"Fire someone for being late four days in a week?" Helicopter moms calling their sons' companies are becoming a headache

[Financial News] The so-called "helicopter parent" phenomenon, in which parents step in on behalf of their children from job applications to firing disputes and complaints over performance reviews, is emerging as a new headache in U.S. workplace culture.

Yonhap News Agency reported on the 3rd, citing The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), that cases are increasing in the United States in which parents directly contact companies about their children's employment and overall work life.
The term "helicopter parent" refers to parents who hover around their children like a helicopter, watching everything they do. It is now becoming a new concern in the U.S. labor market as parents intervene on behalf of their adult Generation Z children, born in the mid-1990s to the early 2010s, in both job hunting and workplace life.
Stephen Clark, chief operating officer of a staffing agency in Fairbanks, Alaska, recently fired a 24-year-old male employee, identified as A.
During his first week at a construction site, A was late four times or did not show up at all. A few hours after Clark informed him of the dismissal, his mother called.
The mother asked Clark to give her son one more chance, but Clark refused, saying, "This is a matter between the company and your son, and he is an adult employee." A's mother then raised her voice and protested, according to the report.
There have also been cases in which parents intervene during online video interviews by coaching their children on how to answer. Some parents have called recruiters to check on the status of their children's applications, while others have shown up at job fairs with their children's resumes to express interest in employment.
In a survey of 1,000 Generation Z respondents conducted by the U.S. online resume platform Zety, 20% said they had attended a job interview with a parent.

Parental influence has continued even after these young workers entered the workplace. An HR executive at a hardware distribution company said he received a call last year from the mother of a Generation Z employee who had not received the performance review results she expected, asking him to explain why. There have also been reports of parents calling in sick on behalf of their adult children.
HR managers said such excessive parental involvement reveals a lack of independence in applicants. They also warned that it could create communication problems with the company even after hiring.
Generation Z, however, does not appear to welcome the trend.
Paul Branson, 22, who graduated from college this year, told WSJ, "I understand parents' anxiety, but this trend has really hurt our generation by creating the stereotype that we need someone else's help."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter