re: Everyone is lazy at your work

07 Jan, 2026

Everyone is lazy at your work | João's Blog

The above blog post is a response to Ava's post about boomers; as always I think it's best to read both (start with Ava's, and then go to João's) before reading my brief response. After I read what João had to say about Ava's post, it gave me some initial thoughts. This post is just my raw response and not anything polished; and all of the quotes are from that response post.

It felt more like a disgruntled Millennial or Gen Z individual. I suppose they read some article about lazy younger co-workers and needed to voice their opinion.

I've worked with every generation and there are lazy co-workers at every age. I dislike this stereotypical generational articles.

I re-read Ava's post, and agree that overall it is a complaint letter about coworkers who refuse to learn new processes and stagnate in their job almost solely because of seniority and the privilege that seniority that entails. It just happens that Ava's talking about a specific age range. She acknowledges that younger people can act this way just the same! In fact I work with a wide variety of age groups, and I know many younger (younger GenX / fellow elder millennials as myself) colleagues that are dreadful about replying to emails, or creating this great idea and telling everyone below them to "make it work!".

You could easily drop out the age group definition and just write a blanket screed about how ineffective upper management can be when you don't have the right people in place. The sad reality is that most of the people in that position ARE of the older generation. We're in an awkward transition period though, when elder millennials and GenXers are probably vying for the same positions and both groups are blocked by younger boomers. Fun times.

As we get older, even if we know how to do something, we delegate it. It's not a negative thing but think of it differently. That senior may be testing your knowledge, they may want to see if they can trust you with bigger tasks in the future, they are not always lazy. One day when you grow up, you will understand it. Sometimes it simply is not having enough time to complete the task and we delegate it. Other times, that senior could be just plain lonely and want conversation so they may suggest assistance with a simple task. They may also be trying to find something in common with younger co-workers by striking conversation.

The main issue I have with this entire post is the condescending nature of it - think specifically of the line "One day when you grow up, you will understand it." Thanks for the perspective.

In the above paragraph João suggests that there are different reasons for delegating duties other than that they don't want to do the job. Totally true! And some of the examples he¹ provides are totally valid. In my capacity as a manager I don't often delegate duties to "test" my employees, but if someone on my team asks for more responsibility I will find a more challenging task than they're used to, and have them do it. Along the way I'll provide guidance if they need help / have questions. Sometimes if I lack time for a specific task I will ask for help, providing clear instructions for how to perform the task if they've never done it before.

I am a little perplexed about a "senior" being "lonely" and looking for conversation as a reason to assign tasks. This doesn't make any sense to me. In my experience if someone wants a conversation, they're going to start it (whether you like it or not).

This works both ways too because some younger co-workers get paid more than the seniors and don't have enough experience or skills to do the task. This is becoming more common as senior employees are retiring or forced to retire. Employers need to plan to fill the position and current salary ranges are higher than when that senior was hired.

I work in media, a business which is notorious for layoffs and cutbacks; in my current company we are expected to do the same work with fewer resources. Last year two employees from my team of 4 (including myself) took a voluntary retirement package, ahead of one of the busiest times of the year. It took a few months but I was able to get a team member added (so now my team is 3), and workload was rebalanced across departments, and it's manageable. But try arranging vacation between 3 people and (at times) heavy workloads...

So I think I agree with him here, that as the workforce shrinks and gets younger, there is some skill and knowledge lost in the transition - no doubt about it. But I don't know what workforce he came from, younger employees are almost NEVER earning a higher salary than the older workers they're replacing. Maybe the number is technically bigger because of inflation, but our salaries go a lot shorter distances than when the older generation started. If you're an elder millennial or younger, you might have been told several times how you should really just buy a house, as if it were so easy to do.

In the end, work better together. ... Focus on yourself, build stronger relationships with the good work ethic co-workers in your office and support each other through the hard struggles.

100%. This is the most important thing anyone can do. As much as I'd prefer working remotely instead of being in the office 5 days a week, it's incredibly helpful to work closely with other managers and colleagues to solve problems². It's hard to do this when you can't see the person on the other side of Outlook or Teams, but when even that person is responsive and provides solutions everything Just Works.

That's all I have. I wish that this post wasn't so condescending, he otherwise could have made some salient points and contributed more positively to the conversation.

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