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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I was young but also had very jealous older women who made my life difficult. Had they gave me kindness and guidance I would have done better.

+2

This happened to me too. It’s shameful how often this occurs.

[Anonymous]

We have some outstanding young employees but they go unnoticed because they are quiet, overweight men. The boss completely forgets they are there. I make sure to talk them up because they work so hard and she's like "oh, yes."
Then we have some lazy ones like the OP described but they are extroverted, flashy women so everyone notices them. If they do the bare minimum they get praised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have some outstanding young employees but they go unnoticed because they are quiet, overweight men. The boss completely forgets they are there. I make sure to talk them up because they work so hard and she's like "oh, yes."
Then we have some lazy ones like the OP described but they are extroverted, flashy women so everyone notices them. If they do the bare minimum they get praised.

This is my biggest pet peeve. People who don’t make waves are lost in the shuffle. Yet people who are walking proclamations of their worth receive the attention, but often have the least amount of substance. If you have to tell everyone how great you are, something is lacking.

Let actions speak louder than words.

[Anonymous]

I was. I was always on time and always did all my work and then some. I sacrificed my personal time and family time for crappy jobs that didn't give a damn about me and my career ultimately went nowhere. I regret being such a great employee and wish I'd just slacked off and had a life like everyone else. My GenZ employees drive me nuts with their constant lateness, but if they manage a better work life balance and have more of a sense of self-worth, then I'm happy for them.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I was loyal and hardworking. I stressed about work a lot and truly did my best. I was intimidated by superiors and wanted them to like me and like my work.

But what I've learned in the interim is that people don't value hard work as much as they claim to, especially in corporate settings. In fact sometimes it actually annoys them. People don't want to look bad, don't want to be bothered, don't want to have additional work land on their plate, and don't want to be blamed when something goes wrong. These motivations are far more prevalent in most office than the people who truly want diligent, good work production.

My advice to young people starting out in corporate jobs today would be this:

- Be on time
- Listen more than you talk
- Build relationships based on shared work interests and approaches
- Set reasonable boundaries with work (both in terms of using nights and weekends to have a social and private life, and also in terms of not sharing everything about your social and private life with people at work)
- Once every 6 months or so, check in with your direct superiors to ask if there is anything you can be doing to improve. This should really be built into their management of you, but if it's not, initiate the conversation. Don't ask for feedback constantly (this will irritate people) but periodically request a meeting on the schedule for a performance check in to see if you're on track. Simply doing this will communicate commitment and willingness to learn, and it's the best way to find out of if you are putting the work in the right places. Don't wait for official reviews, which can often be quite useless because of the rigid structure.

[Anonymous]

Elder Millennial here. I was (and am) an OK employee, but probably not the easiest to manage.

I've had some of the strongest technical skills at every job I've held, and I pick things up fast, so it's easy to find a technical niche and make myself indispensable. I was willing to work hard to automate things or improve processes, but I was much more interested in making things more efficient than in being seen working hard. I'm not big on hierarchy or being deferential to managers, so I tended to push back if their way of doing things didn't align with mine. I also tended to be pretty vocal about making things more casual and flexible, and reducing hierarchy. On net, most managers seemed to like me, but some absolutely hated me.

Now I'm a researcher with a PhD, so I pretty much get the deference and independence I want.

I never showed up early to work, but I certainly made an effort to show up on time to meetings. I think it's totally fair to set expectations about that. I just might have left for an afternoon coffee instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is interesting to hear. My son graduated from college in June ‘24 and is working 60 to 80 hour weeks in finance, so not everyone is like this, but it does a lot to explain why the hiring process is so intense. Yes, he’s ambitious, and yes I guess I was “militant,” though he said I was “the only mom in Bethesda who won’t let her kids do X” and would describe our friends, with whom we share similar parenting philosophies, as “legit parents.” My younger son complains that there are a lot of parents out there who are just not involved with their kids’ lives. I guess that includes the unchaperoned kids at Beach Week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Another early GenX. I was always on time and put in the extra hours to get proposals out, etc. before virtual work. Everything had to be at the office and I had a long metro commute to my crappy apartment! I was definitely underpaid--remember finding out the admin assistant old ladies made more than I did, and I had to help them figure out everything on the computers like formatting and pagination, etc.! It was a bum deal all around, but I would have never dreamed of just slagging it all off. When I was sent on business trips I was very cognizant of the corporate amEx and never took advantage.

Agree with the PP that said if people are consistently late or missing meetings, that's an easy paper trail. Nothing complicated about it. And it's just that young person; not all of them. Take a chance on one right out of school. I hear they're getting the shaft right now.

So true! It’s horrible. I would make sure they had worked a menial labor job at some point in high school or college or earlier. Far too many “top 25” grads who have never worked and don’t get the basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have some outstanding young employees but they go unnoticed because they are quiet, overweight men. The boss completely forgets they are there. I make sure to talk them up because they work so hard and she's like "oh, yes."
Then we have some lazy ones like the OP described but they are extroverted, flashy women so everyone notices them. If they do the bare minimum they get praised.

Good for you for standing up for the good ones!

[Anonymous]

Yes and no, I always did my job in 4-6 hrs and left. Took long lunches, came in late, left early. I worked hard when there and boss’s favorite, and concealed my “come in late leave early” routine most days as I worked off site. I’ve done this at nearly every FT job I have had. Now I’m part time and it’s perfect.

[Anonymous]

I was a much better employee when young than I am now (at 53). I don't care anymore and though I'd not do as OP described, I also wouldn't work extra hard.

[Anonymous]

Was I good? I doubt it.

Would I have texted someone at 9:55 that I was hopping in the shower when meetings began at 10? Absolutely not. I would have been at least 10 mins early for the meeting and ready to go.

I definitely flaked altogether a couple of times and quit without showing up. But that was to waitressing jobs, not to a job where one would have meetings.

I'm a Gen X'r, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Also a GenX'r and also have never been late to a meeting as far as I can recall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I was young but also had very jealous older women who made my life difficult. Had they gave me kindness and guidance I would have done better.

+2

This happened to me too. It’s shameful how often this occurs.

+3

This happened to me. I'm a lawyer. An older female lawyer who was jealous messed with me as much as she could. Until a new female lawyer joined our office and she transferred most of her mean energy towards her.

[Anonymous]

What is point? There is a very small window of around 30- 45? When work actually matters.

Under 30 too young big roles over 50 to old big roles.

So goof off 21-30 won’t have any impact on success at 45.