Boss of major Australian bank is left stunned by Gen Z worker’s blunt response to her nice question

The boss of a major Australian bank was left shocked after a Gen Z employee admitted he would likely look for another job after a year at the company.

Phillipa Watson, CEO of Ubank, said 25-year-olds were more likely to tell the truth when asked about their career ambitions because they had not been conditioned by the corporate world.

Ms Watson said the young male employee had not yet learned ‘there are things you say to the boss and there are things you don’t say’.

“If you approach a 25-year-old and ask them a question, they will generally tell you the truth because they have not been socialized into the business world,” she told the Australian Financial Review’s 15 minutes with the boss podcast.

“I recently had this wonderful experience with a guy, he was new to our company, he had only been here about three months.

Ms Watson said the employee told her that while he was enjoying his position at Ubank, he would likely move to another company, which he named.

“I just had a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, you just told the boss of your boss’s boss that you’re not really committed.’

‘But it’s the truth. So he is a man of high abilities and so I was alert to think about how I would keep him and his friends involved.

“Whereas if you had asked the average person further along in their career, they would never have answered that way.”

In a longer interview with the publication, Ms. Watson explained why she enjoyed working with Gen Z employees who were always “one step ahead.”

“There’s so much talk about the challenges of Gen Z and working with younger people and all that stuff,” she said.

“The truth is, I’m really excited about the 25-year-olds in our company because they’re so far ahead in their personal lives with the technology that’s coming into our business lives.

“So the knowledge or thought leadership is really shifting younger and younger in our organization and in many organizations, and I think it’s quite exciting.”

She joked that Gen Z also taught her to wear baggy jeans instead of skinny jeans.

Ms Watson said Ubank was the most followed bank on TikTok in Australia, with the company’s success on the app down to its Gen Z employees.

“It picks up the latest trends and content and generates material that will appeal to customers based on what’s happened on social media in the last two or three days,” she said.

“If you let your CEO be heavily involved in generating social media content that will be of interest to 23-year-olds, you’re missing out.”

It comes after Aussies shared the bizarre and weird work habits of their Gen Z colleagues and the annoying four-letter word they use in the office: ‘slay’.

Employees were asked to share some of the most shocking things they’d seen their younger colleagues do on the popular Instagram account The Australian company.

Vaping at a desk, logging out early to go swimming and taking Zoom calls from a spa are some of the incredible acts that Gen Z workers – born between 1997 and 2012 – are trying to get away with.

A common complaint was that the younger generation would constantly praise a colleague’s efforts by saying “death.”

One frustrated employee recalled, “Our (paid) intern routinely comes up at 10:30am (we start at 8:30am). We called her once to ask if she was coming to a meeting, but she was shopping with her mother. Also sighing. Loud. When you’re asked to do absolutely anything.”

Another added: ‘My partner had one of her juniors ask the principal via Zoom if this call would take long because she wanted to go swimming… on Friday at 2pm.

“We had a Gen Z intern walk straight up to a partner on day three of a four-week internship and offer him a ‘dart break to get away from these squares,’ said one employee.

While some admitted they were impressed by the self-confidence of Gen Z workers, others said their younger colleagues didn’t last long in the office due to their tendency to flit between tasks.

Etiquette during video meetings was another major concern among younger workers.

Some vaped during meetings, one woman answered a call with a towel around her head and one man even appeared on screen in a bathrobe.

Another Gen Z employee said he was too hungover to come into the office, but continued with the morning meeting while brushing his teeth, eating breakfast and ironing his clothes.

Shockingly, a man accidentally turned on his camera during a Zoom, revealing he was lounging in a hot tub.

Many also claimed that their Gen Z colleagues were constantly asking to leave early or for a shorter work week.

‘Our intern asked to leave at 11:30 am on Friday because he had lunch with his girlfriend. He then declined a 9:30 a.m. meeting because it was ‘too early,'” an employee said.

“On Thursday afternoon, a Gen Z employee had cracked open a cider at his desk. When confronted, he said, “It’s just one standard and I’m on a break.” We had given him an urgent assignment,” said another.

“I had a Gen Z who said they couldn’t come to the office for a team day because they had too much to do,” said one employee.

‘When I asked what so I could help set priorities, they said: washing, seeing their friend for lunch, facial, fitness and an online order coming in.’

One man did not return to work as expected at the beginning of this year because he wanted to extend his trip through Asia.