The December 2023 survey of 800 U.S. managers, directors, and executives who are involved in hiring revealed the extent to which employers go to avoid younger workers. They include: offering more benefits to attract older workers (60 percent); paying higher salaries to attract older workers (59 percent); letting older employers work remotely or in a hybrid format (48 percent); and being willing to hire an older employee who is overqualified for the position to avoid working with someone younger (46 percent).

The reasons employees gave for avoiding younger workers have much to do with their workplace behaviors and attitudes. Sixty-three percent of employers say that recent college graduates are entitled, 58 percent of employers said that members of the generation get offended too easily and are overall unprepared for the workforce. Other factors include lacking professionalism (57 percent), not responding well to feedback (55 percent), and having poor communication skills (52 percent).

The latter issues have caused companies to act. Three of the Big Four firms—PWC, Deloitte, and KPMG—are among the major firms that offer Gen Z recruits classes on soft skills such as how to send emails, what to wear to the office, and how to work in a team, Business Insider reported.

The struggle to master basic communication skills and office etiquette has been attributed to the isolating circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which college students attended classes remotely and held hybrid internships, depriving them of the ability to develop more robust social skills or to learn how to function in an office environment.

KPMG offers new hires introductory training that includes how to talk to people in person, with tips on the appropriate level of eye contact and pauses in a conversation, The Wall Street Journal reported in June.

Recruits at two of the Big Four accounting firms' British offices gave extra coaching to improve their teamwork and presentation skills, The Financial Times reported in May.

The recruits have less confidence doing basic tasks such as making presentations and speaking up in meetings, according to the firms, which are two of the United Kingdom's biggest recruiters of graduates and apprentices.