Toxic & Bully Management

After two years of receiving condescending remarks, Izati Mohamed felt enough was enough and decided to quit her first job at a private company in Shah Alam.

The 26-year-old who worked as an executive secretary handling public affairs, security and safety said, despite the benefits she received at the company, the torment she had to endure was not worthwhile.

“My ex-boss was not professional at all. He always mixed personal and work matters. He constantly said everyone was lazy even though we did what we were asked to do. If he had a problem with his wife, we would be on the receiving end of his bad moods,” she said, recounting her two years there after graduating from a local university. 

She denied that work pressure was a push factor, saying she was the longest serving employee in the department.

“Any workplace will have its pressures but when you have a boss like that, who didn’t appreciate you and practised favouritism, it somehow interfered with your work. I didn't see the point of staying any longer as the salary increment didn’t match the work that I did. There was no career progression,” she said, adding she would be starting at a new company next month.

“I don’t think my generation can’t handle the pressure or that we have bad attitude. If that were the case, it would mean we cannot do all the work given to us,” she said.

Many quarters have lambasted the poor attitude among today’s generation as one of the reasons for the high youth unemployment rate in the country, calling them the "strawberry generation" to refer to the easily bruised nature of the fruit. One of the criticisms is that young people cannot withstand workplace pressures or work hard like previous generations.

Bank Negara in its 2016 annual report said the youth unemployment rate in the country had reached more than triple the national unemployment rate of 3.1% due to the slower growth in hiring.

In 2015, the unemployment rate among youths was estimated at 10.7%. Bank Negara said youth represent more than half of unemployed workers, although they make up only one-third of the labour force.

Amir Roslan, 28, who has been working as a full-time Grab driver for almost a year, said he quit his last 9-5 job as a boutique manager when his boss made unreasonable demands.

“I was hired as a boutique manager but my boss wanted me to build a fashion website like other big online companies. My boss could ask me to do anything, but it must be within the work scope. He wanted me to build a website with a budget of RM3,000. It was impossible. That’s why I quit,” he said.

He said he was not picky when it came to work as he had done various jobs after graduating.

“People cannot generalise our generation as choosy or spoilt. I have worked as a cashier with a RM1,200 salary. I have also worked on a contract basis at a ministry for RM1,500 a month.

“But I had to quit the job as they wanted to lower my rate despite asking me to fill the position because they didn’t have enough budget.

“And now I’m working more than 12 hours a day to make ends meet. I’m okay with this job because I can be my own boss and the working hours are flexible. So I don’t agree if some say that our generation or the ‘strawberry generation’ is spoilt and incompetent,” he said.

Programme organiser of Skim Latihan 1Malaysia (SL1M), a programme launched in 2011 to help unemployed graduates, Norashikin Ismail had said that bad attitude is the biggest hurdle for jobless graduates.

Norashikin said while some of the jobless graduates clearly exhibited a lack of training and skill set, the bulk of the graduates were simply too lazy and demanding.

“To change their attitudes and thinking is a challenge for us, because that’s really up to them,” she said.

However, Amir said the different challenges faced by today’s generation should be taken into account.

“The struggle to survive in today’s world is different compared to 30 years ago. Our commitments once we graduate are much higher than the older generation,” he said.

“So it’s not about attitude, it’s about whether you are given enough money to survive and how you are treated.”

Mother of one Emilia Hadri said she once quit her job due to work pressure and an abusive boss, as she needed to find a work-life balance.

“Once you work long hours, you start to feel the effect on your emotions and health. Sometimes you have to work overtime to show your effort but your bosses don’t appreciate your work and I can’t handle office politics.

“I admit that some in my generation tend to quit when the going gets tough, but this doesn't apply to those who have a safety net like living with their parents, or having no commitment. But for those who come from other states, they have a lot to handle.

“And I wanted to build a family at the time, and it was very hard to work long hours," she said of her previous job as a call centre executive.

The 30-year-old from Gombak added that people nowadays could no longer stay at one company for a long time if the remuneration is not adequate.

“Strawberry generation or not, we can handle the workload. But when we have to deal with verbally abusive bosses, we have our limits,” she said.