The working world has become ridiculous

[Rothschild]

Recently a manager at my company attended an online meeting in tears because of a minor issue regarding her child's school. She excused herself from the meeting and took a mental health day.

I can barely get hold of anyone at 3pm in my (large) organisation because everyone is doing school pick up. I don't believe they're getting much work done once they've picked up because they become hard to contact, don't respond to messages and won't attend meetings, despite it being their normal working hours.

It's ridiculous. When our children were small we paid for wrap around childcare or for someone to collect. We were available to work between 3 and 4pm and afterwards.

I'm not talking about anyone who has negotiated flexibility or finishes at 3pm, I'm talking about others who are, frankly, taking the piss.

And if I had taken a mental health day every time I'd had some difficulty in my life I'd have hardly worked.

real life? when everyone is trying to be home by 2 or 3? Probably to get on a playstation or some other device since no one is out much after that time.

I'm too young to be a boomer but they had a great time, loved their work, loved life and certainly weren't home halfway through the day. They had coffee bars open at night, now we have ghost towns. Those who berate the boomers have no idea about real life.

It works REALLY well for us, and we aren’t taken advantage of by selfish, irresponsible slackers.

Totally agree. No wonder the country is in the shiit. No one wants to work.

I agree with you and as a manager I would have no issue with that…providing you were an responsible and hardworking member of the team.
However, there seem to be so many that will contribute the bare minimum and take every opportunity available to take time off for any and every reason. These are the types who I would have less flexibility with.

I fully appreciate that people will from time to time have emergencies that have to be dealt with and any reasonable employer should accommodate time off for those, but there always have and always will be the piss takers who would push me to the limit.
I’m happy to be retired now. I loved my career and the work involved but latterly a huge part of my working week was dealing with people issues and it was draining.
It must be so much more difficult to manage people working from home.

I agree. People are taking the piss. Behaviours have been normalised that are unacceptable. Id be rich if i had a quid for every time ive phoned up some place trying to sort out an issue and ive heard dogs barking in the background. children crying, been disconnected, or given the runaround. I had to do a change of address recently to do with a medical issue formy sister and i spoke to no fewer than 5 different organisations each..... saying it was another organisation"s responsibility.....before i got the address changed. 5 organisations to change a bloody address!! And we wonder why this country us falling apart. Some people shouldnt be doing their jobs at all because their standards are so low.

It’s great that you used to figure out childcare so you could work. However wages haven’t increased for years and childcare is very difficult to find in many parts of the country. While I think it’s unreasonable for someone to not show up work, it’s also extremely unreasonable to expect working parents to simply figure this out. The only ones I know who have figured it out, have supportive extended families or stay home spouses. Even au pairs are like hens teeth now.

That’s ridiculous. If you’re in a job with poor pay you don’t just slack. Look for another job. It’s not down to an employee to decide how much work they are prepared to put in for the salary.
people who don’t like their job or want more money should get a better one.

Yes but ppl dont realise that the scandinavians are hard and smart workers when they ARE working whereas a lot of Brits piss about at work. Thats the difference. A scandinavian or german probably gets more done in 6 hours than Brit does in 2 days.

They also outsourced junior roles overseas and sold off our industries to the highest bidder. Even the London stock exchange is no longer British owned. Then loaded up the Great unwashed on benefits, so everyone who has a child tries to get money from the government just for having a child. It was never going to end well. No surprise, people don’t want to work when working more than 20 hours per week or having savings is penalised.

This thread is shocking. Flexible working that enables parents to accommodate both work and childcare/ family life is a GOOD THING. Especially for women.

Mumsnet - do better.

When the older generations die off and these Gen Zed slackers are the only ppl left in the work force and they arent doing any work what are they going to do. They wont get health appointments on time, education properly delivered. admin sorted, houses built, suprrmarkets running smoothly etc etc . You name it. Then they can all start arguing with and cancelling each other. 🤣🤣😂

Your average boomer didn't do all that and shouldn't be scapegoated for it.

Training in uk is absolute shit because the ppl responsible for training others often dont really know themselves what they are doing. Consequently you get a weird work culture of bluffing and bullshitting and covering up and pointing the finger.

I work in construction, everyone’s still working their arse off! On site and in consultancy roles.

See, my last employer would've bundled him off to a shrink to establish [a] whether it was reasonable to spend weeks mourning this dog he didn't even live with, or [b] if there was an underlying issue in need of treatment. This is one of the overlooked advantages of corporate BUPA for the employer.

I had a breakdown while working there. Not only did I get pretty good treatment: the company called me in for regular OH assessments, was updated on my capability, and the phased return to work was managed by a medical team. Plus I received full pay, also covered by the health plan.

Look, I work in a prestigious and fast moving company so we can be genuinely working at 9 pm but I can also tell you that current corporate life even in the top companies has so much corporate bullshit, it’s really not necessary for people to ACTUALLY work 5 days a week from 9 to 5

It was a scheduled meeting. The person didn’t dial in and when called couldn’t talk because they were in McDonald’s.
No words for people who have to deal with this shit at work. Fortunately for me it wouldn’t fly anywhere I’ve ever worked.

Show her empathy. We often don’t know what someone is dealing with behind closed doors. Her child might have had a serious injury, she might be dealing with pain, or carrying burdens silently. It's easy to assume things based on what we see on the surface, but let’s challenge ourselves to pause and offer understanding instead of judgement. A little empathy, a moment of kindness, can go further than we realise. When someone says they are struggling, no matter how high and seemingly privileged they are, believe them.

OMG, are you Gen Z? (If so, congratulations on your written English.) The employee has responsibilities to her employer. These include telling them if she's carrying burdens so heavy that they impair her capacity for work - especially at meetings specifically arranged to discuss this very thing.

"When someone says they are struggling, believe them." Sure, it's rational and humane. But some people struggle with having to work, for no better reason than they'd rather get paid to not work. They know this isn't a good reason for their employer to pay them for nothing, so they lie. You can't have been working for more than a month without becoming aware of skivers, surely?

I don't have the foggiest who Steph McGovern is but honestly that's an utter load of tosh. Anyone who believes what someone says on a podcast that spouts that tripe needs their head testing.

No, the people whining about it being so hard now based on myths and nonsense give boomer vibes. That means that they sound like it or create an impression of being a certain way, using a common shorthand for entitled people.

Sorry if you found it triggering.

I manage someone in their 20s, with no kids, who is a nightmare. Get complaints about her work ethic and slowness from other people and now have to micromanage her and check all her work.

I have kids but the youngest goes in wraparound and the oldest walks home himself

@Daygloboo

Well I'm a Brit and DH is half Brit and he works hybrid and when he's working from home he totally isolates himself and won't even speak to anyone. I keep saying to him don't you talk when your in the office? I also work very hard. And the people I know at work and friends etc are all very hard workers

I'm sorry but we are going down the American route and I don't think it's a good idea at all.

People without thinking are not necessarily doing the best thing for their DC at all.

London, 2 toddlers under 5 full time hours