Jodie Foster says Gen Z are ‘really annoying’ to work with because they don’t use proper grammar
Oscar-winning actor Jodie Foster has always been an advocate for young talent but she’s discouraged by the work ethic of Gen Z.
She mentors young stars, involves them in high-profile projects, and will lend her name to relatively unknown casts and crews. But even then, she says, Gen Z can be annoying.
The actress, best known for her roles in The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused, has worked with a plethora of emerging actors and crews on the fourth season of True Detective, with 61-year-old Foster telling The Guardian she enjoyed working with the team.
“Well, I’m pretty fun. I mean—I don’t take anything seriously. I make jokes all the time,” she said in an interview released Saturday.
However, despite Foster’s positive reflection about the set of the Iceland-based crime thriller, the mother of two said in her wider acting career young people have proved to be a hindrance.
Mother to two Gen Z sons herself, Jodie Foster said people in younger generations are irritating in a professional setting. “They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace,” Foster said.
She explained: “They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10:30 a.m.’”
Jodie Foster may have picked up on a wider trend about Gen Z and millennials’ approach to work. A Deloitte report for 2023 looking at the shifting role of work found younger staff wanted to have more control over where and when they work. In fact, 77% of Gen Z currently working hybrid or remotely said they would quit their roles if they were asked to go back to the office full-time.
On top of that, more than three-quarters (81%) of Gen Z said they were interested in working more flexibly or at reduced hours, with pay cuts cited as the most likely reason they wouldn’t be able to make the change.
Foster isn’t the only high-profile name to take aim at younger people in the workforce. In November fellow Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg told Gen Z and millennials they need to improve their work ethic if they want to get on the property ladder: “I’m sorry, if you only want to work four hours, it’s going to be harder for you to get a house.”
However Jodie Foster was also critical of Gen Z’s attitude at work, saying: “Or, like, in emails, I’ll tell them, ‘This is all grammatically incorrect. Did you not check your spelling?’ And they’re like, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’”
