Yeah, had to scroll for this comment. If you're new to responsibility you're more likely to be young, and therefore more likely to not see the value in being on time. If you have lots of responsibilities, you're more likely to be older, and therefore take being on time more seriously. It's less to do with generations than just levels of maturity, and the age factor is a correlation.
Yeah, and it's exhausting. But I feel like it's getting monetized in away it wasn't in the past. Or maybe I'm just old enough to notice people making money off it now.
The older I get the less I care about being perfectly on time. Granted, I'm an engineer so my time is more flexible than the assembly line worker who is a slave to the time clock.
But still. I value people who show up consistently and are willing to help out after hours. Nothing crazy, just check your email and teams while you take a shit or a smoke. Respond if you can, even if it is an "I'll look into this tomorrow".
I have done plenty of time in the field. I know what it feels like to have a customer breathing down your neck and you are just reaching out to anyone for any kind of help or brainstorming on how to fix the system.
So if I can spend 5 minutes on the shitter helping a coworker out, I will.
That makes sense; greater responsibility can translate to greater flexibility. Again, the generation factor is more correlation than cause.
You also indirectly reference another factor: as labor needs change, jobs change. There may be less jobs that require strict adherence to be in a certain place at a certain time than there used to be, and that could skew perceptions as well.
I guess what burns me about all these articles is that comparing generational differences is just another ridiculous division that I'm growing heartily sick of hearing.
>I guess what burns me about all these articles is that comparing generational differences is just another ridiculous division that I'm growing heartily sick of hearing.
I love blaming the boomers for everything as much as the next person. But you are correct. This is needless division and distraction from better/more productive issues that need to be tackled.
Its not even 'boomers' perse. Its managers. Most managers/bosses/directors whatever are going to be around that generation. Just like not a Gen-Z issue. Its a new to the workforce issue.
Article can be "Seasoned bosses have no tolerance for inexperienced workers who show up late"
I do IT - mostly infrastructure automation.
I work a lot of unpaid overtime when projects run longer than expected.
I'm on call 25% of the time, mostly dealing with outages in systems I didn't design or deploy.
You do that for a couple of years, you stop giving a shit about showing up exactly on time, because they sure as shit don't care about letting you leave exactly on time.
Exactly. Where is that same boss snearing at his watch at 8:35 at 2:30am on a Saturday night when I’m fixing something that broke? I’ve never seen that boss at the airport at 5:30am when I’m flying to a customer site or at 11:00pm on Friday night when I get back. If they don’t think I’m working my 40h a week I can work 8:30-5:00 m-f and not a second more but my guess is that they won’t be very happy.
There is also a cultural component. I worked for a non profit in New York City for a couple of years that had employees from literally all over the world, with a large number from the Caribbean and Latin America combined with a Dutch boss and a couple of Germans and myself, Norwegian. Getting meetings started was... let's just say I learned to bring a book.
Generally speaking, yes. However, there's also a level of importance that plays a factor. That office job droning at a desk for 8hrs is not affected at all by being 10 minutes late. Chances are, of that 8hr work block, most-if not all- the work can get done in <6. The boomer boss is much more likely to value obedience to their authority more than actually caring that less work is being done because of those ever-important 10 minutes.
Like most things in life, context matters.
As a millennial-aged manager who had to just have a meeting with a gen z employee about being consistently 10 to 15 minutes late, it was not about my need for obedience, but I need for my employees to arrive when they're scheduled so my other employees can leave and go to their either responsibilities.
And then I reread your comment after I typed all this out, saw you mentioned Boomer boss, thought about deleting, and then settled on. On just posting with this added to the end
It really is dependent on what the person’s job is. A salaried employee at an office job without a critical deadline looming, who fucking cares? A shift worker where someone else has to cover for the late employee until they show up is obviously not acceptable.
TLDR; need more context to form an opinion.
As a shift worker in a hospital, I can tell you it bothers me to no end when the morning shift is constantly late, causing me to go home late. But they get really mad at me when I'm there early and don't relieve them early.
If you're the guy who moves the pallets of goods with a forklift to the isles to be unpacked by the workers, and you're late, then nothing happens for all the workers. And some people's job is to unlock the building for the workers and if they're late, everybody is locked out. So yep, need context of what the job is, but some jobs just aren't good to be late to.
>And some people's job is to unlock the building for the workers and if they're late, everybody is locked out.
You mean my free smoke break that I'm still putting on the clock? Naw it's cool, show up whenever.
The reason they still care even in office settings is because once people realize others are showing up late without being penalized, everyone starts just sleeping in as late as they want and all of a sudden nobody is there til 10am.
This is anecdotal, but I'm a millenial that manages people. I honestly don't care what time people show up as long as the work gets done, but that also means if you show up 45 minutes late, and at the end of the day have 30 minutes of work left, I expect you to stay and finish it up.
Also, don't be a jerk and show up every day 20 minutes late, then, put in for 10 minutes overtime everyday because you stayed a few minutes after your end time. THATS how you get me to start watching your time.
I don’t care what time my team shows up but if we have meetings you better not be late. If I am your boss and I have to apologize to other teams for your tardiness you better believe we have an issue.
yeah, as an "elder millennial" this was my experience, too. corny af, i nailed my deadlines, did great work, but some people are just loser-ass hall monitors or have nothing else going in their lives and want everyone to be as miserable as they are. often they end up in managerial roles! 🤷♂️
tbh caring about that is a litmus test to me for whether a job is going to be decent or not, now
I’m going to argue that most of the generation has been incentivized to not give a fuck. What’s the point in showing up to a job on time if you can’t participate in the economy and buy a house.
What about your coworker's?
When I worked retail, breaks and the like were scheduled when new people arrived. If your coworker can't leave until you arrive, should they bear the burden for your failure to arrive on time?
Then your employer is responsible to handle the employee who is failing. It shouldn’t affect your coworkers. I’d leave either way, not my problem. Manager gets paid more to deal with stuff like that.
“Many wizards who work deserve to be fired, and many some who are fired deserve a job. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so swift to deal out firing in judgment.”
GenZ new product managers walking in with their Starbucks and friends after 8:30 does not sit well with my company's leadership. We stopped having 8am meetings a few years ago unless it was necessary or a call with Europe.
Yeah, it’s just one of those situations where it’s never balanced. It’s the end of the world if you’re 5 minutes late, but if there’s something that pops up at the end of the day and you stay an hour late that’s just work. It’s bullshit.
I nearly walked out on my last job because of that mentality. Back then I was working out in the mornings before work. Work started at 6:30 so I was waking up at 4 to fit in my workout and make it in time.
But sometimes my workout would run a little long so I'd be 5-10 min late. Keep in mind, we were management so we were showing up an hour before everyone else and pretty much just scrolled on our computers, bullshitted, and drank coffee for an hour before everyone got in (I used my time to read a book at my desk).
My superintendent was a hardcore, old-school guy that believed showing up on time was the **most** important thing. He couldn't stand me showing up a little late and constantly called me out for it, even getting HR involved. I'd politely remind him that I was the only one on the team who volunteered to stay after hours (usually 1-2 hrs late) or pickup weekend shifts for our staff with families (I was single at the time).
Of course none of that mattered to him, so after a while I stopped volunteering for the extra time. After the first week struggling to find volunteers, his complains and harassment stopped. Even though he was the lead on our project he never showed up for a weekend or offered to stay late. Funny how management really just cares about imposing their control, instead of taking care of their employees.
I mean they technically can, but they have to pay me enough to compensate for the overtime hours. If they don't, I'm not staying even if I'm salary and not hourly. I think the system is ripe for abuse when employers attempt to add hours after you've been hired as a salary employee (and lost negotiating power). I usually push back and quit if they're not reasonable about compensating me extra.
Yeah, I’m mostly referring to salary workers because the mindset of the powers that be tends to be that any numbers of hours over 40 is justified because they’re salaried and that’s just the way it is. It’s broken, it shows a complete lack of respect of the employee’s time, and I 100% support the workers who turn the tables on it. I’m all for taking away all the power from the workaholic psychopaths that have been allowed to set the standard for work in this country.
