Overly sensitive employees/apprentices

[OhGoodnessItsSoExhausting]

Ok, so I pride myself on being a strengths focussed supervisor. I always want to mentor and help my employees and apprentices as much as possible. But the last two apprentices (all apprentices in this role are graduates if that's relevant) have been soooooo sensitive and just plain.annoying!

I can't give any feedback because they 'know it already.' I can't say anything right because apparently I know nothing about transgender issues or decolonisation of the workplace and I need to hear them 'educate' me on it all and lend me books because they (20 years younger with zero experience in this role) know how to resolve ingrained, inherent systemic racism and prejudice and clearly if they were in my role they'd have solved all the problems in society which impact the role, already.

They are always 'curious about X...' and 'wondering about y...' instead of just speaking in normal language

They are driving me insane!!!

They can't manage their workload (even though I'm so worried about upsetting them I give them half what I've given to previous apprentices). Apparently it's important to be 'boundaried' and assertive with your needs. (Yes,.I know that, but I'm just asking you to do your job - you are paid more for these apprenticeships than many of the more senior staff in the organisation).

They are so bloody self absorbed and self riteous. I find them so patronising.

Is this entitlement, condescending attitude and use of fluffy language a generation thing? Or (please tell me), I've just had a bad run of two extremely annoying apprentices!!? (who I found out today are friends! So I guess they feed off each other discussing how amazing and riteous they are and how everyone else in the organisation is incompetent.)

Grrr..

Our apprentices are not graduates but are usually around 16/18 years up to about 20.

Over the years, I've noticed they have a breathtaking amount of confidence, bordering on arrogance and nearly all of them don't even feel slightly embarrassed when their parents come to the work place or phone to complain if we have had to speak to them about something they've done wrong or that they shouldn't be doing.

If they call in sick, their parents do it for them too.

We had one who was constantly late for work and it impacts the rest of the staff due to ratios. Her Mom called after she had been told she needs to arrive on time and be more mindful of her coworkers and said that we had no right to talk to her without her Mom being present and that we should be grateful we had her etc etc

@MiddleParking I don't get it. My 11 year old sometimes puts on a stupid YouTuber type American accent, and my employer does the same.

What hypocritical about saying that? I don't understand your point, or your problem actually. If my kid was acting like that at work I'd hope that someone would put them right about workplace behaviour 🤷🏻‍♀️

Employee not employer

We had 2 employees in the space of 6 months like this educated, presented really well at interview but turned up late, complaining about traffic, seemed incapable of following instructions and wafted round on their phones. I didn't want to nitpick but my god I watch my toddler grandchildren less. The finishing touches of glory were their mums phoning in sick for them............ both within the 1st 2 weeks of being here.

I hoped the doors hit their arses on the way out. Never employed anyone that age since. I don't have the mental energy or time.

They are attached to a uni and I'm thinking of telling the uni I don't want any more thanks.

Do this and be clear about your reasons why. It's important that the feedback gets through

No, I can see that you don’t understand. Never mind!

Don’t know about others but as a commonwealth national anybody who tries to take up my valuable time with this rubbish will be told to get back to work.
But then again my team is based across 3 continents, with people originating from 5. everyone Is happy to hear about everyone else’s latest favourite movie/TV show/food regardless of where they’re from and cultural references include everything from Anansi to Star Wars and TVB dramas.

Sounds about as sensitive as a baseball bat.

Whatever @MiddleParking 🥱🥱

I'm reminded here of a post from several years back now on a thread very similar to this, from a woman who had heard so much about how graduates are useless in the workplace that she was terrified of starting her graduate job because she worried she'd somehow be incompetent without realising. Anyway, she started the job and discovered that the other people in her office were boomers who were semi-illiterate and couldn't use Microsoft Word.

I doubt this very much unless it was a very long time ago. Anyone who can use a computer at work can use Microsoft word. It is very basic.

Dear me, yes that generation can be hard work . You'll be telling me they're doing accountancy training next.

People (on here) sometimes question whether teens should have Saturday or summer jobs - yes they should and this is why!

A lot of it is this generation are bloody ridiculous. And I’m part of this generation, so I’m allowed to say that 😁the lack of work ethic astounds me and someone’s always offended about something. However I’m sure previous generations had their issues too.

@antelopevalley I assure you I'm not making it up although the thread must have been from about 2013. I think what was meant was using Microsoft Word effectively. In 2014 I was asked by a shop manager how to use Google image search so I'm not particularly surprised when I hear stuff like that.

But that is reasonable. A lot of people only use a programme for what they normally do at work. If they are asked to do something different they may not know how to do it. I do not see that as an issue.
I see it with people using excel. Lots of people have picked it up as they go along so can use it for what is needed. But because they have never been taught, they may not know all the shortcuts they could use.

NHS here - my new starters would only speak to me like that once.

They are a shocking generation - utterly spoilt, arrogant, entitled and thoroughly unpleasant.

It’s no wonder, as they have been brought up to believe that the world revolves around them and generally had no discipline either at home or at school. This was inevitable, but Christ, what a mess.

I'm 60 and I'd have been sacked a long time ago if I couldn't use every system we have efficiently.

Imagine the horrors when generation snowflake have raised their own young .......... fucking hell, I hope I've retired by then.

I have an older colleague who types up his docs with two fingers. It took me aback when I first saw it, so I can only imagine what a fresh grad would be thinking.

He is, however, excellent at his job in a whole host of ways that a new grad wouldn't have the slightest understanding of, so I'd be taking their assessment with a few kilos of salt.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky Really!! How would anyone even know?
I work in a technical admin role and we can all use the software for everyday use no problem. But if we have to do something totally new, some will have to ask others how, including my manager. But I use lots of different software and have never had any formal training in any of it.

I know how to use google image search because of my social media posting. But I have never once had to use it at work.

"I think this is a trait of the young, no matter the generation, as a teen I definitely knew more than all the adults around me who were so old and stupid and did not understand the modern world."

And you showed this attitude to your parents, right? To people you'd only met recently who were your bosses? I doubt the average young person did that a couple of decades ago. Most youngsters were terrified for their first few weeks/months at work.

@Gwenhwyfar I'm from the evil generation (according to these posts) and I don't know anybody who wasn't terrified on their first few weeks of work let alone people who were bringing up decolonisation or speaking in American accents (?!). I really think there's some kind of selection bias here, even if it's just that you work in very "worthy" jobs attracting these people.

Absolutely!
I can only assume, if these students/new grads think they know it all and have time to debate and educate staff then they are not in a role that requires their high level skills. Are they looking after sick patients, designing a bridge, fixing software issues.? Or any other job where you require to draw on a wealth of experience and mistakes are seen quickly and can have dire consequences for the individual?