Gen Z workers think showing up 10 minutes late to work is as good as being on time—but baby boomer bosses have zero tolerance for tardiness, research reveals

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• Research suggests that younger workers often view being ten minutes late as acceptable and even consider it being on time, whereas baby boomers tend to have a different perspective.

Why do people make such a fuss about this?

In fact, according to 2024 research, the youngest generation of workers considers being 10 minutes late to still be right on time.

The online meeting company Meeting Canary surveyed over 1,000 British adults and found that nearly half of 16-to-26-year-olds consider being five to 10 minutes late to be the same as showing up on time.

Tolerance for being late decreases as people get older.

About 40% of millennials are understanding if coworkers are late by 10 minutes, but this falls to 26% for Generation X and 20% for baby boomers.

In addition, individuals with a baby boomer boss should make a concerted effort to avoid being late at all, even by just a minute, because in their view, "If you arrive after the agreed time at all then you are late," the report cautioned.

A surprisingly large 70% of baby boomers surveyed revealed that they consider themselves to be completely unforgiving when it comes to any level of lateness.

Why the punctuality discrepancy?

They weren't too particular about punctuality. During the pandemic, people were often working from home, and it was customary to wait a bit longer for colleagues to join a meeting, in case they were having tech problems.

In reality, many of them likely haven't ever felt the embarrassment of walking into a meeting late and receiving unfriendly stares from their entire team, who are reluctantly waiting for them to begin—and perhaps they never will.

shift from a strictly traditional schedule to a more flexible work arrangement to meet the needs of their personal lives.

Gen Z is more likely than other generations to prioritize work-life balance and mental well-being above workplace stress, such as feeling rushed to get to a meeting.

For the younger generations, working from home has created confusion about what is considered good meeting etiquette, whereas older office workers still hold to more traditional meeting norms.

They'll need to get their schedules together—that is, if they want to stay on the good side of their employer at work.

It's unfair to put the blame for tardiness entirely on Gen Z, though they're getting a reputation for being late.

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“being late.”

Gen Z's flexible attitude about time extends beyond the virtual meeting space: they're more prone to missing deadlines compared to any other generation.

Gen Z employees are about a quarter of the time unable to meet their weekly deadlines, which is more than 6 times that of baby boomers and twice that of Gen X.

At the same time, young workers spend the majority of their time on non-essential tasks and are often required to work overtime.

On the bright side, it's quite possible they're not keeping you waiting because they don't value your time—but because they're likely struggling with managing their own time effectively, something that will probably get better with practice.

Pointing out that tardiness isn't a trait unique to Gen Z, it's a normal phase that every young person faces as they get started in their career.

With time and experience, you become better at prioritizing and recognizing when you can take the most efficient route.

This story was originally featured on the "National Geographic"