Members of Generation Z—the oldest of whom are in their mid-20s—may be the source of many complaints from previous generations, but those older colleagues can learn something from them, Business Insider reported.

The proliferation of social media tools such as TikTok has amplified the voices of those at the bottom of the corporate ladder. They can now raise awareness of issues in the workplace, share them, and try to effect change.

"Previously, you only heard the older generation because they controlled the mechanisms of mass communication,” said, Kenneth Matos, 60, global director of customer people science at Culture Amp, an employee-experience software company, in an interview with Insider. “With social media, you know, Gen Z can write their own narrative.”

In remaking communication, social media have also upended workplace names and boundaries. As such, there are ways in which older generations of leaders can instruct their younger colleagues.

KPMG has provided workplace training on how to work in a virtual environment, how to present to clients, what background to have on video calls, and how to write a professional email.

“I was like, 'Oh, I thought I knew how to write a good email.' But I definitely learned tips from that," Rebecca Fagan, a 24-year-old senior audit associate, told Insider. "Things that I thought might have been self-explanatory, but they really weren't until I really sat and thought about it."

Maia Ervin, the 27-year-old chief impact officer at Gen Z firm JUV Consulting, told Insider that the No. 1 thing she hears from older workers is that Gen Zers ask too many questions. "Gen Z wants to know why, and they're not settling for the answer, 'Because I told you so,'" she said. "Folks are very frustrated with Gen Z but are also forgetting that it is your responsibility to upskill and train them, because they're your employees."

Zaria Parvez, the 25-year-old senior global social media manager at Duolingo, told Insider that Gen Zers are unique, even compared with millennials who grew up during a deep recession.

"We kind of learned from millennials saying they put their head down, and they're still struggling to buy houses, to do things that you think that they would've gotten," she said. "So we're Gen Z, we're going to pivot, and this is how we're going to pivot."

Matos observed that older workers have authority, so they don't have to explain themselves to younger people at work. But, he observed, "That doesn't help people grow. It just makes them subservient. And then you complain that they're not living up to your expectations, but you never actually explained to them why things are the way they are."  For that reason, he recommended that these older leaders change their ways and start explaining themselves to their young colleagues.