To be fed up with the lazy graduates I work with....

[H0bnob]

And I say this as an early 20s recent graduate myself! So many young people both in my immediate team and within my department seem to have such a shocking attitude to work I'm finding it really grating. Most of these people have just finished there degree/masters and have never had to work before now and the attitude it just shocking!

To add to this, everyone seems to have anxiety and depression to some degree. I am absolutely NOT dismissing mental health issues and having lived with several i know how debilitating they can be....but to use it as an excuse to get out of everything is just taking the piss....being too lazy to do your job is not the same thing as being depressed, grow up for Christ's sake and take some responsibility.

One of my colleagues (same age as me) has had almost 20 sick days in the last 6 months for mental health...and yet goes out drinking and taking drugs every weekend without failure. When said colleague is in they also do nothing but sit on their phone and complain about being bored and tired. My managers seem reluctant to do anything too with the worry of accidental discrimination and so the rest of us are forced to continuously pick up the slack. Its really doing my head in now, am I being hugely intolerant?? Fully prepared to be told I I as obviously you never know what's going on behind the scenes but christ this is relentless! Apologies this has turned into a proper rant im just so frustrated by society at the minute.

@Skysblue

Yanbu. Something has gone very wrong at universities over the past decade. Did you see the recent thread about the graduate doing work experience in a shop, who put in a formal complaint to head office HR, because her manager didn’t have a policy on preferred pronouns 🤣🤣

There's only so much that university staff can do, especially if there is a genuine mental health issue. Work ethic (or a pattern of making lots of excuses for their lack of one) are fairly well established by the time a student starts at university.

@Legoisawesome

You literally just described someone with depression. Drinking and drugs are a sign they aren’t in a good place mentally. So is zoning out on their phones. Personally I think you are being unreasonable.

Nights out and drugs during them are pretty common. So is being glued to a phone. It’s not in itself a sign of depression.

If said person was smoking weed /drinking several glasses everyday then yeah but the OP just described normal 20 somethings.

@StarlightStarlight

You’re an early graduate but can’t use the right ‘there’ so…

🤣

@H0bnob

Get a life correcting my spelling 😂 it's a post on an Internet forum that I typed up quickly whilst eating my lunch. Who cares if I used the correct form of there.

Standards? Kids at primary level will have been taught such basic grammar.

In any case, it’s amusing to see you complain about “lazy graduates” when you yourself boldly state you can’t be bothered with correct grammar. It’s never too late to learn, you do realise that?

Mobile phones are the scourge of the modern work place (written while I should be working!!)

I can’t believe some people get on like this.

The public sector is full of them. I worked for a well-known transport provider at one point and OMG so much dead wood in that organisation - no wonder it costs a fortune to run. I couldn't bear working with so many lazy fuckers - I went back to the private sector after six months.

@thevassal

There seems to be an idea amongst lots of people (not just the young) that "normal" people sail through life without any problems and rarely, if ever, find any tasks stressful or anxiety-inducing. Therefore if they are not like this, and find situations like speaking to new people, talking over the phone, making appointments or driving to new places hard, they must have "anxiety" and shouldn't have to do those things.

Whereas in real life most people have different things they find stressful or worrying the first few times they do them, or even always, but have learnt that the best way to get over it is to just do it. And then do it again. And then again. And by the fifth or 20th time you've built up techniques and resilience to be able to do the difficult task, even if you never feel entirely comfortable.

There's a difference between feeling anxious about something (completely normal) and having anxiety but they seem to be conflated too often. Even if you are diagnosed with anxiety, there are so many coping mechanisms out there the aim should always be to manage it as much as possible rather than just "opting out" - as that then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Excellent post.

@zafferana

Exactly the same as me but it was a local council.

I was repeatedly told ‘we don’t do that in Finance’ and ‘I think your expectations are too high’ concerning having a working phone and computer.

Cunts.

It's vile and depressing isn't it @Merryoldgoat? I couldn't believe that so many useless people were being good salaries to sit around playing video games, whining, going on fag breaks and hanging around in the kitchen. Losers, the lot of them and the managers who kept them on the payroll? Even worse.

I don't think this is a generational thing particularly. If anything, young people now face a lot more competition to get their feet in the door of 'professional' jobs and have lower living standards and more debt to show for it.

There was one bloke who got fired for watching porn at work just after I left. I wasn't remotely surprised.

YANBU to be annoyed with your colleague, but YABU to title your thread as if all graduates (except yourself) are the same.
YANBU to be annoyed with all the self diagnosing and trivialising of mental health issues. It happens a lot on here too.

There is a huge amount of support at university for students now. Most of that is good, so better mental health services. Where it starts to get over-egged IMO is when disability discrimination legislation is interpreted to mean that people don't have to do the same things as others- so if their essay is a bit incoherent, there's a reason for that (learning difficulty), if they can't speak in public, don't make them and so on, if they can't cope with an exam, let them do an assessment. It would be much much better for these students if their problems were accommodated by giving them some more time or helping them with their anxiety, but they were still required to perform the same standard tasks as everyone else. Unfortunately they don't realise the world of work isn't going to be like that, and if someone wants a report, they won't want your problems/lateness/issues to be the reason it isn't delivered.

