The boss of a major Australian bank was left shocked and impressed after a Gen Z employee confessed he would likely look for another job after a year at the company.
Ubank CEO Phillippa Watson said 25-year-olds were more likely to tell the truth when asked about their career ambitions.
She said that’s because they hadn’t been conditioned by corporate life and learned ‘there were things you say to the boss and there’s things you don’t say’.
‘When you approach a 25-year-old and you ask them a question, they will generally tell you the truth because they have not been socialised through corporate life,’ she told the Australian Financial Review’s 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 three months or so.’
Ubank CEO Philippa Watson (pictured) said 25-year-olds are more likely to tell the truth when asked about their career ambitions because they haven’t been conditioned by corporate life
Ms Watson was left shocked after a Gen Z employee confessed he would likely look for another job after a year at the company (pictured, young Aussies at a music festival)
Ms Watson said the employee told her that while he was enjoying his role at Ubank he would probably move to another company, which he named.
‘I just had this moment where I thought, “Wow, you’ve just told your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss that you’re not really committed”.
‘But it’s the truth. So he’s a high-capability guy and so then I was on alert to think about how I was going to keep him and his friends engaged.
‘Whereas if you’d asked the average person who was a bit further on in their career, they never would’ve answered that way.’
In a longer interview with the publication, Ms Watson explained why she loved working with Gen Z employees who were always ‘one step ahead’.
‘There is so much talk about the challenges of Gen Z and working with younger people and all of that sort of stuff,’ she said.
‘The truth is, I’m wildly excited about the 25-year-olds in our business because they’re so far ahead in their personal life with the technology that’s coming into our corporate life.
‘So the knowledge or thought leadership is really shifting younger and younger in our organisation and in many organisations, and I think it’s pretty exciting.’
She joked that Gen Z had also taught her to wear wide rather than skinny-leg jeans.
Ms Watson said Ubank was the most-followed bank on TikTok in Australia with the company’s success on the app down to its Gen Z employees.
‘It’s picking up the latest trends and content and generates material that’s going to be engaging for customers based on what’s happened in the last two or three days on social media,’ she said.
‘If you have your CEO deeply involved in generating social media content that will be interesting to 23-year-olds, you’re off base.’
Aussie workers reveal the bizarre – and frustrating – office habits of Gen Z… and their favourite four letter word getting under everyone’s skin
Aussies shared the bizarre and weird work habits of their Gen Z colleagues and the infuriating four-letter word they use in the office: ‘Slay’.
Workers were asked to share some of the most shocking things they’d seen their younger colleagues do on the popular Instagram account The Aussie Corporate.
Vaping at desks, logging off early to go for a swim, and answering Zoom calls from a spa are some of the acts Gen Z workers – those born between 1997 and 2012 – are trying to get away with.
Workers have shared some of the most shocking things they’d seen their Gen Z colleagues do
‘Our (paid) intern routinely rocks up at 10.30 (we start at 8.30). We called her once to see if she was coming to a meeting but she was shopping with her mum. Also sighs. Loudly. When asked to do absolutely anything,’ one person shared on Instagram (stock image)
One frustrated worker recalled: ‘Our (paid) intern routinely rocks up at 10.30 (we start at 8.30). We called her once to see if she was coming to a meeting but she was shopping with her mum. Also sighs. Loudly. When asked to do absolutely anything.’
Added another: ‘My partner had one of her juniors ask the managing director on a Zoom if this call was going to take long because she wanted to go for a swim… at 2pm on a Friday.’
‘We had a Gen Z intern walk straight up to a partner on day three of a four-week internship and offer him a “dart break to get away from these squares”,’ one worker said.
While some admitted they were impressed at how confident Gen Z workers were, others said their younger colleagues didn’t last long in their offices due to their tendency to flit around between tasks.
Etiquette on video meetings was another major issue with 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 come into the office but proceeded with the morning catch-up meeting while brushing his teeth, eating breakfast and ironing his clothes.
Shockingly, one man accidentally switched his camera on during a Zoom to reveal he was lounging around in a hot tub.
Many also claimed their Gen Z co-workers were constantly asking to leave early or were requesting a shorter work week.
‘Our intern asked to leave at 11.30 on Friday because he had lunch with his girlfriend. He then declined a 9.30am meeting because it was “too early”,’ one worker said.
‘Had a Gen Z clerk crack open a cider at his desk on midday on a Thursday. When confronted he said, “It’s just one standard and I’m on my break.” We had given him an urgent brief,’ another said.
‘I had a Gen Z say they couldn’t come into the office for a team day because they had too much to do,’ one worker said.
‘When I asked what so I could help prioritise they said washing, seeing their friend for lunch, facial, gym and an online order arriving.’
One man didn’t return to work as expected at the start of the year because he wanted to extend his trip in Asia.
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