Before his daughters walked into their first offices, Richard Roper handed them something most new hires never get: a written cheat sheet of everything he wished someone had told him at their age.
Roper, president of Marsh People and Investment for Hong Kong and Macau, is a father of three — a zillennial, a Gen Zer, and a Gen Alpha. When his two eldest daughters became old enough to work, he didn't just offer encouragement. He sat down and wrote out a full sheet of what he called "daddy tips."
Two of those tips were almost disarmingly simple: show up on time, and bring value to a meeting.
Three Decades of Experience, Condensed Into One Sheet
Roper said he spent time distilling roughly 30 years of work experience into a single page for his daughters. The goal was to pass on the unspoken rules of the workplace — the ones that rarely make it into a syllabus but decide who gets noticed and who gets overlooked.
His list wasn't about technical skills. It was about the basics of being a reliable, useful presence in a room.
Why Employers Keep Saying the Same Thing About Gen Z
Roper's instinct speaks to a complaint that has become almost routine among managers: young hires arrive fluent in the latest tools and platforms, but struggle with the human side of work.
Schools taught them how to type and code. Fewer taught them how to speak up in a meeting, read a room, or follow up on a task without being reminded.
That gap matters because soft skills are often what determine whether a promising new hire becomes a trusted colleague — or stalls in their first year.
What the 'Daddy Tips' Actually Signal
The advice is not complicated. Punctuality signals respect for other people's time. Contributing in a meeting signals that you've prepared and that you're engaged.
But these are exactly the behaviours that employers say are missing. When a senior executive feels the need to write them down for his own children, it suggests the workplace is no longer transmitting these norms on its own.
The Generational Handover Problem
Part of the issue is structural. Remote and hybrid work have reduced the informal observation that once taught young workers how offices function — watching a senior colleague handle a difficult client, or hearing how a manager pushes back in a meeting.
When that apprenticeship-by-osmosis disappears, the unwritten rules have to be written down. Roper's sheet is one father's version of that.
Confirmed Facts vs What Remains Unclear
Confirmed: Roper is president of Marsh People and Investment (Hong Kong & Macau). He has three children across three generations. He wrote a list of "daddy tips" for his two eldest daughters when they were ready to start working, including advice on punctuality and contributing in meetings.
Unclear: The full contents of the list have not been published in detail. It is not known whether the tips were adopted formally by his firm or shared more widely. The story is a personal anecdote, not a corporate policy announcement.
The Broader Pattern: Employers Are Teaching What Schools Don't
Roper's list is a small, personal gesture, but it fits a larger trend. Companies across sectors have begun running internal sessions on email etiquette, meeting behaviour, and professional communication for early-career staff.
The assumption behind these programmes is the same one behind Roper's sheet: technical training is no longer the bottleneck. The bottleneck is knowing how to operate alongside other people.
Risks and a Balanced View
It would be easy to read this as another round of criticism aimed at Gen Z. That framing is worth pushing back on.
Young workers entered a labour market shaped by pandemic disruption, remote onboarding, and rapid technological change. If they missed certain norms, the conditions that once taught those norms also changed.
There is also a risk in over-relying on individual advice. A father's cheat sheet can help his daughters. It cannot substitute for structured onboarding, mentorship, or managers who take the time to explain expectations clearly.
What Young Workers Can Take From This
The practical value of Roper's tips is that they are actionable immediately. Arrive on time. Prepare something useful before a meeting. Speak when you have something to add.
None of this requires experience you don't yet have. It requires attention to the people around you — which, according to a growing number of employers, is the skill in shortest supply.
Future Outlook
Expect more of this conversation, not less. As hybrid work settles in and AI tools absorb more routine tasks, the premium on human skills — judgement, communication, reliability — is likely to rise.
The workers who thrive may not be the ones with the best technical toolkit, but the ones who understood early that showing up well matters as much as showing up skilled.
Our Take
Roper's "daddy tips" are not revolutionary. That is precisely the point. The advice is so basic that its existence as a written document tells us something about how much the workplace has changed.
When a senior executive with three decades of experience feels the need to spell out punctuality and meeting contribution for his own children, it is less a comment on Gen Z than on the institutions that used to teach these things quietly. The list is a patch, not a fix. But it is a useful reminder that careers are built on small, repeatable behaviours — and that someone, somewhere, has to pass them on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Richard Roper?
Richard Roper is the president of Marsh People and Investment for Hong Kong and Macau. He is a father of three children spanning the zillennial, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha generations.
What were the 'daddy tips' he gave his daughters?
Roper wrote a sheet of career advice for his two eldest daughters when they were ready to start working. The tips included showing up on time and bringing value to a meeting, drawn from around 30 years of his own work experience.
Why is this story resonating?
It reflects a widely reported complaint among employers: Gen Z workers are digitally fluent but often lack basic workplace and interpersonal skills. Roper's list is a personal response to a gap that schools and workplaces are both struggling to close.
What can young workers learn from this?
The core lesson is that technical skills get you hired, but workplace basics — punctuality, preparation, and contributing meaningfully — determine how far you go. These behaviours can be adopted immediately, regardless of experience level.
