Why Gen Z Struggles at Work — 3 Strategies for Success

Why are companies firing Gen Z employees — and what can be done to help them succeed?

In August, I attended the 2025 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in San Francisco.  

My colleague, Dr. Nandini Bhalla of Texas State University, led a stellar panel titled “Why are companies firing Gen Z employees? Workforce Strategies and Solutions for PR’s Next Generation.”

The panel featured an all-star lineup of experts:

• Caitlin Haskins – Vice President of AI, Big Data & Cloud at 10Fold Communications
• Michelle Galey – Washington State University
• Jeffrey Ranta – Coastal Carolina University
• Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen – University of Idaho
• Moderator - Nandini Bhalla, Texas State University

After the panel, I pulled out my iPhone and asked Caitlin Haskins a couple of questions about what she sees in the workplace.  In this short interview, Caitlin shared practical strategies that every Gen Z professional can use to thrive in today’s workplace. The AEJMC Public Relations Division co-sponsored this panel with the Internships & Careers Interest Group.

Caitlin's tips are clear and actionable.  Listeners will walk away with 3 strategies they can use immediately. 

• Reliability — show up, meet deadlines, and build trust
• Proactive communication — keep projects and teams aligned
• Growth mindset — turn feedback into a tool for long-term success

You can learn more about Caitlin Haskins from her LinkedIn profile and in this Ragan PR Daily article. 

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Check out my TEDx talk. Why you should take action - then figure it out.

Chapters

• 0:00 Gen Z Job Struggles Introduction
• 1:38 Higher Stakes in Workplace vs School
• 2:45 Communication and Feedback Issues
• 4:01 Growth Mindset Importance
• 6:00 Initiative Through Asking Questions
• 7:30 Three Key Strategies for Success

Transcript

Judy Oskam: 0:02

Welcome to Stories of Change and Creativity. I'm Judy Oskam at Texas State University. What if the reason so many Gen Z employees are losing their jobs isn't about talent at all? In this episode, you'll learn about three strategies that can help Gen Z workers thrive. In August, I attended the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication International Meeting in San Francisco. I sat in on a great teaching panel led by my colleague, Dr Nandini Bhalla, assistant professor of Public Relations at Texas State University. The title of her panel was Why Are Companies Firing Gen Z Employees? Workforce Strategies and Solutions for PR's Next Generation. Well, one of the panelists, Caitlin Haskins, is Vice President of AI, big Data and Cloud at Tenfold Communications. She joined me for a quick conversation. I just pulled her out into another meeting room and we talked about the strategies that can turn things around for Gen Z workers for when they come to the workplace,

Caitlin Haskins : 1:33

there's real consequences to those. So it's one thing to miss an assignment and get a poor grade and then you have some time to work up to that again or change that, but that's not. The stakes are higher in the workplace. It doesn't work quite that way. If you miss a deadline, you're losing credibility with a team and as a new employee that's critical. You need to demonstrate you're reliable, demonstrate you understand the impact of your work and you take it seriously, and you don't have sometimes a lot of other shots to show that. So you have to show up every day knowing that everything that you do matters in that context of a team.

Judy Oskam: 2:08

What are the main things that you see that students need to work on?

Caitlin Haskins : 2:14

I think one of the things that comes across most strongly is just when there's an agreement, you're going to do something, you're going to contribute in a certain way, you're going to do something, you're going to contribute in a certain way, and there's not communication around when that needs to change, or if something comes up and you have competing priorities and you just kind of decide to do whatever you're going to do and you surprise the people around you negatively. That's not a good plan. So, just in the context of doing group work in school, you need to communicate, understand who's doing what part of projects, what part, what time do you need to deliver yours? How do you need to work together? And so when, when people come in and deliver things that are not what was asked for or maybe they didn't ask questions, they didn't know they didn't they nodded their head, yes, because they thought that was agreeable and that was what they should do, but they didn't ask clarifying questions. It's not great.

