The Gen Z and the soft skills gap

Written by Benoit Vancauwenberghe, leading expert on Generation Z in Europe

The paradox of a digital generation

Gen Z is the most digitally fluent generation in history. They learn to swipe before they can write, master Roblox before they can read maps, and adapt to new tools faster than their managers. On hard skills, they are ahead.

But here’s the paradox: digital fluency has hidden a soft skills gap. Empathy, conflict resolution, communication, resilience—these are precisely the areas where research shows Gen Z is least prepared. A 2025 review of Gen Z employees found that while employers value interpersonal skills above all else, this generation struggles most in those exact areas.

This gap is not about weakness. It’s about exposure. Older generations rehearsed negotiation, persuasion, and compromise on playgrounds and in face-to-face interactions. Screens mediated Gen Z’s formative years. Online gaming teaches strategy; social media rewards disengagement. But few digital spaces train patience, reconciliation, or repair after conflict.

The workplace is now where this deficit shows most clearly—and where leaders must respond.

The real cost of the soft skills gap

You see it in small but consequential ways:

• Talented young employees who excel with data but struggle to make eye contact in meetings.

• Teams where unresolved tension lingers because difficult conversations are avoided.

• Rising turnover from employees who leave quietly rather than confront issues directly.

This “silent disengagement” mirrors the broader Gen Z signals, camera-off meetings, ghosting instead of confrontation, leaving without explanation.

Outside work, the same patterns appear. Ghosting in personal relationships. Higher rates of loneliness. Lower resilience when facing conflict. The result is not laziness or lack of intelligence—but fewer opportunities to practice being human in real time.

And here lies the risk: organizations that ignore the soft skills gap will not only face weaker collaboration and higher turnover. They will also miss out on innovation, trust, and the loyalty of a generation that already feels institutions are fragile.

Why organizations must step in

Some leaders say: “It’s not our role—schools or families should teach these skills.” But the truth is unavoidable: the workplace has become the new classroom for social and emotional learning.

For many young professionals, their first job is the first time they practice real-world collaboration outside family and digital peer groups. If leaders don’t create those opportunities, no one else will.

And the numbers are precise:

• 83% of Gen Z report disengagement at work (Gallup, 2024).

• Only 45% feel safe voicing dissent (McKinsey, 2023).

• 65% would rather quit silently than confront poor leadership (Deloitte, 2025).

The flip side? Companies that invest in building these capabilities—through mentorship, role-plays, and safe spaces for feedback—unlock not only higher performance but also higher retention.

Three soft skills Gen Z needs most

Global research highlights three priority domains:

1. Empathy & Emotional Intelligence – Reading emotions, listening actively, building trust.

2. Time & Self-Management – Navigating distraction, focusing in a hyper-connected world.

3. Conflict Resolution & Collaboration – Focusing on tension, solving problems together, and repairing relationships rather than avoiding them.

These are not “nice to have.” They are leadership prerequisites in an era where AI can do the technical heavy lifting.

And what leaders can do starting from now

The best organizations are shifting from theory to practice:

• Experiential Learning – Workshops, role-plays, and simulations where employees rehearse real conversations.

• Mentorship (and Reverse Mentorship) – Pairing Gen Z with older leaders for human skill-building, while allowing young employees to share digital expertise in return.

• Safe Spaces for Practice – Cultures where mistakes in communication are seen as learning opportunities, not career threats.

• Signal Awareness – Training leaders to notice subtle cues of disengagement—cameras off, silence in meetings, sudden exits—and respond with curiosity rather than judgment.

The question is not whether Gen Z can learn soft skills. It is whether we, as leaders, will give them the structured chance to practice.

The bigger picture: human skills in the Age of AI

This is not only a Gen Z story. It’s a future-of-work story. As AI takes over repetitive technical tasks, what remains distinctively human is the ability to connect: empathy, adaptability, creativity, trust.

Gen Z’s digital fluency makes them ideal partners for technology. But their ability to lead humans will depend on whether we invest in their softer, deeper intelligences.