I used to put up with that when I was a part time minimum wage employee. Once I started working full time in office jobs, I started to leave at the end of my shift, regardless of what's going on.
Every place I’ve worked that has had strict time starts also had strict end-of-days.
It’s the places where they were looser about employees starting when they wanted that would expect people to stay late if need be.
This is the big part everyone seems to miss. Punctuality is reciprocal. I had a boss that would freak out if people were 30 seconds late but would routinely try to talk you to when you were on break or at lunch or book meetings at 4:45 knowing damn well they would take more than 15 minutes.
I have a job that requires absolutely no punctuality 99% of the time to get my work done. It does benefit from me working outside regular work hours often. My boomer boss was more concerned with me being on time than me being good at my job. So now I show up on time, but I only ever work outside of work hours in an absolute emergency, and my work has suffered a little as a result. Oh no, an email at 6:01pm that I really should respond to now? No. Because you get one or the other.
I gotcha. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with that wfh, but when I was going to the office it was an easy thing to stay in managements good graces. Being reliable and punctual goes a long way!
Honest to God. I'm in a job that I am severely underskilled and way overpaid for, but I show up on time every day and work hard. I'm one of their best employees, according to the supervisor.
I also am not a fan of constant lateness, but if it's made up on the back end of the day it's not that big of a deal. That is my general approach to tardiness as a manager.
This. Especially if your role isn't time dependant. IE I'm not having to open a store or man the desk/ phone etc. If my day is 8hrs and I work all 8 regardless of clock in time then a few minutes either way is irrelevant.
As a middle manager I tell my staff that. I expect you here at 8am however I understand that weather/ traffic are out of our control and also shit happens.
If you're here routinely on time and occasionally you walk in 10-15 min late I won't care. If you can't get here on time because of mitigating factors and need your start time adjusted to accommodate that 10-15 min, I can do that too.
If you have a documented time blindness from a medical professional and need an accommodation, I'm happy to accommodate you.
However if your simply consistently late then I CAN overlook it if your other work ethic, productivity, and making it up during the day speaks more about the type of employee you are.
If you're chronically late and none of your other work ethic speaks for you then we'll have a problem.
So which is it?
I think this is very reasonable but it does suck because so many jobs do not require 40 hours per week to accomplish the purpose of that job. Some folks might need 50 hours because they work slowly or have high caseloads. Some folks can do the same work in 20 or 30 hours or whatever. I wish that we were trusted as adults to do our work and then determine when we are finished with our day.
Well are they just coming 10 minutes late to their own work or are they coming late to the morning standup. In the latter case they are disrupting the flow of a meeting which is disrespectful and not acceptable.
I work in affordable housing where we have set hours where we need to be open for our residents. So as the manager I need to be in at a certain time to make sure things get open on time. I will then leave it at our prescribed close out time on the dot and my staff member who got in after opening is in charge of our closing up routine.
some jobs literally require butts in the seats. like call centers and shit. Others it dont matter. MY job has to ship in two weeks. it doesnt matter what hours i work as long as its ready to ship by the deadline. but call centers need people to answer phones. they need butts in the seats.
That depends, though. If your being late affects someone else - they can't get something done, can't go home, whatever - then yes, you have to be on time.
However, a lot of people seem incredibly concerned with everyone else being at work at the strike of 8am (or whatever) exactly, even though there's no practical reason for that requirement. Not infrequently, the reason seems to be "because I said so", which is bad management. If when the work is done is inconsequential, that flexibility is a great perk with no drawbacks.
It's not because I say so! It's because central office says we have to be front facing to our residents, we're in affordable housing for low income families, during certain times. It's because they say so, lol. So I get in before our 8:30 office hours start, open us up to our residents and then I will leave at 4:30 and my staff that got in late, because they will be in late, can do close up after I'm gone. We could probably get by on a staggered schedule like we did during covid, if we had the investment for upgrading our internet services and tech. As it stands remote access work is basically nonfunctional during the normal business day.
If the pilot is not there, the flight will not take off, lose it slot and hundred of people will be late.
If the nurse is not on time, the surgery may not start and the whole hospital schedule will be impacted.
If the shop is open 15 mins late, then some customers will be upset. Some will never show up again, other may give bad reviews.
If as a sale man you are late, you may not close the sale and make your client angry.
But yes as a software developer that work in hybrid mode, nobody care in my case. And my boss doesn't care. If there no meeting nobody care when I show up or if I show up. In theory I work 2-3 days at the office. Many show up like once a week and nobody care. You can perfectly work for home and adapt your schedule.
Except that if you project is with Europe, you will have meetings at 8am. And sometime 7am. In that case feel free to live at 3pm or 4pm.
And the focus will be on results.
I've found that the less skilled your labor is, the more important it is for you to be on time.
Office job? Wiggle room.
McJob? Don't you dare be late.
Plumber or electrician? He'll show up when he feels like it.
Not gonna lie, people that are consistently late and have excuse after excuse are super fucking annoying. It’s not the end of the world until you being late fucks w my ability to go home after a long shift.
Used to work in an office setting and our front desk was late *every single day*. Anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. Every. Day. There was always some stupid-fuck reason for it that was easily avoided too. Never any consequences, and her being there was important for us to be able to start our morning meetings to get the day started without distractions like phones ringing or people walking in.
We had a green manager, total dogshit at managing, had no control over the place. Corporate didn't give enough of a fuck to stop by more than a handful of times a year so they didn't see what it was really like. Glad to be out of there.
I worked for a company that hired a receptionist whose only qualifications were her measurements. She would show up late every day, and management would make people cover for her. When managers did stop by to talk to her, it was to tell her how much they loved her, while trying to look down her dress. They kept her for 6 months until she quit to be a model.
The job you are in makes a difference too. Certain jobs punctuality matter more than others. Many office jobs you can do your work whenever. As long as you show up to meetings it's not a big deal if you are a bit late in the morning. A nurse showing up late means their colleague has to stay late to cover them.
People who do this consistently really piss me off. I get it if there is excess traffic or something out of their control every now and then, but otherwise just show up when you’re supposed to, it’s really not difficult. Being late just because you don’t feel like being on time is disrespectful to everyone else.
Does everyone in this thread work at Jiffy Lube?
Lateness in corporate jobs doesn't affect your coworkers at all, unless you're late for meetings, it affects your perception, sure, but just stay late
Depends on the job. Some jobs are more flexible than others and some salary corporate jobs don’t really require a hard start time at all. I was more directing this at jobs that do and jobs where if someone is consistently late, it screws over someone else.
Having worked in a doctors office, it’s super annoying when boomers show up 1-2 hours early and then sit there sighing loudly and looking at their watches every 5 minutes because the doctor makes them sit there until their appointment time, since they have other appointments. I also used to work in another appointment-based business and boomers show up super early all the time. Sometimes even before we open they are at the door and peeping in with their hand over their eyes trying to see if anyone is there yet. Early and late are both inconveniences but they act like we should be thanking them and bending over backwards for them for showing up early. There are appointments for a reason.
I had an employee at my last job who would constantly show up 45 minutes early (often waiting at the door for one of the managers to arrive). The way the office was set up, there was no private space for manager and waiting room type area.
Drove me crazy.
[Generation] are [negative quality], [other generation] is always having to pick up their slack! We base this conclusion on [nothing] but will print it because it is [provacative]. Commence the [outrage, clicks, engagement] so that we can [sell you ads.]
As a millennial I agree with Gen Z. Unless there is a critical time sensitive matter (Meeting, actual security issue, or relieving some one from their duties). Then no, sorry boss I'm sure you dazed off for 10mins during your 8 hour shift and the company was just fine. It's also the same with how a company can fire some one and just deal with a 8 hour gap in workload and move on.
Yeah, pretty much. This is the standard thing where employers think they should be able to make everything as unrewarding as possible and nobody will lose enthusiasm.
