An assistant manager has sparked a debate online after sharing the workplace habit she says is exhausting Gen Z workers - and it has nothing to do with 'laziness'.
Mei Ryan, an assistant manager from Florida, said her inbox is constantly flooded with 'urgent' requests from older colleagues - and she believes it highlights a deep generational divide in workplace culture.
'Most, if not all, of my "urgent" emails or "corporate rush" comes from the older generation,' Mei told the Daily Mail.
'Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, I feel as though they have a superiority complex towards Gen Z/younger millennials.
'They think themselves and their tasks, no matter how significant, are more important than anyone else's, therefore must be done immediately.'
She added that when young staff push back against the endless demands, they're often labelled as 'lazy' or unwilling to work.
'The older generation is stuck in the mindset that work is life and no matter how miserable you are as long as you're pumping out numbers you're doing great,' she said.
For Mei, the problem isn't getting work done - it's the unnecessary pressure created by constant false alarms.
Mei Ryan said her inbox is constantly flooded with 'urgent' requests from older colleagues - and she believes it highlights a deep generational divide in workplace culture
Mei said when young staff push back against the endless demands, they're often labelled as 'lazy' or unwilling to work
'I receive at least 30 emails a day with the subject line "URGENT PLEASE HELP",' she said.
'It's almost like the boy who cried wolf; if you're saying everything is urgent, how could anything be urgent?'
She described the result as 'extremely exhausting,' adding, 'With the constant fires the older generation set up for us to extinguish, it's no wonder all we have the energy to do after clocking out is sit on the couch and turn on Netflix. Being mentally drained feels physical.'
Mei said Gen Z isn't trying to avoid hard work - but the generation wants to preserve energy to experience life beyond the office.
'It's not that my generation doesn't want to work. We just want to be able to still have energy left in our tank to experience life and the world outside of the four walls of the office; we've come to realise that is not life.'
She hopes the next wave of young workers will change corporate culture for good.
'I hope that in the near future my generation will shapeshift the corporate culture and overall happiness of society,' she said.
Her comments struck a nerve with workers of all ages, many admitting they too find the overuse of 'urgent' exhausting.
Her comments struck a nerve with workers of all ages, many admitting they too find the overuse of 'urgent' exhausting
'These people will miss holidays and weekends to meet artificial deadlines that they themselves created,' one person said.
'If you are not saving lives, then it is not urgent,' another added.
'I only put "urgent" on an email today because I wanted to know who on my team wanted to go out to lunch,' a young man joked.
Others blamed poor time management.
'The worst thing is this urgency is down to poor time management - often by managers who cascade that panic,' one worker commented.