It's just a fact that when people are inexperienced, you're going to see they're inexperienced.
That said, Green says the experience of graduating from college and starting a first job during the pandemic could have a meaningful impact on the way Gen Zers show up in a professional setting.
Young workers may have missed out on developing crucial social and learning skills while going to school or completing internships virtually, Green says.
It's not surprising that managers are seeing evidence of that and don't know how to manage young workers who have a different early-career experience from their own, she adds.
"The headline really should be: 'People new to the workforce don't know about work,' but that's not an interesting headline," Green says. "They said it about millennials. They said it about Gen X. It's just a fact that when people are inexperienced, you're going to see they're inexperienced."
Green believes the world and workplace changes caused by the pandemic "created a new level of challenge, but I'm not sure the problems themselves are brand new ones," she says.
Some colleges have taken it upon themselves to better prepare young workers for the professional world, like by offering classes to practice making small talk, or boot camps to build career-readiness skills.
Daniel Post Senning, who teaches workplace trainings and is the co-author of the "Emily Post's Business Etiquette" handbook, says requests for his services have skyrocketed in recent years as people return to office and young people start working for the first time. People of all generations can use reminders of how to be courteous, communicate effectively and pick up after themselves in a shared space, he says.
Ultimately, Green says, it's important to view criticism about junior workers and consider: "Is it really a generational difference, or are you just complaining about young people?"