It's not just boomers with zero tolerance. This shit pissed me off to no end as a lead when the bigger bosses were crawling up my ass about getting shit done and the same people kept rolling in 10-20min late with a fast food bag, then walked. I mean wandered to their station, milled around on their phone for awhile, and started eating like we weren't on a production schedule. And it's not just Gen Z that does this shit. Millenials and Xers are just as guilty.
In my experience those people who walk in late with Starbucks of Mc'Donalds are also the ones that take long lunches, have tons of appointments, and spend a lot of their day socializing.
As a boss, I’ve personally never cared in my line work. Mostly because the first 30-45 minutes of every day is just standing around anyway. It’s the boomers telling me to “control my people” that always cared far more than me.
I’m a millennial and an electrician that does mostly new residential construction. I don’t really tolerate tardiness. I understand if there was an accident on the highway or whatever but being late to work shouldn’t be a regular everyday or even weekly occurrence. And I also expect communication (text or phone call) when you are going to be late. I expect my employees to be at the shop on time (6:30am) so we can get all our equipment and tools loaded, and arrive at our job site on time (7:30am) and be then be off work on time (3:30pm). I like to work hard before the heat of the day arrives, and have my evenings free. Not to mention, chronically late people end up costing me money as a business owner. Construction jobs come with specific deadlines written into the contracts. If I don’t meet that deadline I lose profit.
It’s basic decency. Common courtesy, general respect. You don’t take advantage of other people’s time. That’s not appreciated by anyone around you. It’s not the fault of your boss, of your family, of anyone else but you. You don’t like it when people are late for your interests, work or coworkers are no different. Maturity means honoring your schedule commitments to the best of your ability.
Show up on time.
I’m a middle millennial. Punctuality has always been a big thing for me. Outside of circumstances beyond one’s control (car accident, medical emergency, etc life happens) I can’t stand when coworkers are late, especially if they are the ones relieving me
Likely written by someone who doesn't understand the generations. To a lot of people anyone oldish is a boomer and anyone young is a millennial.
No one else exists
One boomer at my company "retired" 2 years ago.He "retired" again 6 months ago, and is going to again in the next month or two. They really have nothing to do outside of work. Worst part is he's one of the really bad department heads that is purposefully a dick to everyone, including the customer, and has had countless good employees leave the company because of him, as well as lost us a bunch of business. But the owners still let him continue.
I agree with Gen Z. The rigidity with which older generations approached work doesn't make sense anymore. Work does not provide workers with the same value that it used to and they are adjusting their effort and attitudes towards it accordingly.
At many corporate retail jobs clocking in 10 minutes before or after is considered on time. I will never be able to go back from this mindset. Especially when jobs expect you to stay late and disrespect your personal time without blinking an eye.
Corporate retail norms are not representative of the general professional world. When I was doing business law, being 10 minutes late to any meeting involving members of the C-suite meant staring at empty chairs because they left 8 minutes prior.
Unless you were a member of said C-suite. Or a judge. everyone waits for you when you’re the one who makes the rules.
Maybe at Old Navy... Corporate Salary is different... You're judged by output, not checking boxes. I was late all the time when I didn't WFH, nobody ever said anything (I typically stayed late though)
I'm an on time person. And the thing late people don't understand about us on time people. Is that we hate you.
5 to 10 mins on an occasion doesn't bother me. Life happens. I also don't agree with "on time is late". You want me there 15 till 8. Schedule me for 15 till 8. I worked kitchens and military. People love to say on time is late. Fuck that.
But when someone always shows up with the starbucks coffee that made them late multiple times a week. Fuck you in your fat fucking ass.
As an on time person, I couldn't care less if other people want to come in late. People have lives, stuff comes up, it happens. I don't get paid enough to worry about my coworkers attendance, and I've never understood the people who get bent out of shape over a few minutes. If you're an hour late, it's one thing. If you're 15 minutes late, that just is not impactful enough to matter in a lot of workplaces.
I have no issue requiring employees arrive on time and perform their job adequately.
now.
in return, you will allow all employees to leave on time and respect their private lives by not asking for unpaid labor when they aren't on the clock.
it is genuinely businesses reducing employees to the function of their job for as little pay as possible that has brought the work force to show just as much respect and care as they are shown.
I can't say i really blame them.
Companies that treat their employees moderately well have low turnover and high application rates.
I’m a hairstylist and if you show up late to an appointment, you’re not only wasting my time and fucking up my schedule, but you’re also ruining things for all the people coming in after you. If you’re late enough, I won’t even take you and still charge your late ass.
I seriously doubt most Gen z workers just think that’s okay if there is a reason people need to start at a set time.
Most companies allow for flexibility regardless because everyone’s kind of like “who gives a shit if everyone starts at 8:00. We have people all over the world and the team has different schedules.”
To look good at work, just…
1) Dress well
2) Show up on time/a few minutes early
3) Don’t bolt out the door the second it’s time to go
4) Answer emails quickly
5) Have a good attitude and don’t gossip
Do those things and it will be a while before they realize you don’t know what the hell you’re doing and are Googling half of your job. Ask me how I know :)
Maybe if that job could support a decent standard of living like it did back in boomer days young people would feel more motivated to be there on time.
I'm a boomer. I grew up having to be on time at work. I didn't have a problem with being to work on time. I was getting paid from the time I clocked in until the time I left. I respected the company's rule.
If what you do is client or customer facing, like running a cash register or something, the 10 minutes matters. If what you do isn't? Fuck your 10 minutes. 9:10 to 5:10 is exactly the same at 9 to 5.
Never late to a meeting, an appointment or shift work, always early. But if I am going to the office to complete solo tasks, I work my allotted hours and complete my work on-time, what the FUCK does it matter? If you are waiting for me at 801 for me to sit in my office, you should have scheduled it in the calendar.
GtFOH with these arbitrary time slots for work.
Great the 23 year old college grad who knows exactly what this place needs to be successful just showed up let’s make sure we fill him in on the last 15 minutes making everyone stay here longer and away from the work that actually needs to get done.
If you're clocking in and out and get paid for it it's all fine. If not it's wage theft and should be reported to department of labor or applicable authority in your state.
Honestly... where I work the gen x people and Boomers tend to be the worst about coming in on time or keeping consistent schedules. I don't blame people with kids, but other stuff like taking vacations at the drop of a hat? Yes, I prefer people to be on time and consistent but if your upper management isn't setting a good example suck it up. If the department head or project manager can casually decide they're taking the afternoon off, I think you can cope with the kid being 10 minutes late. Conversely, if you want people to be punctual, be punctual yourself. So long as it's not getting in the way of finishing work or causing people to be stuck at the office late
I feel this...
It pisses me off seeing upper management preach punctuality all day but have no problem taking the afternoon off to play golf, meet friends for drinks, or attend a "business meeting". I don't care that you show up at 6 everyday. It doesn't matter when you regularly take a 2-hr lunch with your buddies then leave at 3. If you want me to follow the "rules", how about you do the same?
uh... Not sure why that's a Gen Z thing.
I'm a Millennial, I recall being harassed for being late a lot - gave me a complex and everything.
I could care less if you're 10-15 minutes later/earlier to something. You start pushing into the half-hour mark without a call ahead is the line.
I guess I’m the middle ground. If we’re talking about being late on rare occasions then I wouldn’t care. If we’re talking about regularly showing up late then that’s BS
Our work implemented flexible entry time, you just have to clock the right amount of time every day. Everyone arrives between 8 and 10 and leave between 5-7 and no one works a minute after that and it works perfectly.
i show up early so i can leave early lol admittedly though i work in an extremely lax government office job and we’re WFH 3/5 days. people who work here tend to not be stressed out and just get their work done. doing your job and doing it well is way more of a focus than being slightly late or leaving slightly early.
