Conscientiousness is in Free Fall, Here’s What It Means for Managers

If you’ve been on social media lately, chances are you’ve seen those eye-catching charts about young people becoming less Conscientious. They’re all over X and Instagram, sparking debates about whether screen time/ AI/ social media usage is responsible for Conscientiousness moving in the wrong direction, or whether it's part of the broader societal shifts accelerated by the pandemic. Truity research confirms that Conscientiousness has been declining steadily for a while, but the rate of change intensified significantly after March 2020. 

Conscientiousness is one of the Big Five personality traits. For employers, it’s extremely worrying to see this trait in sharp decline as it’s the trait concerned with responsibility, organization, hard work and self-discipline.

Conscientiousness is in Free Fall Among Gen Z

In a recent article titled “The Troubling Decline in Conscientiousness,” the Financial Times reports a sharp drop in Conscientiousness over the last decade across all age groups, but especially among young adults. Their findings are based on personality data from the Understanding America Study, a large longitudinal survey run by the University of Southern California. The personality data specifically focuses on the Big Five traits and covers responses spanning several years across tens of thousands of Americans, making it one of the most robust datasets on personality change available. 

Many have criticized the FT’s graphs. The grouping of 16-39 year olds is a strange one, since it is wildly large and encompasses two distinct generations (Gen Z and Millennials). And some say the graphic exaggerates the decline in a “damn lies and statistics” way. In reality, the drop in Conscientiousness scores is relatively modest–closer to one-tenth of a standard deviation or roughly a decade's worth of normal change. 

And yet, employers are chiming in with experiences that match the data. They’re noticing that Generation Z employees (born 1997 - 2012) are increasingly struggling to make plans and follow through on them, missing deadlines, defaulting to procrastination, showing inconsistent attention to detail, and putting overall low effort into their work lives. 

It isn’t every younger worker, let’s be clear. But managers and HR professionals are observing these patterns crop up more frequently among Gen Z than previous cohorts, with more young employees seeking flexible hours, requesting frequent feedback and supervision, and expecting faster promotions as a standard rather than a reward.

Why Does Falling Conscientiousness Matter? 

Conscientiousness has long been called the alpha trait as it typically predicts better career and life outcomes. 

Highly Conscientious people (disciplined, tenacious, reliable) do better at school, earn higher incomes, pursue healthy routines and have longer, happier relationships. Studies repeatedly show that Conscientious workers achieve better objective performance metrics and earn more frequent promotions than their low-C peers. 

These findings are unsurprising, because Conscientiousness is fundamentally about sticking with tasks and goals even when they’re boring or full of setbacks. 

In the workplace, an employee with high Conscientiousness is your safe pair of hands. They do what they say they are going to do, they do it well, and they deliver it on time. They’re great at self-regulation and impulse control. How someone scores on this trait will influence whether they can work on long-range goals, behave prudently, and take their commitments seriously. 

The decline in Conscientiousness suggests that organizations are losing this methodical, steady drive, forcing managers to supervise more closely and spend extra time trying to instill discipline where it used to be automatic.

As Gen Z employees move into management roles, the impact of falling Conscientiousness may become even more pronounced. If the next generation of managers follows the population trend, organizations may see planning, quality control and accountability weaken further—exposing teams to more missed deadlines and shallow oversight, and making it harder to build trust or deliver on long-term strategy.

Helping Teams Become More Conscientious

Managers have the difficult task of guiding the full range of personalities on a team. Many would love to change at least some aspect of a team member’s personality, and Conscientiousness may be high on that list. So how can you help team members become more Conscientious?

While Conscientiousness, like all the Big Five traits, is relatively stable over time, the good news is that people can and do get better at the behaviors associated with this trait. Improvements won’t happen overnight. However, there’s good evidence that acting in a Conscientious way—consistently showing up on time, making plans, meeting deadlines,  following through—can help build those habits over time. In effect, “pretending” to be Conscientious by practicing the right behaviors can gradually retrain the brain.

This work has to come from the employee themselves and you cannot force it on them. What managers can do is establish a workplace structure that actively supports the development of Conscientious behaviors. Try the following strategies to give teams the scaffolding they need to grow Conscientious habits without having to rely on willpower alone:

1. Establish clear project templates and checklists

Use standardized processes and workflows for projects where everyone involved knows what steps need to happen, when each step is due, and who is responsible for delivering what. Planning can be assigned to a manager, project lead, or tackled as a team exercise—the key is eliminating guesswork so all team members are supported by the same structure.

2. Create accountability partnerships

Pair a high-C team member with someone who could benefit from having a Conscientious role model, and have them establish regular check-ins. The lower-C person gains practical strategies for planning and follow-through while seeing reliable habits modeled up close—but it’s important to balance this approach so the high-C partner doesn’t feel overburdened or resentful. Rotating roles or making accountability a two-way learning opportunity can keep the dynamic positive and sustainable. 

3. Implement visual progress tracking systems

Digital dashboards, Kanban boards or other visual trackers can be an easy way for team members to visualize what’s been started, what’s in progress, and what’s completed. These tools keep longer-term goals visible and deadlines top-of-mind for everyone.

4. Have a clean desk policy

As a manager, you should be wary of interfering with people’s natural working style, especially if the messy-desk person is meeting their targets or delivering great work. But scientists have shown that our brains like order, and if our space is a mess, so are we. A study on the effects of clutter found that individuals who felt overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” in their homes were more likely to procrastinate; it’s reasonable to expect the same outcomes in the workplace.

5. Offer time management and goal-setting workshops

Most of us didn’t get taught these skills at school, but they make a real difference at work. Focus on the simple, practical strategies people can use to plan their work and set priorities. Participants in well-designed skill-building programs can experience measurable improvements within days, with the gains still evident six months later.

6. Reward the behaviors you want to see

If you want conscientious habits to stick, notice and recognize the people who actually do them. Awards, shout outs, small perks or simple thank-yous can help build a culture where Conscientiousness is the norm, not the exception.

A Counterpoint, and a Call to Not Panic! 

It's natural to see statistics showing a drop in Conscientiousness and wonder if something has gone wrong. Yet every generation that enters the workforce shakes up the status quo in one way or another. For Millennials, it was “bring your whole self to work” and the recognition that, when employees feel valued and cared for, their motivation and job performance increases. Generation X shifted the workplace by championing work-life balance and promoting direct, transparent communication over rigid, top-down hierarchies. 

Falling Conscientiousness may simply be the next evolution, and a sign of the times we’re living in. The ability to make long-term plans and stick to them is much easier in stable, predictable times, but over the past decade, uncertainty has become the norm—think COVID, conflict, AI, rapid political swings, and near-constant news of disruption. 

In that environment, what looks like lower Conscientiousness might just be adaptation: less rigid commitment, more flexibility and a greater tolerance for change. Whether lower Conscientiousness turns out to be a liability, or equips organizations with greater adaptability, only time will tell.