Young workers and their bosses do not see the same person. Almost half of 18 to 24-year-olds, 45 per cent, believe they entered work with the skills to succeed. Just 6 per cent of UK managers agree, according to the Chartered Management Institute.
The body polled more than 1,000 managers and 514 young people for the report, released during Youth Employment Week. It lands as AI reshapes the start of working life and the wider debate over jobs rages on.
What bosses see
Six in ten managers (61 per cent) think younger staff are more likely than other ages to lack resilience, professionalism and communication, and to struggle to act on feedback. More than nine in ten (91 per cent) say the gap drags on their team’s performance. Only 12 per cent say young hires progress as expected.
When new starters stall or fail probation, managers blame a lack of motivation (40 per cent), a lack of resilience (38 per cent), poor workplace etiquette (34 per cent) and poor time-keeping (32 per cent).
The other half of the problem
The report does not just point at Gen Z. It points at their managers too. Previous CMI research found 82 per cent of UK managers are “accidental managers”, promoted without any formal training. So the people meant to coach young staff often had no coaching themselves.
The fix cuts both ways. Almost nine in ten young workers (86 per cent) want line managers trained to support early careers. And 89 per cent of managers who did get training say it improved how they develop juniors. Investing in training tends to pay off.
Not short on ambition
The data pushes back on the lazy read that young people do not care. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) want to reach management or leadership. More than eight in ten (83 per cent) say a mentor or professional body would make them far more confident. And 78 per cent think their education leaned too hard on theory over practical skills. Yet they step onto a shrinking bottom rung, as AI-native firms already hire fewer juniors.
Why it matters
Timing sharpens the stakes. AI already thins entry-level job ads, and some warn that cutting the junior tier is a mistake. “It’s time we started asking whether work is ready for young people,” said CMI chief Ann Francke. If firms keep trimming the bottom rung while leaving managers untrained, the skills gap only widens. The talent shows up willing. The workplace, on this evidence, has not caught up.