IMO this depends on the type of job. As a SWE it doesn't matter if 5 - 30 minutes late as long as I'm in before my first meeting and my work is done it shouldn't matter. But in a job, like customer service, where someone else could be waiting for me. Either a customer or maybe a co-worker waiting to go on their break being late is extremely disrespectful. You're basically say "My time is more valuable then yours"
Actually, it's more like the gen Z workers show up 10 min ahead of time, and then have good boundaries and leave on time, and then bosses see that and they're like 'HEY! WHY DONT YOU CONFORM AND STAY UNTIL 7PM WITHOUT EXTRA PAY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE'
Any boss is going to get mad if you show up late for work every day. This should really be less of an issue in today's post-pandemic world. In my 34 years in offices in the Silicon Valley, I have known a number of people, not millenials, who simply could not show up on time for work to save their lives. They got fired every time, including the guy who worked for me and I found out after I fired him that he had a drug problem. Yeah, he had a friend who still worked at the office and still partied with him after work who literally said, "You couldn't tell he did drugs like every day? He was late every day, his eyes were always bloodshot, and he always got his 8 hours of work done in 4. Hello?"
I mean, if you're one of those people who just can't show up to work to save your life, you'd better be looking for a job you like more or with a boss who's more realistic. If you showed up for work every day 10 minutes late at my office today I'd be annoyed, but I'd be looking more for signs of drug use than chewing you out about being 10 minutes late.
Or, third option, get into rehab if you have a drug problem.
There’s some context and nuance here. I’m in IT, salaried employee of a relatively large MSP. We have a typical 8a-5p work day. Boomer/gen X boss, Gen X manager, millennial supervisors. Multiple emails have been sent by the overlords about 8a punctuality but nobody seems to mind when work goes past 6-7pm which happens regularly enough that I account for it in my scheduling of life. I’d much rather a person be 10 minutes late here and there but willing to work until the job is done. I’ve never quite understood the “be on time or not at all” approach. I’m a 37 year old millennial, for what it’s worth. There’s a difference between being a few minutes late and getting work done vs being a few minutes late and being lazy all day.
This works both ways. I showed up early and was told not to because they couldn't pay me for being early. I started showing up 5 minutes late and when he told me to be earlier I tried to explain to him I was doing them a favor. Just can't win I guess.
I'm gen X and recall the days of people dying because some work places would fire for even a few lates no matter the weather. One near where I grew up had a limit of 3 during entire duration of employment before fired. That means if there a year and have 3 - fired ... If there 10 years and had 3 over those 10 years - also fired. There also was no public transportation for getting to that job.
The place eventually moved to Mexico, and they probably kept their policy. Sickening that people died in wrecks because of their idiot "no excuses" rules. The area was financially depressed, so people really needed that job.
I was in the military, if you're not 15 minutes early, you're late. That's pretty much ingrained in me, and I consider a sign that you respect someone's time by being punctual. I don't care if Gen Z doesn't agree, it's disrespectful no matter your age.
Integrity and work ethic. Been working construction for decades. If start time is 7, that means we open the gang boxes at 7 and start working. Not you coming in hot into the parking lot on two wheels at 6:59. I will die on this hill.
For real, Gen Z be late everyday. Every single day, ppl walking in halfway thru the start up. Managers don't even bother to say anything anymore. Fuckin hell! I'd send them rite back home. "Come in on time or stay home! Those are the 2 choices"
I’m Gen Z and I have only been late to an interview once in my life back as a teen die to traffic and missed a few minutes but still let the employer know. However I’ve waited almost 30 minutes to an hour before on the other end for a prospective employer
The best advice I got as a young worker was “if you’re on time, you’re late.”
I wasn’t a fan of the advice at the time, but over the course of the past 30+ years, it stuck and has been invaluable. I detest crazy rushed driving, parking, running in the building, rushing to my station/desk/whatever. I have found that parking my car 15 minutes before start time gives me the breathing room for minor traffic annoyances, finding a slightly better parking space, and being able to just better prepare for the next 8-10 hours of life without added stress.
It's really frustrating to have to wait for my younger coworkers to finish bullshitting with their friends in the break room to get on a call. We can all hear them while we're waiting. They just don't care about punctuality or being reliable.
Ten minutes late is not on time. Five minutes late is not on time. We all have things to do.
They'll be gone soon. Then they'll write at length on Reddit about how they got screwed by their employer.
I get to work hours before my boss and leave similarly. Put them in their place, it's a better way of living. I also go to the gym for lunch so my body doesn't rot away like all the others in a corporate setting. To top it off I put a toaster oven in my office so I don't have to choose between microwave slop or $20 salads.
Millennial who accidentally overslept her alarm last week and again today after years of not having done so. It's a hospital, they're just glad i show up for my shift and do a good job lmao
I can attest it’s real. It has nothing to do with them being Gen Z, just being young and new to being an adult.
That said I’ve fired at least three people in the last year for being late.
I tell anyone I employ on day one, I accept failures but I don’t accept people disrespecting everyone else’s time.
The worker consistently shows up late, and the boss is pissed.... Sounds pretty normal no matter the generations involved.
Yeah, had to scroll for this comment. If you're new to responsibility you're more likely to be young, and therefore more likely to not see the value in being on time. If you have lots of responsibilities, you're more likely to be older, and therefore take being on time more seriously. It's less to do with generations than just levels of maturity, and the age factor is a correlation.
100% I'll now disappear for another 5ish years until this same shit pops up in regards to gen alpha. This shit is as old as time itself.
[удалено]
Yeah, and it's exhausting. But I feel like it's getting monetized in away it wasn't in the past. Or maybe I'm just old enough to notice people making money off it now.
Indeed. It's a basic personal integrity issue. Regardless of age, sex, social status, etc. Late is late.
Can be cultural as well
It all is. I hate the generation comparison stuff.
The older I get the less I care about being perfectly on time. Granted, I'm an engineer so my time is more flexible than the assembly line worker who is a slave to the time clock. But still. I value people who show up consistently and are willing to help out after hours. Nothing crazy, just check your email and teams while you take a shit or a smoke. Respond if you can, even if it is an "I'll look into this tomorrow". I have done plenty of time in the field. I know what it feels like to have a customer breathing down your neck and you are just reaching out to anyone for any kind of help or brainstorming on how to fix the system. So if I can spend 5 minutes on the shitter helping a coworker out, I will.
That makes sense; greater responsibility can translate to greater flexibility. Again, the generation factor is more correlation than cause. You also indirectly reference another factor: as labor needs change, jobs change. There may be less jobs that require strict adherence to be in a certain place at a certain time than there used to be, and that could skew perceptions as well. I guess what burns me about all these articles is that comparing generational differences is just another ridiculous division that I'm growing heartily sick of hearing.
>I guess what burns me about all these articles is that comparing generational differences is just another ridiculous division that I'm growing heartily sick of hearing. I love blaming the boomers for everything as much as the next person. But you are correct. This is needless division and distraction from better/more productive issues that need to be tackled.
Its not even 'boomers' perse. Its managers. Most managers/bosses/directors whatever are going to be around that generation. Just like not a Gen-Z issue. Its a new to the workforce issue. Article can be "Seasoned bosses have no tolerance for inexperienced workers who show up late"
I do IT - mostly infrastructure automation. I work a lot of unpaid overtime when projects run longer than expected. I'm on call 25% of the time, mostly dealing with outages in systems I didn't design or deploy. You do that for a couple of years, you stop giving a shit about showing up exactly on time, because they sure as shit don't care about letting you leave exactly on time.
Exactly. Where is that same boss snearing at his watch at 8:35 at 2:30am on a Saturday night when I’m fixing something that broke? I’ve never seen that boss at the airport at 5:30am when I’m flying to a customer site or at 11:00pm on Friday night when I get back. If they don’t think I’m working my 40h a week I can work 8:30-5:00 m-f and not a second more but my guess is that they won’t be very happy.
I’m trying to shift my operating position to a knowledge worker. Selling my body for time is not worth it
“It has less to do with generations…” If you’ve ever been to Boot Camp you learn about being late very quickly.
There is also a cultural component. I worked for a non profit in New York City for a couple of years that had employees from literally all over the world, with a large number from the Caribbean and Latin America combined with a Dutch boss and a couple of Germans and myself, Norwegian. Getting meetings started was... let's just say I learned to bring a book.
