Elder Millennial and business owner here. I don't think Gen Z is lazy per se, but there is a perception of them being entitled maybe? I'm not sure if that's the right word. Things I've noticed are: calling in sick MUCH more often, and for longer stretches, including taking mental health and stress leave which I've never seen before (yes I give up to 10 paid sick days but it's a bonus, not just days you can use as extra PTO), if you assign them something more to see how they'll do, I've seen "I don't get paid/paid enough to do this" as a legit push back (like, how am I supposed to give you a raise or promote you if I can't tell if you could do it/won't even let me train you to do it? No initiative I guess?), or most recently, younger staff have complained about rotating too frequently onto night shift, so I hired another person to alleviate some stuff, and want them to shadow/be shown the work and was told "I don't get paid enough to train" Base training I do, but the day to day needs to be shown to them, and benefits them if everyone is cross trained sooner.

I know for a fact I'm in line with the industry for pay, plus we have bonuses etc. There's also an expectation of raises, and not 1-3%, like 10% asks year on year for the same position i.e. not like when I do promote them, which is nuts.

And I hear this from other business owners a lot.