‘My lil minions do so good here’: Manager says she has to ‘gentle parent’ her co-workers so they ‘don’t walk out on her.’ So what is that?
What’s your take on the concept of gentle parenting? It appears that it's now crossing over to at least one manager talking about how she motivates employees.
The creator who goes by @thatvirgo69 on TikTok, recently posted a video from her job managing a MOD Pizza. In the video, she showers her co-workers with compliments as they carry out their tasks. The video has received more than 149,000 views and 500 comments since it was posted April 4.
The video shows the creator with a couple of different employees, with an on-screen caption reading, "Me gentle parenting all my coworkers so they don't walk out on me."
"Good job, Kylie! You're doing amazing, sweetie!" she says to a employee cutting a pizza into slices.
@that_virgo69 my lil minions do so good here..we love that mod life #work #fyp ♬ original sound - kardashianshulu
"Wow, look at her go," she says, referring to another employee who appears to be watching a pizza cook in an oven.
The caption submitted with the video reads, “My lil minions do so good here.”
Several users wrote that they can relate to the sentiment in the video.
"Me saying 'I believe in you' and 'im so proud of you' to all my coworkers daily," wrote one user.
"Me saying 'I see you, Your work does NOT go unnoticed by me," said another.
Another remarked, "I always say please, thank you, and I appreciate it/you cuz I'm hoping it'll get them to do their job."
But other users questioned the creator's use of the term “gentle parenting” in connection with her adult co-workers. According to the Cleveland Clinic, "The goal of gentle parenting is to raise confident, independent and happy children through empathy, respect and understanding, and setting healthy boundaries. This parenting style focuses largely on age-appropriate development."
The article adds, "Instead of focusing on punishment and reward, gentle parenting focuses on improving a child’s self-awareness and understanding of their own behavior," with one expert saying it's putting a parent in more of a coaching than a punishing role.
"But this is condescending af tho because I don't think you're joking," wrote one user.
"Not because they are people but because you understand your job is dependent on their labor," tutted another.
However, many workers said they appreciated the tactic.
"That's truly all I need, I work so much harder after praise than I do being told we need to do better," wrote another user.
"It's almost like the environment reflects and inspires work ethic," someone observed. "There are a lot of employers who can learn from this (though it's the bare minimum)."
One commenter simply remarked, "Honestly this is great management."
And the "minions" comment got notice from the branded account for the Minions movie series, which commented, "You sound like a great boss."
The creator responded, "My minions don’t work like yours tho."
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok and MOD Pizza via email for comment.
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