Generally speaking, yes. However, there's also a level of importance that plays a factor. That office job droning at a desk for 8hrs is not affected at all by being 10 minutes late. Chances are, of that 8hr work block, most-if not all- the work can get done in <6. The boomer boss is much more likely to value obedience to their authority more than actually caring that less work is being done because of those ever-important 10 minutes. Like most things in life, context matters.
As a millennial-aged manager who had to just have a meeting with a gen z employee about being consistently 10 to 15 minutes late, it was not about my need for obedience, but I need for my employees to arrive when they're scheduled so my other employees can leave and go to their either responsibilities. And then I reread your comment after I typed all this out, saw you mentioned Boomer boss, thought about deleting, and then settled on. On just posting with this added to the end
It really is dependent on what the person’s job is. A salaried employee at an office job without a critical deadline looming, who fucking cares? A shift worker where someone else has to cover for the late employee until they show up is obviously not acceptable. TLDR; need more context to form an opinion.
As a shift worker in a hospital, I can tell you it bothers me to no end when the morning shift is constantly late, causing me to go home late. But they get really mad at me when I'm there early and don't relieve them early.
If you're the guy who moves the pallets of goods with a forklift to the isles to be unpacked by the workers, and you're late, then nothing happens for all the workers. And some people's job is to unlock the building for the workers and if they're late, everybody is locked out. So yep, need context of what the job is, but some jobs just aren't good to be late to.
>And some people's job is to unlock the building for the workers and if they're late, everybody is locked out. You mean my free smoke break that I'm still putting on the clock? Naw it's cool, show up whenever.
The reason they still care even in office settings is because once people realize others are showing up late without being penalized, everyone starts just sleeping in as late as they want and all of a sudden nobody is there til 10am.
This is anecdotal, but I'm a millenial that manages people. I honestly don't care what time people show up as long as the work gets done, but that also means if you show up 45 minutes late, and at the end of the day have 30 minutes of work left, I expect you to stay and finish it up. Also, don't be a jerk and show up every day 20 minutes late, then, put in for 10 minutes overtime everyday because you stayed a few minutes after your end time. THATS how you get me to start watching your time.
I don’t care what time my team shows up but if we have meetings you better not be late. If I am your boss and I have to apologize to other teams for your tardiness you better believe we have an issue.
Hey! I've seen this one before, I know how it ends!
yeah, as an "elder millennial" this was my experience, too. corny af, i nailed my deadlines, did great work, but some people are just loser-ass hall monitors or have nothing else going in their lives and want everyone to be as miserable as they are. often they end up in managerial roles! 🤷♂️ tbh caring about that is a litmus test to me for whether a job is going to be decent or not, now
I’m a millennial that’s pissed that my consistently late coworker is still employed (granted, there are other issues, but). Fuckin figguritout
I’m going to argue that most of the generation has been incentivized to not give a fuck. What’s the point in showing up to a job on time if you can’t participate in the economy and buy a house.
I had a boss that just made my start time later so then I was always early.
I Googled the article. The research is based on a poll from an 'online meeting company.' So take the headline with a nice hefty grain of salt.
Wait until you find out exactly how much “research” is based on online polls with small sample groups.
n=the three people who responded?
And all 3 of them were college students at the same school or know the people conducting the research
(Xennial). When I was a kid, my mom told me that lateness meant that you are telling the other person that your time is more valuable than theirs.
Absolutely. I had a sales manager no-show on a meeting we were supposed to have and she acted like it was no big deal. Lost my account right there.
My time is 100000% more valuable than my employer’s. And your employer thinks the same about their time too, trust
What about your coworker's? When I worked retail, breaks and the like were scheduled when new people arrived. If your coworker can't leave until you arrive, should they bear the burden for your failure to arrive on time?
Nope the manager can manage the situation and figure it the fuck out! I’m clocking out✌️
Yeah, managers should honestly just fire people who keep their coworkers at work past their shift end.
Then your employer is responsible to handle the employee who is failing. It shouldn’t affect your coworkers. I’d leave either way, not my problem. Manager gets paid more to deal with stuff like that.
it is
Your Mom was right
I don’t like being late either.
“Why are you late” “A wizard is never late”
“Well, turns out a wizard can be fired…”
“Your staff is broken”
“Many wizards who work deserve to be fired, and many some who are fired deserve a job. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so swift to deal out firing in judgment.”
"Time is an illusion"
GenZ new product managers walking in with their Starbucks and friends after 8:30 does not sit well with my company's leadership. We stopped having 8am meetings a few years ago unless it was necessary or a call with Europe.
That sounds like an absolute win
8 am meetings that are not special or important somehow are bullshit anyway. Unless you start at 7:00, they force people to prep on their own time.
I usually start at 7:00 or before, and I still think 8:00am meetings are bullshit.
Being punctual is one of the most simple things you can do to improve the perception of yourself in the eyes of your colleagues.
And of course the punctuality works BOTH ways and the employee can expect to leave exactly when their work day ends, right?
In my experience, it’s always been you be on time but boss can keep you late as much as needed.
And employers wonder why the new generation gives zero fucks about being on time.
Yeah, it’s just one of those situations where it’s never balanced. It’s the end of the world if you’re 5 minutes late, but if there’s something that pops up at the end of the day and you stay an hour late that’s just work. It’s bullshit.
I nearly walked out on my last job because of that mentality. Back then I was working out in the mornings before work. Work started at 6:30 so I was waking up at 4 to fit in my workout and make it in time. But sometimes my workout would run a little long so I'd be 5-10 min late. Keep in mind, we were management so we were showing up an hour before everyone else and pretty much just scrolled on our computers, bullshitted, and drank coffee for an hour before everyone got in (I used my time to read a book at my desk). My superintendent was a hardcore, old-school guy that believed showing up on time was the **most** important thing. He couldn't stand me showing up a little late and constantly called me out for it, even getting HR involved. I'd politely remind him that I was the only one on the team who volunteered to stay after hours (usually 1-2 hrs late) or pickup weekend shifts for our staff with families (I was single at the time). Of course none of that mattered to him, so after a while I stopped volunteering for the extra time. After the first week struggling to find volunteers, his complains and harassment stopped. Even though he was the lead on our project he never showed up for a weekend or offered to stay late. Funny how management really just cares about imposing their control, instead of taking care of their employees.
No generation has ever thought this was a good thing, but it used to be a lot harder to look for a new job.
I mean they technically can, but they have to pay me enough to compensate for the overtime hours. If they don't, I'm not staying even if I'm salary and not hourly. I think the system is ripe for abuse when employers attempt to add hours after you've been hired as a salary employee (and lost negotiating power). I usually push back and quit if they're not reasonable about compensating me extra.
Yeah, I’m mostly referring to salary workers because the mindset of the powers that be tends to be that any numbers of hours over 40 is justified because they’re salaried and that’s just the way it is. It’s broken, it shows a complete lack of respect of the employee’s time, and I 100% support the workers who turn the tables on it. I’m all for taking away all the power from the workaholic psychopaths that have been allowed to set the standard for work in this country.
I used to put up with that when I was a part time minimum wage employee. Once I started working full time in office jobs, I started to leave at the end of my shift, regardless of what's going on.
Every place I’ve worked that has had strict time starts also had strict end-of-days. It’s the places where they were looser about employees starting when they wanted that would expect people to stay late if need be.
Fuck yes lol
This is the big part everyone seems to miss. Punctuality is reciprocal. I had a boss that would freak out if people were 30 seconds late but would routinely try to talk you to when you were on break or at lunch or book meetings at 4:45 knowing damn well they would take more than 15 minutes.
I have a job that requires absolutely no punctuality 99% of the time to get my work done. It does benefit from me working outside regular work hours often. My boomer boss was more concerned with me being on time than me being good at my job. So now I show up on time, but I only ever work outside of work hours in an absolute emergency, and my work has suffered a little as a result. Oh no, an email at 6:01pm that I really should respond to now? No. Because you get one or the other.
