The boss of a major Australian bank has been left shocked after a Gen Z employee confessed he would likely look for another job after a year at the company.
Phillipa Watson, chief executive of Ubank, said 25-year-olds were more likely to tell the truth when asked about their career ambitions because they had not been conditioned by corporate life.
Ms. Watson said the young employee had not yet learned that “there are things you tell the boss and things you don’t tell him.”
“When you approach a 25-year-old and ask them a question, they will usually tell you the truth because they haven’t been socialized through corporate life,” he told the Australian Financial Review. 15 minutes with the boss podcast.
‘I had this wonderful experience with a guy recently, he was new to our business, he had only been here for about three months.
Phillipa Watson, chief executive of Ubank (pictured), said 25-year-olds are more likely to tell the truth when asked about their career ambitions because they have not been conditioned by corporate life.
Watson was shocked after a Gen Z employee confessed he would probably look for another job after a year at the company (pictured, young Australians at a music festival).
Watson said the employee told him that while he was enjoying his position at Ubank he would likely move to another company, which he named.
“I had a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, you just told your boss’s boss that you’re not really committed.’
‘But it is the truth. So he is a high capacity guy and so I was on alert to think about how I was going to keep him and his friends engaged with him.
“Whereas if you had asked the average person who was a little further along in their career, they would never have responded that way.”
In a longer interview with the publication, Watson explained why she loved working with Gen Z employees who were always “one step ahead.”
“There’s a lot of talk about the challenges of Generation Z and working with younger people and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
‘The truth is that I am very excited about the 25-year-olds in our business because they are so far ahead in their personal lives with the technology that is coming into our corporate lives.
“So knowledge or thought leadership is changing more and more in our organization and in many organizations, and I think it’s pretty exciting.”
He joked that Generation Z had also taught him to wear baggy jeans instead of skinny ones.
Watson said Ubank was the most followed bank on TikTok in Australia and the company’s success on the app was down to its Gen Z employees.
“It takes the latest trends and content and generates material that will appeal to customers based on what has happened in the last two or three days on social media,” he said.
“If you have your CEO deeply involved in generating social media content that will be interesting to 23-year-olds, you are out of line.”
It comes after Australians shared their Gen Z colleagues’ strange, bizarre work habits and the infuriating four-letter word they use in the office: kill.
Workers were asked to share some of the most shocking things they had seen their younger colleagues do on the popular Instagram account. The Australian corporate.
Vaping at desks, logging out early to go swimming, and answering Zoom calls from a spa are some of the incredible acts that Gen Z workers, those born between 1997 and 2012, are trying to get away with.
A common complaint was that the younger generation constantly praised a colleague’s efforts by saying “kill.”
Workers have shared some of the most shocking things they’ve seen their Gen Z colleagues do
‘Our (paid) intern usually arrives at 10:30 (we start at 8:30). We called her once to see if she would come to a meeting but she was shopping with her mother. Also sighs. Strong. “When she is asked to do absolutely anything,” she shared one person on Instagram (file image)
One frustrated worker recalled: ‘Our (paid) intern routinely arrives at 10.30 (we start at 8.30). We called her once to see if she would come to a meeting but she was shopping with her mother. Also sighs. Strong. When they ask me to do absolutely anything.
Another added: ‘My partner had one of his juniors ask the CEO over Zoom if this call was going to last too long because he wanted to go swimming… at 2pm on a Friday.
“We had a Gen Z intern who approached a partner directly on the third day of a four-week internship and offered a ‘break away from these squares,'” one worker said.
While some admitted they were impressed by how confident Gen Z workers were, others said their younger colleagues didn’t last long in their offices due to their tendency to flit between tasks.
Video conferencing etiquette was another major issue among younger employees.
Some vaped during meetings, one woman answered a call with a towel around her head, and one man even appeared on screen in a bathrobe.
Another Gen Z worker said he was too hungover to go to the office, but continued with the morning update meeting while brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, and ironing his clothes.
Shockingly, a man accidentally turned on his camera during a Zoom and revealed that he was relaxing in a hot tub.
Many also claimed that their Gen Z coworkers were constantly asking to leave early or requesting a shorter work week.
‘Our inmate asked to leave on Friday at 11:30 because he had lunch with his girlfriend. He then turned down a 9.30 meeting because he was “too early,” one worker said.
‘A Gen Z employee opened a cider at his desk at noon on a Thursday. When confronted, he said, “He’s just a standard and I’m on my break.” We had given him an urgent report,” said another.
“I had a Gen Z tell me they couldn’t come to the office for a team day because they had too much to do,” said one worker.
“When I asked them what I could prioritize, they told me a wash, seeing their friend for lunch, a facial, going to the gym and having an online order arrive.”
A man did not return to work as expected at the beginning of the year because he wanted to extend his trip to Asia.
