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* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio

I keep hearing this comment from managers across the animal health industry and honestly across the industry in general. The younger generation just don’t wanna work. You’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve even said it. Today, I wanna actually dig into this because I think the answer is more interesting than a simple yes or no.

I’m gonna give you my honest take in a lot of time spent recruiting, talking to people across all career stages and watching organizations succeed and fail at engaging younger talent. I’m not gonna be preachy about it, but I’m not gonna just validate the frustration without challenging it either.

Welcome to the Animal Health Show by S8. I’m your host, Shannonwood, and this is where we talk about the latest trends shaping the animal health industry. We’ll be sitting down with leading voices from across the sector, sharing practical insights to help you grow your animal health business. Build a stronger team or land your dream role.

If you’re looking for your next dream job, or you’re ready to hire your next standout team member, reach out to us at S8 Expert Recruitment Solutions. You’ll find our contact details in the show notes for today’s episode. All right, let’s talk animal health.

Short answer upfront, no. They’re not just lazy, but they are different. And the organizations that understand those differences are building better teams. Let’s talk about how. First, let’s acknowledge that the frustration is real. Managers genuinely are having experiences where newer employees push back on expectations.

Ask why before they do things. Resist putting in long hours for the sake of it. Or leave roles more quickly than previous generations did. [00:02:00] That’s real. I’m not dismissing it, but here’s the thing. Every single generation has been accused of being lazy, soft, or entitled by the generation above them. That’s not new.

The Gen X’s were told the same thing by the boomers. It’s a pattern we repeat and we should be a little skeptical of our own reactions when we’re in the older generation doing the criticizing. So what’s also worth noting is the younger people entering the workforce today are doing so in a very different context than their predecessors.

They’ve lived through a global pandemic during their formative years. Many watch parents work themselves into the ground and still not get ahead. They’ve grown up with access to information in a way [00:03:00] no previous generation has. Which means they’re actually well-informed about the workplace rights, mental health, and what bad management looks like.

So they’re not naive. So when a 24-year-old asks about work-life balance in an interview, they’re not signaling that they don’t wanna work. They’re signaling what they’ve thought about, what an unsustainable work culture costs. And they’re not willing to pay that price without questions. That’s not laziness.

That’s a different kind of calculation. So if it’s not laziness, what is it? What actually motivates younger people entering the animal health industry? So the research on this is pretty consistent, and from my own experiences, backs it up. Younger employees want [00:04:00] four things above almost everything else.

They want purpose, growth, transparency, and flexibility. What is purpose? They want to know their work matters. This is actually great news for animal health industry. We work in an industry with genuine purpose. Animal health welfare, food security, the human animal bond, antimicrobial resistance. These are important problems to work on.

So if you’re not connecting the work your team does to those bigger outcomes, you’re leaving motivation on the table. Growth. They wanna be developing. Not in a vague will support your career development way in a specific and concrete way. What will they learn in this role? What does the next step look like?

Who will they work with? They’re not content to wait five years to find out. If you can’t answer these questions, they’ll find an employer who can. Transparency. They wanna understand decisions. Why is this company going in this direction? Why does this policy exist? Why did that person get promoted? This can be uncomfortable for leaders who are used to a, “Because I said so culture.”

But the reality is that people who understand context perform better. Explaining the why is just good management. Flexibility. This one gets misread a lot. Flexibility doesn’t automatically mean working from home. It means having some agency over how and where they will work. Where the role allows it for technical roles that require physical presence, lab work, manufacturing, field, technical roles.

Good candidates understand that, but they’ll appreciate being treated like an adult about it rather than having rigid rules applied without explanation. Now, notice what’s not on the list. Easy to work, no accountability, low standards. The characterization of younger workers as wanting a free ride is not what I see when I talk to people entering the animal health industry.

Most of them are genuinely ambitious and technically capable. What they want is to be led well. So if this isn’t really about laziness, it’s about great leadership. Let’s get practical. The first thing I’d say to any manager who’s frustrated with their younger team members, get curious before getting critical.

If someone isn’t performing the way you expect, there’s almost always a reason. Are they unclear on expectations? Do they not understand why the work matters? Are they overwhelmed and not saying so? Have they been managed poorly before and are waiting for the shoe to drop? These are all fixable. Lazy is not a diagnosis, and it’s usually not accurate.

Second, feedback. Younger employees don’t just want annual performance reviews. They want regular, genuine feedback, both positive and constructive. If you’re a manager who only gives feedback when something goes wrong, you’re gonna struggle to engage this cohort. They’ll either disengage or they’ll leave.

So managers find this exhausting. I just want them to get on with it. I get it. But feedback doesn’t have to be a formal or heavy. It can be a two-minute conversation after a quick project, a quick message acknowledging good work. It just has to be real. Third, give them responsibility. One of the fastest way to disengage a capable younger employee is to give them nothing but admin tasks and tell them to pay their dues.

They won’t wait. If you have someone with genuine technical ability, stretch them. Involve them in problem solving. Let them present to customers. Give them a project to own. The investment pays off fast. Fourth, leave your assumptions at the door. If you walked into a conversation with a younger team member already convinced they’re gonna be difficult or uncommitted, you’ll behave in ways that confirm that expectation.

This is not about lowering standards. It’s about extending the same good faith you’d wanna receive. And fifth, don’t mix up different values with poor performance. Someone who leaves at the end of their workday, who doesn’t check emails on the weekends and who asks a flexible Friday, that’s not necessarily a person who won’t deliver results.

Judge on output and quality of work. If the work is excellent, the rest is a conversation about fit and culture, not a performance issue. The animal health businesses I see doing this really well have a few things in common. They hire for potential and attitude, not just experience. They don’t require 10 years of experience for a role that can genuinely be done well by someone with three years and the right foundation.

They invest in onboarding, not just a day or two orientation, but a structured integration over the first 6 or 12 months that builds connection to the team and sets up people to succeed. They develop their managers. They understand that how someone manages is as important as what they deliver technically.

They invest that capability rather than assuming good technical people will automatically become good leaders. And they listen. They have real conversations with their people. They run engagement processes. They actually act on. They ask the younger employees what’s working and what isn’t. And when the feedback is uncomfortable, they don’t get defensive, they get to work.

Are the next generation of employees lazy? No. But they are asking better questions than the previous generations did about whether their work is worth their time, whether they are being treated well, and whether the people leading them deserve their respect. Honestly, these are questions everyone should be asking.

And the organizations that earn good answers to those questions through strong leadership, clear purpose, genuine development, and fair treatment are finding that the younger employees are some of the most engaged and motivated people in their business. The organizations that dismiss it as laziness they’re gonna keep losing good people to the ones that don’t.

Thanks for listening. Chat soon. I’m Shannon Wood, the top dog here at S8 Expert Recruitment Solutions.

Thanks so much for tuning in to today’s episode of The Animal Health Show by S8. If you found the value in this conversation, please share it with your colleague, an industry mate, or on social media so we can keep the discussions moving across the sector. If you’d like to get in touch, all of our details are in the show notes for today’s episode.

I thank you for listening, and I look forward to chatting with you again in the fortnight

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio