Yahoo Finance Tradie boss on $200,000 hits out at young workers: ‘Unreliable’
The Gold Coast business owner said managing younger workers was the “worst part” of his job.
An Aussie tradie has revealed the worst part about being the boss of his own roofing and cladding business. Instead of the long hours or physically demanding work, it’s actually the young people he has to manage.
The Gold Coast man was stopped on the street and revealed he was earning roughly $200,000 a year running his own business. He didn’t study business but instead got into the job after getting a start in a trade.
“You go out there and the mentality is you are either driven or not,” he told jobs app Getahead. “If you’re not driven, you wanna work for someone else. If not, you work for yourself.”
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The tradie said he always knew he wanted to work for himself. But he said there were good and bad parts to the job.
“The best part is obviously the freedom. I can do what I want when I want because you’re the boss,” he said.
“The worst part is organising everyone else. With the generation that is younger than me, everyone is unreliable.”
Gen Z workers seen as having ‘poor work ethic’
Unfortunately, the view that Gen Z workers “don’t understand hard work” is one shared by many other Aussie bosses, whether fair or not.
Superior People Recruitment founder and director Graham Wynn said multiple employers have told him they didn’t want to hire people under 26.
“Perception is everything and generally speaking there is that perception out there that Gen Z don’t understand hard work,” Wynn told Yahoo Finance.
“The mindset is very different to previous generations and they’re more about what’s in it for them and what they can get out of it, rather than what they can give to an employer."
Others have praised the younger generation for their outlook on work-life balance.
Yahoo Finance contributor Lollie Barr said many older bosses could learn some lessons from Gen-Z bosses who are "throwing out the rule book from the top-down, and often toxic, leadership style that came before them".
How much do roofers make in Australia?
The average salary for a roofer in Australia is between $80,000 and $90,000, according to SEEK. That’s based on full-time salary data from jobs listed in the last year.
Entry-level positions can start at $74,063 per year, according to Talent, while the most experienced workers can make up to $108,680 per year.
Of course, as the Gold Coast tradie revealed, you can be making even more if you run your own business.
Some Aussies praised the tradie for his honesty, while others questioned how many hours he would be working as his own boss.
“Ole mate is right about everything, you are either [a] driven leader or you’re a worker,” one wrote.
The tradie said his long-term goal was to “be bigger” and to “branch out” with his business.
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