Gen Zers are more disconnected and distrustful of coworkers than their older colleagues—and they’re so lonely they’re taking days off work
· Fortune
Gen Zers are craving social connection, but they’re not finding it with their office peers. Navigating work settings has been a tough ride for the post-pandemic professional cohort, who missed out on office kitchen banter while being onboarded over Zoom: Now, they’re taking time off of work to cope with their loneliness.
Gen Z employees are the least connected among all generations in the workplace, according to a new report from Workday. And the isolation crisis is so bad that they’re 12 times more likely to feel completely disconnected from their colleagues compared to their Gen X coworkers.
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In fact, Gen Z professionals are 16 times more likely to say they don’t trust their coworkers, compared to Gen X employees, according to the Workday report.
Even when they do talk with colleagues, the chit-chat is limited to to-do lists and deadlines. More than four in 10 Gen Z staffers rarely or never have conversations with coworkers about anything other than work-related topics. And it’s sowing distrust among the youngest working cohort.
Gen Z aren’t talking to older colleagues, but it’s only further distancing them from their peers
Over a third of the Gen Zers surveyed said they don’t have colleagues that they can trust enough to speak with about personal issues. However, it’s not for a lack of trying—the study suggests their workplace integration dilemma may be largely out of their control.
Many digital natives started their careers during the pandemic, clocking in from the couch instead of learning the ropes in the office. Without that early practice, it’s more difficult to acclimate to a post-COVID work environment different from that of their parents’.
“Without the in-office rituals older colleagues learned from (think: shadowing a manager, overhearing how a deal gets done, or casually chatting after a meeting), Gen Zers are still working through how to lean on their colleagues and build shared trust,” the Workday report says.
Gen Z’s disconnect from the workplace is not only hurting their mental health—it’s also inhibiting their ability to show up for the job.
The young employees are nearly eight times as likely as Gen X to feel lonely at work, with one in five reporting feeling lonely on the job often or very often. And they’re much more prone to point to AI as a reason for their social struggles, as opposed to their older colleagues.
Currently, 39% of Gen Z staffers find it difficult to make friends on the job; to cope with their lack of belonging, a fifth have taken time off due to loneliness or isolation within the past year.
Gen Z’s isolation is hurting their careers in a post-pandemic job environment
Gen Zers have picked up a bad rap at work, branded a “lazy” generation of employees who love to log in from the couch, embracing casual dress codes, and pushing back against work after 5 p.m.
Some bosses have already called it quits on the cohort, with six in 10 employers having fired a Gen Z worker they hired right out of college, according to a 2024 report from Intelligent.com.
However, some business leaders are calling out the unique circumstances Gen Z are up against.
NYU professor Suzy Welch says it’s no wonder why the young generation is stereotyped as “lazy”—they’ve lost sight of economic security, with little hope they could ever earn as much as their parents. Now, housing prices have far outpaced salary gains, cost of living is skyrocketing, promotions are scarce, and AI continues to upend high-paying career paths.
Multimillionaire podcaster Mel Robbins echoed that older generations wouldn’t know what it’s like to navigate adulthood in the 2025, with homeownership being “out of reach,” the generational wealth gap widening, and student loan debt piling up.
“The world is in chaos—and most twentysomethings had parents that lived in a very predictable, stable economy,” Robbins said in a TikTok video last year. “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.”
“They’re now in the middle of a recession, in hybrid work. The world is shifting, the landscape is shifting,” she continued. “If you feel lost, I’m not surprised. This is exactly how you should feel.”
Plus, college may not even be setting its students up for success. Only 8% of hiring professionals thought that Gen Z is prepared for the workplace, according to a 2025 report from Criteria which surveyed more than 350 managers across small and large enterprises. And they’re not the only ones doubtful that new graduates are ready to launch their white-collar careers—even the young talent were skeptical of their own readiness. Less than a quarter of Gen Z said their generation is prepared to begin working.
Gen Z’s lack of social connection outside of the office could also be bleeding into their professional lives, according to one New York University professor. Tessa West, who teaches psychology at the college, found that Gen Zers without romantic lives aren’t engaging in the life skills they need to succeed in the modern office. By not dealing with social friction and relationship mediation that comes with dating, they’re ill-equipped to face challenges at work.
“What seemed like an obvious norm before, how to talk to the boss, what time you need to show up,” West told Fortune earlier this year, “this younger generation doesn’t have ground rules for.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com