I feel torn though, as I do think we have gone wrong as a society in not making school and university a truly great supportive place for young people, it's all very performance oriented around exams, and that's led to a whole culture of exceptions around that performance, instead of it being about genuinely learning and engaging. Hence once students get into the world of work, they struggle now they don't have these discounts; they don't realise they have to look within and find their own motivation/interest/need for money to keep going.

I hate the UK the uni system of making everyone 'pay' and then getting cross they behave like a customer and are rather demanding- then taking this attitude into work. Not sure of the answer.

This is absolutely none of your business. If you're having to pick up slack, speak to your manager and refuse, giving them the reason that you're overloaded. I'm one of those people who struggle on to pay the mortgage every month despite autism and mental health issues, and busybodies sticking their oar in like this boils my piss

@HelplesslyHoping

YANBU. I worked online with graduates last year and they were terrible. They would tell everyone a disclaimer about their mental health before we started a meeting saying things like they might doze off or get distracted but to ignore them if they do. We also had the MH 'sufferers' on their phones and talking about their weekend plans which they weren't too depressed to do apparently.

I'm all for people having a grumble but trauma dumping and using MH as an excuse just puts a bad name on people who genuinely can't work because of their MH. In the end their managers basically told them if they're unfit for work they'll have to leave.

DP’s work have just recruited some graduates into his team and he says they just don’t engage at all. He’s not line management mire senior level technical but he says it frustrating. It doesn’t help the office is WFH but they just go on mute and don’t speak the whole meeting. Even if there’s a question, how is everyone? Anyone have any questions? Just silence. He says it’s like they’re asleep, so difficult to engage with in what should be an interesting technical field. Maybe COVID has meant they’ve forgotten how to communicate 😬but even if you have nothing to say a ‘no, nothing from me’ is better than silence 🙃

I know I sound like I’m 100 years old but honestly the younger generation have such a sense of entitlement and arrogance. Yes there are challenges in life and some people have genuine MH problems but jeez some people just can’t be bothered and take the absolute piss. I didn’t go to university but have worked my ass off for the last 25 years to get where I am today (private sector). Hopefully the shirkers will be performance managed out of their jobs and the opportunities given to more willing individuals.

@Legoisawesome

You literally just described someone with depression. Drinking and drugs are a sign they aren’t in a good place mentally. So is zoning out on their phones. Personally I think you are being unreasonable.

Its difficult. As a former fairly heavy drinker my mental health was a damn sight worse when I drank. You can't suffer from anxiety and drink. It causes anxiety. It causes depression. People who say they have poor mental health and drink or take drugs would find it gets a lot better once you stop using. Sadly it's not always easy to kick. What makes you unwell becomes your coping mechanism.

What a load of tosh @H0bnob

Are you sure you are not in your 50s or 60s?

My DD has just finished her degree, before starting in the NHS, she has worked throughout in Domiciliary care, she started her shift at 7 this morning and will get home at 8pm.

ALL her cohort worked alongside their degree, manning test centres, care work, hospitality, admin and few worked in the NHS..

Shame on you for portraying ALL young people as a waste of space, instead of looking at your department, how they manage staff (or not) and their occupational health policies.
Your work place maybe poor but it is not "society"

Oh yes. Also non acknowledgement of instructions etc so you are not convinced it's been heard or absorbed. Which means you then need to say annoying micomanaging things just to get a reaction to confirm you weren't just talking to yourself. Just a positive eye blink or head nod would do!....feels like parenting.

There’s a real confusion between feeling anxious about something - a normal emotion felt by 100% of people but not a reason to take a day off - and actual life limiting anxiety. I also worry about the keenness to medicate emotions.

You have some bad managers, not some new entitled generation of people. Lots of people are lazy and will do the minimum they can get away with.

Personally, in the private sector, in law, all I can see is graduates competing over who worked the longest hours and is on more projects. The competition for graduate schemes is so tough, none of them go home in the evening, ever. And they work like absolute dogs. So your experience has nothing to do with the age of the people, it's the organization's fault.

However you are right Octavia it's not all, just a personally noticed increase over the last few years.

@dropitlikeitsloth small talk is very difficult over videoconferencing. A general question like ‘how is everyone’ results in everyone a) waiting for someone else to answer or b) Several people talking at once.

In a team that’s already worked together it’s Easy but not if you don’t know anyone. It’s not the grads fault

YANBU I’m 36, so not an “all millennials & gen z are snowflakes” person by any means since I’m a millennial myself, but I am astonished how many people don’t have a job now until they graduate at 21/22.

Everyone I went to school with had a PT job as soon as they turned 16 & continued with it throughout university. I don’t care what your degree is in or how much it cost, if you’ve never had a basic job before & think you can just swan into a professional environment and demand a high salary because you’ve got a degree you’re insane.

As for the MH stuff. I think it’s great that employers take it more seriously, however I agree with another poster who said that younger people especially seem to think they should never, ever been anxious or down about anything & if they are they have a condition of some sort. Feeling anxious or depressed at times is a sign that your aren’t a psychopath and you’re experiencing normal human emotions!

I have a colleague who talks about her anxiety condition a lot and she said, “Oh you know, I get really anxious if I have a first date, or a job interview & I really don’t like flying”. Well congratulations, looks like you aren’t a sociopath then!

@MintJulia

We have three new graduates. Two of them are really great, enthusiastic and hard working, the third keeps taking sick days, coming in late or taking long lunches. We had a group call out-day and she made herself self-appointed coffee monitor to avoid making any calls.

Not impressed.

Is she being managed over this?