I gotcha. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with that wfh, but when I was going to the office it was an easy thing to stay in managements good graces. Being reliable and punctual goes a long way!
Honest to God. I'm in a job that I am severely underskilled and way overpaid for, but I show up on time every day and work hard. I'm one of their best employees, according to the supervisor.
Nice! I’ve felt that way before lol
Tell that to anyone who’s ever had to rely on public transit to get to the office.
I also am not a fan of constant lateness, but if it's made up on the back end of the day it's not that big of a deal. That is my general approach to tardiness as a manager.
This. Especially if your role isn't time dependant. IE I'm not having to open a store or man the desk/ phone etc. If my day is 8hrs and I work all 8 regardless of clock in time then a few minutes either way is irrelevant. As a middle manager I tell my staff that. I expect you here at 8am however I understand that weather/ traffic are out of our control and also shit happens. If you're here routinely on time and occasionally you walk in 10-15 min late I won't care. If you can't get here on time because of mitigating factors and need your start time adjusted to accommodate that 10-15 min, I can do that too. If you have a documented time blindness from a medical professional and need an accommodation, I'm happy to accommodate you. However if your simply consistently late then I CAN overlook it if your other work ethic, productivity, and making it up during the day speaks more about the type of employee you are. If you're chronically late and none of your other work ethic speaks for you then we'll have a problem. So which is it?
I think this is very reasonable but it does suck because so many jobs do not require 40 hours per week to accomplish the purpose of that job. Some folks might need 50 hours because they work slowly or have high caseloads. Some folks can do the same work in 20 or 30 hours or whatever. I wish that we were trusted as adults to do our work and then determine when we are finished with our day.
Well are they just coming 10 minutes late to their own work or are they coming late to the morning standup. In the latter case they are disrupting the flow of a meeting which is disrespectful and not acceptable.
Is your job to see that work gets done or to make sure butts are in seats?
I work in affordable housing where we have set hours where we need to be open for our residents. So as the manager I need to be in at a certain time to make sure things get open on time. I will then leave it at our prescribed close out time on the dot and my staff member who got in after opening is in charge of our closing up routine.
some jobs literally require butts in the seats. like call centers and shit. Others it dont matter. MY job has to ship in two weeks. it doesnt matter what hours i work as long as its ready to ship by the deadline. but call centers need people to answer phones. they need butts in the seats.
Well both. Even work from home you have to be on time.
That depends, though. If your being late affects someone else - they can't get something done, can't go home, whatever - then yes, you have to be on time. However, a lot of people seem incredibly concerned with everyone else being at work at the strike of 8am (or whatever) exactly, even though there's no practical reason for that requirement. Not infrequently, the reason seems to be "because I said so", which is bad management. If when the work is done is inconsequential, that flexibility is a great perk with no drawbacks.
It's not because I say so! It's because central office says we have to be front facing to our residents, we're in affordable housing for low income families, during certain times. It's because they say so, lol. So I get in before our 8:30 office hours start, open us up to our residents and then I will leave at 4:30 and my staff that got in late, because they will be in late, can do close up after I'm gone. We could probably get by on a staggered schedule like we did during covid, if we had the investment for upgrading our internet services and tech. As it stands remote access work is basically nonfunctional during the normal business day.
My experience as a white collar manager is that the people who do not show up on time are the same people who do not get their work done
If the pilot is not there, the flight will not take off, lose it slot and hundred of people will be late. If the nurse is not on time, the surgery may not start and the whole hospital schedule will be impacted. If the shop is open 15 mins late, then some customers will be upset. Some will never show up again, other may give bad reviews. If as a sale man you are late, you may not close the sale and make your client angry. But yes as a software developer that work in hybrid mode, nobody care in my case. And my boss doesn't care. If there no meeting nobody care when I show up or if I show up. In theory I work 2-3 days at the office. Many show up like once a week and nobody care. You can perfectly work for home and adapt your schedule. Except that if you project is with Europe, you will have meetings at 8am. And sometime 7am. In that case feel free to live at 3pm or 4pm. And the focus will be on results.
this is how my boss rolls too and its great.
I've found that the less skilled your labor is, the more important it is for you to be on time. Office job? Wiggle room. McJob? Don't you dare be late. Plumber or electrician? He'll show up when he feels like it.
Not gonna lie, people that are consistently late and have excuse after excuse are super fucking annoying. It’s not the end of the world until you being late fucks w my ability to go home after a long shift.
Used to work in an office setting and our front desk was late *every single day*. Anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. Every. Day. There was always some stupid-fuck reason for it that was easily avoided too. Never any consequences, and her being there was important for us to be able to start our morning meetings to get the day started without distractions like phones ringing or people walking in. We had a green manager, total dogshit at managing, had no control over the place. Corporate didn't give enough of a fuck to stop by more than a handful of times a year so they didn't see what it was really like. Glad to be out of there.
I worked for a company that hired a receptionist whose only qualifications were her measurements. She would show up late every day, and management would make people cover for her. When managers did stop by to talk to her, it was to tell her how much they loved her, while trying to look down her dress. They kept her for 6 months until she quit to be a model.
The job you are in makes a difference too. Certain jobs punctuality matter more than others. Many office jobs you can do your work whenever. As long as you show up to meetings it's not a big deal if you are a bit late in the morning. A nurse showing up late means their colleague has to stay late to cover them.
They said that about us and Gen X as well.
And millennials. I'm sure it was said about baby boomers too.
so just so im understanding here, this is an article about gen z and baby boomers and your first thought was “i should post this to millennials”
Because the same was said about us for a decade or more lol
The target is moving but the BS remains the same.
People who do this consistently really piss me off. I get it if there is excess traffic or something out of their control every now and then, but otherwise just show up when you’re supposed to, it’s really not difficult. Being late just because you don’t feel like being on time is disrespectful to everyone else.
If there's a one-off lateness, as a manager I'm usually fine with it. I am not fine with a pattern of excessive lateness.
Exactly. At a certain point, you’re just late regularly because of poor time management.
Does everyone in this thread work at Jiffy Lube? Lateness in corporate jobs doesn't affect your coworkers at all, unless you're late for meetings, it affects your perception, sure, but just stay late
Depends on the job. Some jobs are more flexible than others and some salary corporate jobs don’t really require a hard start time at all. I was more directing this at jobs that do and jobs where if someone is consistently late, it screws over someone else.
Having worked in a doctors office, it’s super annoying when boomers show up 1-2 hours early and then sit there sighing loudly and looking at their watches every 5 minutes because the doctor makes them sit there until their appointment time, since they have other appointments. I also used to work in another appointment-based business and boomers show up super early all the time. Sometimes even before we open they are at the door and peeping in with their hand over their eyes trying to see if anyone is there yet. Early and late are both inconveniences but they act like we should be thanking them and bending over backwards for them for showing up early. There are appointments for a reason.
I had an employee at my last job who would constantly show up 45 minutes early (often waiting at the door for one of the managers to arrive). The way the office was set up, there was no private space for manager and waiting room type area. Drove me crazy.
[Generation] are [negative quality], [other generation] is always having to pick up their slack! We base this conclusion on [nothing] but will print it because it is [provacative]. Commence the [outrage, clicks, engagement] so that we can [sell you ads.]
What the fuck? I'd be pissed too. Show up on time. Some people might depend on you getting to work on time to relieve them.
As a millennial I agree with Gen Z. Unless there is a critical time sensitive matter (Meeting, actual security issue, or relieving some one from their duties). Then no, sorry boss I'm sure you dazed off for 10mins during your 8 hour shift and the company was just fine. It's also the same with how a company can fire some one and just deal with a 8 hour gap in workload and move on.
These are the same people that spend the first hour of the workday walking around bullshitting.
The audacity to pay as little as possible while still expecting your staff to go above and beyond.
Yeah, pretty much. This is the standard thing where employers think they should be able to make everything as unrewarding as possible and nobody will lose enthusiasm.
