'I find them in Gen-Z': Sridhar Vembu shares how three Gen-Z Zoho employees challenged popular assumptions with their sacrifice and simplicity

Synopsis

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu questioned the usefulness of generational labels, arguing that values often transcend age groups. He shared stories of three young Zoho employees who prioritised family, saving and simplicity. A 19-year-old saved money to help her parents repay loans and support siblings, while two employees around 25 chose simple weddings. Vembu called such attitudes “timeless,” challenging stereotypes that Gen-Z is primarily driven by consumption and status.

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Generational labels often come with assumptions about how young people think, spend and live. But Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu believes such categories can overlook values that remain unchanged across generations. In a post on X, Vembu shared stories of three young Zoho employees who, despite being part of Gen-Z, prioritised family responsibilities, saving money and keeping celebrations simple. Their choices, he suggested, challenge the idea that young people are necessarily driven by consumption, status or expensive lifestyles.

Zoho's Sridhar Vembu took to X to question the usefulness of dividing people strictly by age groups. He said he comes across people from "a large number of people of various age groups" and does not find categorising generations based on age "all that meaningful." According to Vembu, people's priorities are often shaped by their circumstances, responsibilities and values rather than simply by the generation they belong to. He illustrated this through the experiences of three young Zoho employees.

One of the stories involved a 19-year-old employee whose approach to money left a strong impression on Vembu.

The young employee told him that she works hard to earn money so her parents can repay their loans and support her younger siblings. Vembu said this was her "foremost priority in life." Rather than spending her income on expensive clothes or replacing things unnecessarily, she focuses on saving. She buys only low-cost clothes and even "mends her broken footwear" because she wants to save every rupee.

The story prompted Vembu to tell her that he would visit her parents and tell them "how proud they should be of their daughter." Her choices offer a different picture of Gen-Z spending habits, showing how financial responsibility and family obligations can take precedence over personal consumption.

Vembu also shared another example involving two Zoho employees who were around 25 years old and recently got married. Both employees told him they had followed his advice to keep their weddings simple and avoid spending too much money. Their decision reflected a similar approach to that of the 19-year-old employee: prioritising what matters over unnecessary expenditure.

For Vembu, these examples reinforce his broader argument that values such as frugality, responsibility and simplicity cannot be neatly assigned to one particular generation. Reflecting on the three employees, Vembu rejected the idea that such behaviour is unusual among Gen-Z. "These attitudes are timeless," he wrote, adding that he finds them "equally in Gen-Z."

One user agreed with Vembu's views, saying they have always believed in keeping marriages simple and performing the mandatory religious activities according to individual beliefs. The user suggested putting the money saved from a wedding into a fixed deposit in the newly married couple's names.

Another commenter highlighted the dangers of generalisation, arguing that it is "usually far from truth." They noted that people across genders, castes, ethnicities and generations can be "good and bad" as well as "mature and immature."