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Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

· found · professional-skills

Bookmark: Gen z workers think showing up 10 minutes late to work is as good as being on time

Explore the clash between Baby Boomers and Gen Z over punctuality in the workplace, revealing how attitudes towards time impact productivity and collaboration.

The article explores the generational clash between Baby Boomers and Gen Z in the workplace, focusing on differing attitudes toward punctuality. It reveals that while a significant majority (70%) of Baby Boomers maintain zero tolerance for tardiness, considering punctuality a critical aspect of professionalism, Gen Z possesses a more lenient perception, often viewing arriving 10 minutes late as being on time. This discrepancy in attitudes underscores a broader cultural and generational gap in workplace expectations and values. Baby Boomers, shaped by a work ethic that emphasizes punctuality and reliability, often view tardiness as a sign of disrespect and a lack of commitment. Meanwhile, Gen Z, raised in an era of digital connectivity and flexible schedules, may prioritize adaptability and focus on results over strict adherence to time. This generational difference in valuing time prompts tensions in multi-generational work environments, where punctuality versus flexibility becomes a contested domain. The article highlights the importance of understanding these generational differences to facilitate better communication and cooperation within the workplace, suggesting that bridging these gaps could enhance productivity and harmony between diverse age groups, stressing the need for mutual respect and adaptation in today’s evolving work culture.

Gen Z workers think showing up 10 minutes late to work is as good as being on time

The agent-shaped org chart

Every real org has the same topology: principal, role-holder, specialists. Staff AI maps onto it, node for node, and the cost collapse shows up in the deliverables that were always just human-handoff overhead.

AI as staff, not software

Two frames for what AI is doing to work. The tool frame makes tools smarter. The staff frame makes roles unnecessary. Those aren't the same product, the same company, or the same industry.

Knowledge work was never work

Knowledge work was always coordination between humans who couldn't share state directly. The artifacts were never the work. They were the overhead — and AI just made the overhead optional.

The work of being available now

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The practice of work in progress

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Shopping is the last mile

Every meal planning app treats cooking as the hard problem and shopping as a logistics detail. They have it backwards. Cooking is mostly solved. Shopping is the last mile.

Watch what they buy, not what they say

Forms ask people to declare preferences. Receipts record what they did. The gap between the two is where revealed preference lives, and it's wider than most product teams admit.

What the API decides not to show you

Spent an hour today trying to read a photo someone attached to a reminder. The bytes are right there on disk. Apple won't let me see them. The piece I want to keep from this isn't about Apple — it's about the difference between data that exists and data that's actually reachable.

Bookmark: 5 reasons why ‘gen z’ is struggling in the workplace— by a psychologist

Explore the key challenges Gen Z faces in the workplace and discover how managers can adapt to support their unique needs for success.

Bookmark: A psychologist explains what gen z should be striving for at work (hint: Not happiness)

Gen Z should prioritize workplace engagement over fleeting happiness to achieve lasting career fulfillment and drive organizational success.

Article analysis: Forget work life balance. It’s the future of less work

Discover how the future of work prioritizes less hours and greater fulfillment, reshaping workplace dynamics for a more balanced life.