If you've been hearing that Gen Z workers are lazy or entitled, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL)'s top HR executive would like a word. Sally Massey, chief human resources officer at the $62 billion consumer products company, is actively defending her youngest employees, arguing they're not the problem—they're actually the solution.

Why Colgate Is Betting on Young Talent

Speaking to Fortune over the weekend, Massey made it clear that Gen Z brings something crucial to the table: they grew up digital. "They bring with them new ideas, new perspectives, curiosity," she explained. "They're pushing us to get better and to do things differently."

This isn't just lip service. Colgate employs around 34,000 people spanning four generations, and the company is actively reworking how decisions get made. Senior executives are now encouraged to listen directly to entry-level staffers—not through layers of middle management, but face-to-face. The goal is to keep leadership from becoming disconnected from the people actually doing the work.

"We're not siloed by generation or tenure," Massey said. "It's how we get better."

Other Companies Are Racing to Hire Gen Z for Their Tech Chops

Colgate isn't alone in this thinking. Emily Glassberg Sands, who leads data and AI at Stripe, told the Forward Future podcast that her company is hiring more new graduates than ever. The reason? They show up with "cutting edge skills" and know how to use the latest tools without a training manual.

Even in the notoriously fast-paced crypto world, Gen Z is making waves. Matt Huang, cofounder of investment firm Paradigm, admitted that young hires can shake things up—sometimes chaotically. "They create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes," he said, "but then you see what they can do and it's like, holy crap."

How Gen Z Is Rewriting the Employment Rulebook

Here's where things get interesting. Last year showed that Gen Z isn't playing by traditional career rules. Faced with rising living costs and economic uncertainty, young workers increasingly ditched the single-paycheck model. Side hustles and entrepreneurship became necessities, not hobbies. Many told surveys they doubted they'd ever earn enough from one job to live comfortably, so they built backup plans.

High expenses, skepticism about college debt, and a hunger for flexibility pushed more Gen Z workers toward self-directed paths. The pandemic accelerated this shift, coinciding with record-breaking numbers of new business formations.

Even when they do take corporate jobs, Gen Z brings different expectations. Work-life balance isn't negotiable. Flexibility matters. Growth needs to happen fast. And if those boxes don't get checked? They'll leave faster than previous generations ever did—which means companies that want to keep talented young workers have to adapt or lose them.