Exec gave his Gen Z kids a list of ‘daddy tips’ when they became old enough to work—it included showing up on time and ‘bringing value to a meeting’

Gen Z workers may know their way around the latest gadgets and AI tools better than anyone.

But bosses consistently have one complaint about their young new hires: They lack basic people skills.

Schools taught them how to type and code , but not how to speak up in a meeting.

One exec took matters into his own hands.

Richard Roper, president of Marsh People and Investment (Hong Kong & Macau), is a father of three: a zillennial, a Gen Zer, and a Gen Alpha.

When his two eldest daughters were ready to start working, he didn’t just wish them luck.

Instead, he handed them a list of “daddy tips,” distilling three decades of career advice into one cheat sheet.

“I spent some time and wrote them a full sheet of ‘daddy tips’ of trying to pass on my work experience of all these years to them,” he said at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept.

8.

“It was a lot of the basics which are now coming around to be very valuable,” Roper explained.

“Being enthusiastic, being polite, being respectful to your bosses… always bringing value to a meeting.

It sounds quite old-fashioned, but all of those human skills.” Now both his daughters have jobs, and Roper says the basics he taught them matter more than ever in the age of AI.

“Being able to influence, have a story on entering a room, all this kind of stuff, now is really great currency for them.” Research shows Gen Z is in desperate need of human skills Roper’s advice might sound simple, but teaching the next generation to show up on time, be polite, and speak up in meetings could give them an edge in today’s job market.

With Gen Z struggling to land entry-level roles—many of which can now be done by AI—employers are looking for exactly those “old-fashioned” people skills more than ever.