San Francisco Standard.

Members of Gen Z often expect promotions after just a few months on the job, treat their workplace like their personal bedrooms, arrive in athletic or revealing attire, communicate with friends via FaceTime during work hours, and tend to ignore their supervisors. These insights emerged from discussions employers had while working with Gen Z representatives.

Last year, Intelligent.com conducted a survey involving 1,000 employers, revealing that about 12.5% of respondents reported candidates from Generation Z showing up to interviews accompanied by their parents.

Young employees believe that managers from Generation X and Y lack a proper work-life balance. The generational divide has intensified in recent months as return-to-office policies have begun to impact Gen Z.

This issue has prompted San Francisco employers to hire etiquette experts to teach young staff essential workplace manners. Etiquette coach Rosalinda Randall noted a 50% increase in demand for her services over the past two months.

Applications have been pouring in from tech companies, winery managers, and even country clubs. They express frustration that Gen Z employees treat the office as an extension of their home. One manager confided to Randall about a new hire who consistently left food wrappers on the shared lunch table, expecting janitorial staff to handle the mess. The manager felt at a loss on how to address this young employee’s behavior.

Randall charges up to $2,500 for a 90-minute workshop, covering everything from maintaining eye contact to wearing ID badges and how to ask rather than demand from supervisors.

One tech company in the San Francisco Bay area sought Randall’s help to address personal hygiene, as two new employees had gone weeks without showering or changing clothes. She created a presentation to help these workers understand the importance of hygiene.

Moreover, Gen Z often questions the necessity of following work instructions, shared Melissa Franks, founder of On Call COO. She encourages employers to interpret this resistance as youthful curiosity rather than defiance. Franks advises managers to provide context for tasks.

Sometimes, managers find themselves needing to take on «parental duties» regarding Gen Z staff, which involves accommodating special needs and providing extra support. According to Franks, companies should establish «cultural plans» for younger workers, including clear guidelines on ideal meeting behavior: 70% observation, 25% asking clarifying questions, and 5% contributing ideas.

The challenges are not confined to tech offices. Hospital managers have reported that newly hired nurses exhibit signs of disengagement and unrealistic expectations. New nursing staff can become frustrated with overly talkative patients or try to sidestep less desirable tasks. Nurses have requested to be excused from duties like taking out trash, as they find them unappealing.

Some companies are taking the initiative to impart etiquette training themselves. Last year, Salesforce’s Vice President and Global Head of Employee Onboarding and Training, Jennie Simmons, revised onboarding practices to enhance new hires’ soft skills. This spring, Simmons launched an AI onboarding agent that brings up frequently asked questions, events, and skills alignment for newcomers to foster social connections.

However, etiquette experts emphasize that young people are eager to learn and open to acquiring new knowledge.