Caitlin Haskins : 3:11

So I think there's a lot of room. We know that the first several times you do something, you're not going to get 100%. Our goals are never it's going to be perfect, but we want to see sustained growth. So noting the feedback that you're given and implementing that like literally keeping a log of next time I do this, what should I do differently? That really separates out the people who seem like they care and they sincerely want to work and do better, and the people who you know they're just they're not operating under the right context. Those I can't change that. If you don't have that, I can't really give it to you. You've got to come come with that already prepared.

Judy Oskam: 3:53

You talked a little bit about growth mindset in there. Talk a little bit about what that means and what that looks like.

Caitlin Haskins : 4:01

Growth mindset is so incredibly important. Um, one thing that some people that can hinder someone from implementing the feedback that they're given is if they take it very personally and it's not that clearly they delivered that work. It is personal, not quite, so it's really. We're all really there to deliver great work for our clients and so we all know that we have different experience levels and so we're. Everyone kind of has a review process. I have things reviewed by my CEO sometimes because I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. I want to add a different perspective. If I, if I'm working on something and I know somebody else has more technical knowledge, I'm going to seek their feedback. So that level of collaboration is that is implicit to what we do. So when someone gives them feedback on something, it's really met in that context and sometimes, like, the people who are successful are the ones that can see that and they're like great, the more I know if I'm doing well or not well, or what's good or what's not, you know what I can prove. Those are the thing that. That's how I learn.

Caitlin Haskins : 5:07

It's when you're not getting the feedback that you're that's bad. When people are not investing in delivering that feedback to you, you may have already lost that trust. So the people who are the most successful are the ones that actively seek it. So if somebody sends back a document and it has some red lines in it, call them. So if somebody sends back a document and it has some red lines in it, call them, slack them, say hey, can I just talk through what I see here so that I understand the feedback that you're giving me? Sometimes we just move too fast and it's difficult to kind of stop and deliver that. But it's the people who are actively seeking that. I know they're going to do great because they're looking for it and they're paying attention. You know it's the kiss of death if you just get those red lines and you just accept all the changes and think you're done, like, eh, not so much.

Judy Oskam: 5:53

You talked about how important it is to ask questions, and you always look for people that ask questions.

Caitlin Haskins : 6:00

Yeah, it was an interesting kind of thought around. You know what shows initiative when you're at a junior level, when you're just starting. You may not know how to show that you really care, you really want to grow. But initiative at that level really looks like for me asking questions to understand why you're doing what you're doing. You know if you don't understand, you know you're given an assignment and you're like sure I'll do that, great, you know, here we go. But if you don't know what it's for, you may come across something that would make it more valuable. So, asking understanding, like well, what does success look like here? Is it going to be this number of media contacts? Is it going to be this length of content? Is it going to be this number of media contacts? Is it going to be this length of content? Is it going to be right if I include this data, include data. Don't include data Like what does success look like?

Caitlin Haskins : 6:52

Is there a template? Is there a good one that I can look at? So I understand what I should be shooting for. People who ask those questions. I know they are really committed and they want to deliver something great. So, even if you don't know how to show that you're really in it and you're really gung-ho, like asking some questions about the process, getting confirmation that you know the right process. So my first couple steps are going to be doing this and then this and then this. Is that right? Things like that give everyone a lot of confidence that you're really on it. This and then this Is that right.

Judy Oskam: 7:26

Hey, the three strategies Caitlin shared, I think, are pretty clear and actionable. Number one reliability Show up, meet deadlines and build trust. Maybe keep a log on what worked and what didn't. Number two proactive communication Keeps projects and teams aligned. So don't hold back, ask those questions and communicate. And number three have a growth mindset Turning the feedback into a tool for your own personal. Long-term success benefits not only you but it also benefits the organization. So if you found this episode valuable, please reach out and share and give me some feedback on that. And remember, if you've got a story to share or tips or strategies to share, reach out to me at judyoskam. com. Thanks for listening.