Ms. Katz, you are only 28 years old yourself, so you belong to Gen Z – and yet you still rub your eyes in amazement at the work ethic of young people. Millions of people watch you because you share your experiences on TikTok – and very successfully. What are the reactions?
They are mixed – the videos have definitely become a platform for people to exchange ideas about the topic of generations. People often write to me and ask: Why don’t you throw them out? But the clips only show a tiny part of everyday life with Gen Z. And most of the time the young colleagues do a good job.
So it doesn’t matter if it turns out during the meeting that an intern is lying in the bathtub – and that’s why she turned off her camera? That’s how you describe it in one of your videos. And you’re immediately self-critical. After all, you allowed flexible working. So why not in the bathtub?
I was a bit shocked at first, but mostly because she told me this so honestly. Usually the classic excuse for a camera being turned off is: “My connection is not stable.” And then I thought – why shouldn’t she be in the bathtub? We work mostly remotely and as long as the results don’t suffer, there’s no reason to prohibit it. You can’t get rigid.
You haven’t considered demanding more presence?
No, not for a second. That wouldn’t suit us. We mostly work remotely, and I’m on the road a lot myself. So why should I demand that others always sit down together in person? I don’t believe in punishment either. In the worst case, they’ll look for excuses as to why they don’t want to come to face-to-face meetings.
But they also report that one morning an intern told them very honestly that she had no motivation at all and had stayed in bed. Where do you set boundaries? After all, you run a company.
I appreciate the honesty there too. We all wake up sometimes and think: it would be nice to be on the beach right now. I then try to find out why the person doesn’t feel like it. Is it the tasks? Does the person need support? First of all, I reflect that it’s OK to feel that way – but I also appeal to the team spirit and try to get the person on board. As long as it doesn’t happen every day, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
You also have to have worked full-time at some point.
Gen-Z boss Teresa Katz
That still sounds exhausting. And also hard to imagine in most companies. I’m thinking of your story about a meeting in which the intern wanted business figures to be packaged in memes or videos so that they would be easier to understand.
In itself, this is a creative approach and I generally appreciate that people think ahead and make suggestions to make meetings more understandable. That’s why I would never directly refute such a suggestion and make the young employee feel that the comment was inappropriate – but at least think about it. And why shouldn’t business figures be presented in a more modern and youthful way?
In many companies, people are not allowed to sit in meetings whose content they do not fully understand.
Exactly. I really appreciate that the intern thought about it. And it’s OK to come to the conclusion: we won’t do that. But if you want everyone to stay on board, you have to be unconventional.
Do you have a four-day week? That is also a typical request from young people.
We are very flexible when it comes to dividing up the work. But I believe that you have to have worked full-time before. A five-day week doesn’t do any harm. With experience, you can then always decide to reduce your hours. By the way, we get a lot of applications through our TikTok channel – even from older people. That’s easily two or three a week. There are often really great people there, but unfortunately we can’t afford permanent positions at the moment.
In your videos, you also attribute a good portion of quick-wittedness to Generation Z. For example, when a working student had the Olympic broadcast running on a screen while he was at work – and when you asked him about it, he replied that it helped him concentrate and at the same time it motivated him to watch the best in the world. What do you say in response?
Nothing at all! (laughs). I tried to signal that it was okay as long as he could concentrate – and at the same time to reflect that I still expected a good work performance.
Don’t you still get seriously frustrated sometimes?
An intern took too much advantage of the relaxed management style. Two or three funny excuses turned into a few too many. That cost me too much energy – and there was a conversation, and the person left of their own accord.
What is it like in your team when older people encounter this behavior, which may seem strange to them?
In our team, we are all Gen Z – and it can be very amusing when we interact with older people at service providers. Recently, we talked about the fact that we have income from our successful TikTok channel – that was a no-brainer for the young people, the older ones didn’t understand it at first.
They have a healthy distance from work and a lightness that older people often lack.
Entrepreneur Teresa Katz
What can we learn from Generation Z?
A lot! They have a healthy distance from work, a lightness that older people often lack. And a certain positive naivety – this means that things that have always been done the same way are thought through. Generation Z copes well with the fast pace of life, they can adapt to new situations really quickly.
They are used to everything being different all the time, are not stuck in routines and like to try new things. And they have a strong affinity for the digital world. Even I often sit there and think: I didn’t know that. They can also do some things much faster than I can. And they have a great culture of mistakes and feedback. The representatives of Generation Z are great at admitting when they have done something wrong. And they are very decisive, want to be given responsibility and have a say.
What does this mean for you in terms of the tasks you assign? Do they have to be particularly exciting so that people don’t get bored with routine tasks?
I try to get a good mix. But I prefer to delegate an exciting task and do something more boring myself. I need the young people motivated. And if there’s something cool coming up – shootings, looking for a photographer or model – we’re happy to involve them.
Entrepreneurs like Liqui-Moly founder Ernst Prost, “screw king” Reinhold Würth or Europa-Park owner Reinhold Mack say that Generation Z lacks motivation. Does that bother you?
Yes, I am annoyed by the criticism from the mostly older men. It is not true that people suddenly don’t want to work. That has always been the case, but now the critics are getting a bigger platform. We can either demand that everything continues as before or we can develop new models that create motivation again.
Of all the bizarre experiences you report, what has stuck with you in particular?
Recently, an intern stood in front of a printer for a while. I asked her if everything was OK; she was supposed to print something on a certain sticker paper. She thought the paper would go into the printer by itself – like her robot vacuum cleaner at home, which also gets its water from a station. She had simply never used a printer before – the 19-year-old had done everything digitally up until then. That made me feel old.