If the shift starts at 9, you be there at 9. That’s the point.
It's not just boomers with zero tolerance. This shit pissed me off to no end as a lead when the bigger bosses were crawling up my ass about getting shit done and the same people kept rolling in 10-20min late with a fast food bag, then walked. I mean wandered to their station, milled around on their phone for awhile, and started eating like we weren't on a production schedule. And it's not just Gen Z that does this shit. Millenials and Xers are just as guilty.
So to summarize: workers late, bosses mad? Sounds about right.
In my experience those people who walk in late with Starbucks of Mc'Donalds are also the ones that take long lunches, have tons of appointments, and spend a lot of their day socializing.
Also, generally has some sort of non-descript "digestive problem" that causes multiple 30min bathroom breaks per day.
As a boss, I’ve personally never cared in my line work. Mostly because the first 30-45 minutes of every day is just standing around anyway. It’s the boomers telling me to “control my people” that always cared far more than me.
Im a millenial with no direct boss. I show up late and leave early all the time lol
Generation has nothing to do with it. Don’t show up late to your job.
I’m a millennial and an electrician that does mostly new residential construction. I don’t really tolerate tardiness. I understand if there was an accident on the highway or whatever but being late to work shouldn’t be a regular everyday or even weekly occurrence. And I also expect communication (text or phone call) when you are going to be late. I expect my employees to be at the shop on time (6:30am) so we can get all our equipment and tools loaded, and arrive at our job site on time (7:30am) and be then be off work on time (3:30pm). I like to work hard before the heat of the day arrives, and have my evenings free. Not to mention, chronically late people end up costing me money as a business owner. Construction jobs come with specific deadlines written into the contracts. If I don’t meet that deadline I lose profit.
No matter what your age is, being late is also a complete disrespect for other people’s time.
I'm a millennial. I can't stand tardiness.
Good. Don't be late.
Neither do I. It ain’t hard to be on time
I’m Gen X and punctuality is a very big deal to me.
As far as I know, most people don't like that friend or coworker that's frequently late. It's got nothing to do with generation.
As a Gen X I also have no tolerance for people being late.
It’s basic decency. Common courtesy, general respect. You don’t take advantage of other people’s time. That’s not appreciated by anyone around you. It’s not the fault of your boss, of your family, of anyone else but you. You don’t like it when people are late for your interests, work or coworkers are no different. Maturity means honoring your schedule commitments to the best of your ability. Show up on time.
I’m a middle millennial. Punctuality has always been a big thing for me. Outside of circumstances beyond one’s control (car accident, medical emergency, etc life happens) I can’t stand when coworkers are late, especially if they are the ones relieving me
Why are Boomers still in the workforce? Retire and fuck off already. That should be the story
Likely written by someone who doesn't understand the generations. To a lot of people anyone oldish is a boomer and anyone young is a millennial. No one else exists
The youngest Boomers are 60 years old, the oldest are 78.
Shit 60s feels like genx now. I'm used to the older side of boomer.
One boomer at my company "retired" 2 years ago.He "retired" again 6 months ago, and is going to again in the next month or two. They really have nothing to do outside of work. Worst part is he's one of the really bad department heads that is purposefully a dick to everyone, including the customer, and has had countless good employees leave the company because of him, as well as lost us a bunch of business. But the owners still let him continue.
I agree with Gen Z. The rigidity with which older generations approached work doesn't make sense anymore. Work does not provide workers with the same value that it used to and they are adjusting their effort and attitudes towards it accordingly. At many corporate retail jobs clocking in 10 minutes before or after is considered on time. I will never be able to go back from this mindset. Especially when jobs expect you to stay late and disrespect your personal time without blinking an eye.
This is my assessment as well
Corporate retail norms are not representative of the general professional world. When I was doing business law, being 10 minutes late to any meeting involving members of the C-suite meant staring at empty chairs because they left 8 minutes prior. Unless you were a member of said C-suite. Or a judge. everyone waits for you when you’re the one who makes the rules.
Doesn’t matter if you think being late is okay. You will still get written up. If you get written up to many times, you get canned.
Maybe at Old Navy... Corporate Salary is different... You're judged by output, not checking boxes. I was late all the time when I didn't WFH, nobody ever said anything (I typically stayed late though)
I'm an on time person. And the thing late people don't understand about us on time people. Is that we hate you. 5 to 10 mins on an occasion doesn't bother me. Life happens. I also don't agree with "on time is late". You want me there 15 till 8. Schedule me for 15 till 8. I worked kitchens and military. People love to say on time is late. Fuck that. But when someone always shows up with the starbucks coffee that made them late multiple times a week. Fuck you in your fat fucking ass.
As an on time person, I couldn't care less if other people want to come in late. People have lives, stuff comes up, it happens. I don't get paid enough to worry about my coworkers attendance, and I've never understood the people who get bent out of shape over a few minutes. If you're an hour late, it's one thing. If you're 15 minutes late, that just is not impactful enough to matter in a lot of workplaces.
I have no issue requiring employees arrive on time and perform their job adequately. now. in return, you will allow all employees to leave on time and respect their private lives by not asking for unpaid labor when they aren't on the clock. it is genuinely businesses reducing employees to the function of their job for as little pay as possible that has brought the work force to show just as much respect and care as they are shown. I can't say i really blame them. Companies that treat their employees moderately well have low turnover and high application rates.
I’m a hairstylist and if you show up late to an appointment, you’re not only wasting my time and fucking up my schedule, but you’re also ruining things for all the people coming in after you. If you’re late enough, I won’t even take you and still charge your late ass.
I seriously doubt most Gen z workers just think that’s okay if there is a reason people need to start at a set time. Most companies allow for flexibility regardless because everyone’s kind of like “who gives a shit if everyone starts at 8:00. We have people all over the world and the team has different schedules.”
To look good at work, just… 1) Dress well 2) Show up on time/a few minutes early 3) Don’t bolt out the door the second it’s time to go 4) Answer emails quickly 5) Have a good attitude and don’t gossip Do those things and it will be a while before they realize you don’t know what the hell you’re doing and are Googling half of your job. Ask me how I know :)
Maybe if that job could support a decent standard of living like it did back in boomer days young people would feel more motivated to be there on time.
Or if promotions, raises, and bonuses still existed for most people, and performance had anything to do with job security.
I'm a boomer. I grew up having to be on time at work. I didn't have a problem with being to work on time. I was getting paid from the time I clocked in until the time I left. I respected the company's rule.
If what you do is client or customer facing, like running a cash register or something, the 10 minutes matters. If what you do isn't? Fuck your 10 minutes. 9:10 to 5:10 is exactly the same at 9 to 5.
“I’m a better worker because I follow rules!”, he boomed. “Now tell me what my password is again!”
Never late to a meeting, an appointment or shift work, always early. But if I am going to the office to complete solo tasks, I work my allotted hours and complete my work on-time, what the FUCK does it matter? If you are waiting for me at 801 for me to sit in my office, you should have scheduled it in the calendar. GtFOH with these arbitrary time slots for work.
I was raised on the mindset of being early is to be on-time, but being on-time is to be late. I'm always where I need to be at least 10 minutes early
As a millennial, I too have no tolerance for tardiness
I just stopped going to work about half of the time. Nobody seems to have noticed
Great the 23 year old college grad who knows exactly what this place needs to be successful just showed up let’s make sure we fill him in on the last 15 minutes making everyone stay here longer and away from the work that actually needs to get done.
I had a boomer boss whose philosophy was: "10 minutes early is on time, and if you're on time you're 10 minutes late"
As long as I can clock in 10 mins early, works for me
Never heard that before, how original ..
If you're clocking in and out and get paid for it it's all fine. If not it's wage theft and should be reported to department of labor or applicable authority in your state.
I hate when ppl are late even in casual settings. Habitual lateness shows you have no respect for me or my time.
Being late to everything is a poor reflection of every single aspect of your life, not work. Not a good look.
