Be honest - were you a good employee when you were young?

[Anonymous]

Currently on a business trip and we have a couple new Gen Z team members and it’s been interesting.

We have meetings scheduled for 10am sharp. At 9:55 I get texts “just hopped in the shower!” or “ran out to get coffee!” Today I preemptively knocked on their hotel doors at 9am to make sure they were up on time and ready, and nope, they still weren’t. Also I don’t know if they aren’t wearing deodorant or what but they SMELL.

I definitely remember not taking work as seriously as I do now when I was that young, but I definitely don’t think I waltzed into meetings 45 minutes late with an iced latte.

[Anonymous]

First, don’t knock on their hotel room doors. That’s inappropriate. Call or text them, don’t go to their hotel room. That’s treating them like your kids.

Second, not being ready for a scheduled 10:00 am meeting is not acceptable. I would never, ever have done that. I was a good employee, I showed up on time, I tried to do my best, and I respected authority. I’m Gen X.

[Anonymous]

Most people just have horrendous work “habits” that I guess we’re still blaming on Covid. Nobody reads emails, nobody attends meetings, and everyone gets upset when decisions are made and they “weren’t included.” Try to buy a coffee and they’ll treat you like a POS.

Sad state of affairs all around.

[Anonymous]

Yes I was a good employee. I always was in time and prepared. I remember my first week my boss told me you always go to a meeting with a pen and a notepad. I was embarrassed and never forgot.

I’m in my 30s now (millennial) but Gen z is something else. I’m at a flexible workplace but during interviews all they want to know about are the perks, workplace flexibility, can they work any hours they want to get to 40, on and on. They never ask anything about the actual job.

[Anonymous]

Nope, but I was always on time and ready to go. I just have a TON of super severe learning disabilities and it's hard to work around them. I'm still not a great employee at almost 50 but it's because I don't understand what I do.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I did. And I worked min wage service jobs. I’ve always cared about being punctual, staying on task, and being a reliable employee.

I don’t think you should tolerate employees who are consistently showing up late and unprepared. Don’t be knocking on doors and texting reminders. Warning, write up, fire as needed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Currently on a business trip and we have a couple new Gen Z team members and it’s been interesting.

We have meetings scheduled for 10am sharp. At 9:55 I get texts “just hopped in the shower!” or “ran out to get coffee!” Today I preemptively knocked on their hotel doors at 9am to make sure they were up on time and ready, and nope, they still weren’t. Also I don’t know if they aren’t wearing deodorant or what but they SMELL.

I definitely remember not taking work as seriously as I do now when I was that young, but I definitely don’t think I waltzed into meetings 45 minutes late with an iced latte.

Weird to knock on hotel room door. Yes I was a good employee. I never ever would have showed up late. I would have been on time and offered to help get ready. “If you are on time , you are later.”

[Anonymous]

I am 32. I think I was a GREAT employee: I went to a T25 school but (for a variety of reasons, many of them my own fault) graduated with a lower GPA and no job. I got a job about a month after graduating and was very grateful, I remember one day my car broke down going to work and I was frantically trying to get a taxi to take me to the metro so I wouldn’t be late! I started out making only $50K a year and now make close to $200K, I was able to advance pretty well (not at the same company, but it did put me on a good path).

I see very little work ethic in the 22-25 year olds I supervise, unfortunately. I had one announce to me at around noon that she needed to WFH the remainder of the day. Okay, fine. Come to find out ‘working from home’ meant heading to the airport, going through security, etc. and not being available to actually work, only sporadically respond to teams messages. I had to explain PTO or comp time needed to be used for those circumstances and same day notice was unacceptable. I would’ve never done this!!

[Anonymous]

I'm a young employee and don't take work seriously. I show up and leave whenever I want. I'm alway try to shirk work and let my teammates handle everything.

However, I always respond to calls and emails almost immediately, and I always show up to meetings on time. It's just the absolute bare minimum I'm willing to do to make it seem as if I care.

[Anonymous]

I was always on time and ready to go. There were things I just didn't understand professionally that I had to figure out but by 25 I was pretty on the ball and was promoted even through the great recession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, don’t knock on their hotel room doors. That’s inappropriate. Call or text them, don’t go to their hotel room. That’s treating them like your kids.

Second, not being ready for a scheduled 10:00 am meeting is not acceptable. I would never, ever have done that. I was a good employee, I showed up on time, I tried to do my best, and I respected authority. I’m Gen X.

+1. Who can’t get ready for a 10am meeting?

[Anonymous]

Yes I was and I was highly underpaid too.

[Anonymous]

I'm 58 (so early GenX). I'm sitting here trying to remember ever being late to a meeting. Only if one meeting ran into the next maybe. I was late for work once when I was rear ended on my way to the office.

I've worked nights and weekends (proposals). Took work home before there was WFH. Worked remotely and in office. Virtual meetings before zoom existed. All of that early in career.

There are good Gen Z employees, but they are far and few between and I suspect they are either ambitious or were raised by militant parents. Or both. Not showing up to meetings, missing deadlines, being late, not wanting to be on camera, it's really annoying. Thankfully I'm a VP at a large corporation now, so there are inevitably several layers of mgmt between me and most GenZ employees. But I have also noticed that they tend to be far less....respectful? of senior management than I was at that point in my career.

Times change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, don’t knock on their hotel room doors. That’s inappropriate. Call or text them, don’t go to their hotel room. That’s treating them like your kids.

Second, not being ready for a scheduled 10:00 am meeting is not acceptable. I would never, ever have done that. I was a good employee, I showed up on time, I tried to do my best, and I respected authority. I’m Gen X.

+1

I would be weirded out by my coworker micromanaging by knocking on my door. I travel for conferences, work retreats etc. I'm always on time obviously.

I was actually a much better employee on that front when I was younger - more energy and no other responsibilities like kids.

Now I'm better at my the content of my job but don't have the timing flexibility that I did when I was younger and used to travel to clients etc. Biglaw and would definitely been fired if I was late like that, ha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First, don’t knock on their hotel room doors. That’s inappropriate. Call or text them, don’t go to their hotel room. That’s treating them like your kids.

Second, not being ready for a scheduled 10:00 am meeting is not acceptable. I would never, ever have done that. I was a good employee, I showed up on time, I tried to do my best, and I respected authority. I’m Gen X.

+1

I would be weirded out by my coworker micromanaging by knocking on my door. I travel for conferences, work retreats etc. I'm always on time obviously.

I was actually a much better employee on that front when I was younger - more energy and no other responsibilities like kids.

Now I'm better at my the content of my job but don't have the timing flexibility that I did when I was younger and used to travel to clients etc. Biglaw and would definitely been fired if I was late like that, ha.

PP and adding that I'm an "elder millennial"