Auntie/Uncle need to vent, because running a local SME nowadays is a true test of my blood pressure. I don’t know what they are teaching kids in university these days, but the strawberry generation stereotype is 100% real.
Last month, I hired this fresh grad. First week, everything okay. Second week, I gave him a bit of constructive feedback—just telling him his report formatting was a bit messy, must standardise for clients, right? Standard stuff. The next day, he text me saying the “work culture is toxic and not aligned with his mental wellness,” then immediately throw letter. Hello?? Just say a few words only, already cannot take it.
The worst part is, employers have zero leverage now. In the past, if you tell a worker “boss is not happy with your performance,” they will work harder because they scared lose face or lose job. Now? You try to threaten or pressure a Gen Z local, they will just look you in the eye, say “okay,” and change their LinkedIn status to “Open to Work” before lunch. They don’t care about company loyalty at all. To them, a job is just a 6-month stopover before they hop to the next place for a $500 pay raise. They treat job hunting like swiping on Tinder, siah.
We local boss really fight a losing battle. We pay market rate, but they want remote work, flexible hours, free avocado toast, and “work-life balance” from day one. If you don’t give, they hop. If you give, they also hop the moment a bigger MNC offers them flashier perks. My HR manager spend more time onboarding and offboarding people than doing actual strategy. Training them is a waste of time because by the time they finally know how to do the job properly, they already zoom off to another company.
It’s exhausting, man. How to grow a business like that? Any other SME bosses here also struggling with this? Or do we just suck it up and hire older workers who actually know the meaning of resilience? Rant over, need to go drink my Kopi O Siew Dai to calm down.