More than 1/3 of Gen Zers never fully read contracts. That’s bad as they enter the workforce
Many members of Gen Z are entering their post-college years, and that will mean experiencing many firsts in their lives: getting their first professional job, renting their first apartment, applying for their first mortgage, and buying their first health insurance policy. And with all these firsts come legal contracts that should be read in full before signing.
Yet a recent survey from Adobe Acrobat found that more than one in three Gen Z respondents never read contracts fully.
Signing on the dotted line before reading a contract has cost many Gen Zers, too. Adobe Acrobat says that 20% of the respondents have agreed to something they were not aware of, and 10% have admitted to losing money because they signed a contract without reading it.
Yet Gen Z appears to make less of an effort to fully read some types of contracts when compared to others. The Adobe Acrobat poll found that:
The employment contract stat is one of the most concerning for Gen Z professionals just getting started in the workplace. By not reading an employment contract in full, the person may not fully understand their compensation package or the terms required to get the annual bonus they were told of when the company made the offer.
Yet even after times when not reading the fine print had negative repercussions, 61% of Gen Zers said they still do not read contracts fully.
Of course, Gen Z isn’t the only group to be reprimanded when it comes to not reading contracts fully. The Adobe Acrobat poll found that other generations are also guilty of signing before reading fully: 24% of Gen Xers admitted to never reading contracts fully, while 33% of baby boomers admitted doing so as well.
For its poll, Adobe Acrobat surveyed 506 Americans and 505 freelancers, small businesses, and “solopreneurs.”
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