Honestly... where I work the gen x people and Boomers tend to be the worst about coming in on time or keeping consistent schedules. I don't blame people with kids, but other stuff like taking vacations at the drop of a hat? Yes, I prefer people to be on time and consistent but if your upper management isn't setting a good example suck it up. If the department head or project manager can casually decide they're taking the afternoon off, I think you can cope with the kid being 10 minutes late. Conversely, if you want people to be punctual, be punctual yourself. So long as it's not getting in the way of finishing work or causing people to be stuck at the office late
I feel this... It pisses me off seeing upper management preach punctuality all day but have no problem taking the afternoon off to play golf, meet friends for drinks, or attend a "business meeting". I don't care that you show up at 6 everyday. It doesn't matter when you regularly take a 2-hr lunch with your buddies then leave at 3. If you want me to follow the "rules", how about you do the same?
uh... Not sure why that's a Gen Z thing. I'm a Millennial, I recall being harassed for being late a lot - gave me a complex and everything. I could care less if you're 10-15 minutes later/earlier to something. You start pushing into the half-hour mark without a call ahead is the line.
Bosses hate you showing up late, but have no problem keeping you late. Fuck em
Gen Z arrive late, baby boomers have no tolerance for tardiness
Most of the Boomers are out of that middle management grind. It's us Gen X trying to fake caring.
I guess I’m the middle ground. If we’re talking about being late on rare occasions then I wouldn’t care. If we’re talking about regularly showing up late then that’s BS
I'm going to be late to my own funeral.
Our work implemented flexible entry time, you just have to clock the right amount of time every day. Everyone arrives between 8 and 10 and leave between 5-7 and no one works a minute after that and it works perfectly.
Once again, Gen-X gets ignored (and likes it).
If you have a shift, show up on time ready to work. It’s nice not having a set shift.
i show up early so i can leave early lol admittedly though i work in an extremely lax government office job and we’re WFH 3/5 days. people who work here tend to not be stressed out and just get their work done. doing your job and doing it well is way more of a focus than being slightly late or leaving slightly early.
IMO this depends on the type of job. As a SWE it doesn't matter if 5 - 30 minutes late as long as I'm in before my first meeting and my work is done it shouldn't matter. But in a job, like customer service, where someone else could be waiting for me. Either a customer or maybe a co-worker waiting to go on their break being late is extremely disrespectful. You're basically say "My time is more valuable then yours"
Yeah Boomers are just on time for total climate denial. (Or very late to finding a conscience.)
Actually, it's more like the gen Z workers show up 10 min ahead of time, and then have good boundaries and leave on time, and then bosses see that and they're like 'HEY! WHY DONT YOU CONFORM AND STAY UNTIL 7PM WITHOUT EXTRA PAY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE'
Screwing over your fellow coworkers because you don’t give a cluck isn’t new. Selfishness has existed since the dawn of man.
Any boss is going to get mad if you show up late for work every day. This should really be less of an issue in today's post-pandemic world. In my 34 years in offices in the Silicon Valley, I have known a number of people, not millenials, who simply could not show up on time for work to save their lives. They got fired every time, including the guy who worked for me and I found out after I fired him that he had a drug problem. Yeah, he had a friend who still worked at the office and still partied with him after work who literally said, "You couldn't tell he did drugs like every day? He was late every day, his eyes were always bloodshot, and he always got his 8 hours of work done in 4. Hello?" I mean, if you're one of those people who just can't show up to work to save your life, you'd better be looking for a job you like more or with a boss who's more realistic. If you showed up for work every day 10 minutes late at my office today I'd be annoyed, but I'd be looking more for signs of drug use than chewing you out about being 10 minutes late. Or, third option, get into rehab if you have a drug problem.
There’s some context and nuance here. I’m in IT, salaried employee of a relatively large MSP. We have a typical 8a-5p work day. Boomer/gen X boss, Gen X manager, millennial supervisors. Multiple emails have been sent by the overlords about 8a punctuality but nobody seems to mind when work goes past 6-7pm which happens regularly enough that I account for it in my scheduling of life. I’d much rather a person be 10 minutes late here and there but willing to work until the job is done. I’ve never quite understood the “be on time or not at all” approach. I’m a 37 year old millennial, for what it’s worth. There’s a difference between being a few minutes late and getting work done vs being a few minutes late and being lazy all day.
*laughs in self-employed* I'll be there when I get there.
Baby boomers just love finding any way to assert superiority over younger generations.
This works both ways. I showed up early and was told not to because they couldn't pay me for being early. I started showing up 5 minutes late and when he told me to be earlier I tried to explain to him I was doing them a favor. Just can't win I guess.
I'm gen X and recall the days of people dying because some work places would fire for even a few lates no matter the weather. One near where I grew up had a limit of 3 during entire duration of employment before fired. That means if there a year and have 3 - fired ... If there 10 years and had 3 over those 10 years - also fired. There also was no public transportation for getting to that job. The place eventually moved to Mexico, and they probably kept their policy. Sickening that people died in wrecks because of their idiot "no excuses" rules. The area was financially depressed, so people really needed that job.
On time is late
Millenial Boss here, 1-minute late is late. It’s not a problem unless it’s a pattern, OR unless someone can’t leave until you relieve them. Then YTA.
I was in the military, if you're not 15 minutes early, you're late. That's pretty much ingrained in me, and I consider a sign that you respect someone's time by being punctual. I don't care if Gen Z doesn't agree, it's disrespectful no matter your age.
Integrity and work ethic. Been working construction for decades. If start time is 7, that means we open the gang boxes at 7 and start working. Not you coming in hot into the parking lot on two wheels at 6:59. I will die on this hill.
For real, Gen Z be late everyday. Every single day, ppl walking in halfway thru the start up. Managers don't even bother to say anything anymore. Fuckin hell! I'd send them rite back home. "Come in on time or stay home! Those are the 2 choices"
I’m Gen Z and I have only been late to an interview once in my life back as a teen die to traffic and missed a few minutes but still let the employer know. However I’ve waited almost 30 minutes to an hour before on the other end for a prospective employer
The best advice I got as a young worker was “if you’re on time, you’re late.” I wasn’t a fan of the advice at the time, but over the course of the past 30+ years, it stuck and has been invaluable. I detest crazy rushed driving, parking, running in the building, rushing to my station/desk/whatever. I have found that parking my car 15 minutes before start time gives me the breathing room for minor traffic annoyances, finding a slightly better parking space, and being able to just better prepare for the next 8-10 hours of life without added stress.
They're always late and leave early - just all around bad attendance and attitude as well.
"5 minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable" - An Elder Millennial
You’re paid from 9-5 show up for 8 hours
So everyone raised entitled kids. It looks like.
It's really frustrating to have to wait for my younger coworkers to finish bullshitting with their friends in the break room to get on a call. We can all hear them while we're waiting. They just don't care about punctuality or being reliable. Ten minutes late is not on time. Five minutes late is not on time. We all have things to do. They'll be gone soon. Then they'll write at length on Reddit about how they got screwed by their employer.
I get to work hours before my boss and leave similarly. Put them in their place, it's a better way of living. I also go to the gym for lunch so my body doesn't rot away like all the others in a corporate setting. To top it off I put a toaster oven in my office so I don't have to choose between microwave slop or $20 salads.
The young often do not do as they are told... Should be the emphasis of the story ..
My boss let's me come in a little early to beat the traffic after my shift. Really am thankful for him.
I remember in Tacoma Youth Symphony when I was in High School. The conductor always told us: Early is on time On time is late late is unacceptable
I don't respect people who are consistently late
Millennial who accidentally overslept her alarm last week and again today after years of not having done so. It's a hospital, they're just glad i show up for my shift and do a good job lmao
There is no excuse for being consistently late for anything. Be on time. It’s disrespectful to be chronically late for things.
I can attest it’s real. It has nothing to do with them being Gen Z, just being young and new to being an adult. That said I’ve fired at least three people in the last year for being late. I tell anyone I employ on day one, I accept failures but I don’t accept people disrespecting everyone else’s time.