When the pandemic hit, Gen Z-ers was about adulthood between 1997 and 2012. After enduring a very difficult time during closing, they are facing an acute mental health crisis today. As a result, many people in 2024 will ask more from their working life.
When my research team at Harvard University interviewed 80 Gen Z university students, we noticed an overwhelming desire to endure their efforts to live authentically. It means doing work that they are passionate about, to build meaningful ties with peers, to make their private self public – whether it means their taste and preferences, their sexual identity, their traumas in the past – for those who they surround, as and when they are so moved.
In general, Gen Z-ers are also much more skeptical of the pursuit of the American dream than their elders. For example, many people consider home ownership not only out of reach, but also as one more consumer fall-part of the addictive ‘hedonistic treadmill’ to avoid. They do not want their personal priorities for profitability subordinate, nor do they hide important aspects of their identity to carry out the ‘ideal self’ that is traditionally expected by employers. In the past, it often needs yourself (upwards of 40 hours per week) to have dedicated to externally dictated goals. This is no longer the case.
The Gen Z College students with whom we interviewed have a specific question about their employers. They intend to combine their passion for hard work and entrepreneurship with self -actualization, balance between work and life, social inclusion and political involvement. The usual incentives for employees will not.
To continue to attract these young, hesitant workers as boomers retire, employers will have to promote organizational cultures that are recognized and valued at the recognition of what I mention. As such, ‘to see others must become a new management mantra. In this context, formal “affinity groups” of workers who share similar interests or identities will become especially important. This will enable people in increasingly diverse workplaces to talk about how they experience their work life together, after which they strive and how things can get better.
In 2024, this pursuit of self -creation and actualization will mean that therapeutic culture will play an even more central role than in the past. Workers and managers will focus less on ‘more work’ than ‘better work’, and more reflecting on what talks to what motivates employees outside of economic imperative.
The action economy, as well as opportunities for self-activity that can be used as a business tool, also give Gen Z-ers a way out of the Doldrums of Work Routines.
Yet there are important differences about social classes. In a study on how students in the middle and working class responds to Covid-19, the first group was more likely to regard themselves as leaders of social change, while the second aspirations were limited by the reality to support their families. They also worked with a much shorter time horizon and observed pandemic challenges in the context of a long history of crises. Against this background, in 2024, the pursuit of passion by many with less resources will be considered a luxury, while the separation between the college-trained and the rest of the population will deepen, including their search for dignity. If we want to live in healthy societies, we must acknowledge those without a university education – and learn how to see others really properly.
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