S’pore manager says she has fired ‘more Gen Zs than I can count’ over poor work ethic

A manager in Singapore has spoken out online about the work ethic of younger employees, saying that she had to fire Gen Z workers because they were “quick to label anyone as toxic” or “take feedback personally”.

Sabrina, a 35-year-old chief marketing officer said in a post on May 24 that she struggled working with Gen Zs — those born between 1997 and 2012.

“As a manager in Singapore, I’ve let go of more Gen Zs in the office than I can count,” she wrote in the post, adding that they were “quick to label anyone as toxic or micromanaging”.

She recounted instances of younger employees arriving an hour late to work and being unable to finish their tasks, yet demanding permission to work on personal projects during office hours.

Bringing up feedback felt like “walking on thin ice”, she said, as her comments might be misinterpreted despite her efforts to present feedback in a “professional and gentle” manner.

“You can just tell that they take it personally, and before you know it, they stop talking to you during breaks, ignoring your presence, and being hostile to you even though the rest of the team is still friendly to you,” she wrote.

“Even as managers, we deserve a safe working environment too.”

Sabrina added that she sometimes had to “go roundabout ways to bring feedback to them”, demonstrating how she had to change the tone of the message to sound more apologetic.

When letting employees go, she recalled having to lie about the reasons behind the decision, as Gen Z employees would spread rumours and affect team morale.

“Of course, there are so many wonderful Gen Zs and these are the ones who are still working with us,” she acknowledged, noting that the negative experiences were “not helping with the stereotypes” surrounding the generation.

‘Fat, old, and creepy’: Manager says Gen Z employee insulted bosses

Speaking to Stomp, Sabrina recalled multiple incidents involving younger employees. In one case, a worker turned “hostile” after being let go due to punctuality issues and incomplete work.

The employee purportedly even had a Telegram channel claiming that the higher-ups were “controlling and micromanaging”.

“They called us things like fat, old, and ‘creepy, trying to look like a Gen Z’ because one of us like to wear bright dresses,” Sabrina said.

However, she added that she had “plenty of good Gen Z employees and interns” who would take ownership of their work, while bridging the generational gap by “happily educating” others on TikTok memes and trends.

Netizens agree with manager, others suggest it’s about attitude

Sabrina’s post has since garnered over 234,000 views and 6,300 likes.

Several netizens agreed with her, saying that Gen Zs would “throw 2-3 days of MC” once they were given feedback, while another claimed that many younger workers felt their “job scope stops at 5pm”.

“I’m a Gen Z manager and I meet this exact type of Gen Z subordinates. I don’t understand why not delivering ‘quality work on time’ is labelled as okay for them,” one commenter said.

Another netizen offered a different view, suggesting that management “indirectly allows” such behaviour by being lenient, while pointing out that their workplace enforced strict rules which made younger workers “much more disciplined”.

Another user said such behaviour should be filtered out during the interview stage, noting that becoming “defensive” when given feedback was a “red flag”.

However, some commenters who identified themselves as Gen Zs suggested that it was more about personality than age, while another suggested a person’s work ethic depended on their upbringing. One commenter added that they were “nowhere this difficult”.

“Not about the generation, it’s the attitude,” one said.

“Gen Z, if they have the right motivation and space to learn, they actually do well in my team,” another chimed in.

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