Gen Z is prioritizing living over working because they've seen 'the legacy of broken promises' in corporate America, a future-of-work expert says
Gen Z is prioritizing living over working because they've seen 'the legacy of broken promises' in corporate America, a future-of-work expert says
A future-of-work expert said Gen Zers didn't have the "promise of stability" at work, so they're putting their personal lives and well-being first.
A future-of-work expert said Gen Zers didn't have the "promise of stability" at work, so they're putting their personal lives and well-being first.
I just saw Docs, nurses and staff who had pensions for 30+ years just get butchered as the new Hospital system took over. Routed it all to standard 401ks. Why put your soul into a company. They will never come through. That ship has sailed.
My only hope is people look around at the fact that one of the few ways to still get a pension is through union work, and the current unionization wave continues into something bigger, better, and greater than we've had in the past.
That's what this new wave of layoffs and threats of layoffs is to help curtail.
That's one of the risks of not being unionized. My employer can't touch my pension (not that they would want to since they all came up from the union rank and file too) because it's all managed through our union contract and there's no chance in hell that we ever approve a contract that gives them that kind of control.
Even that isn't complete protection. The government can always change the rules as they go. Not to mention a complete breakdown of society wouldn't exactly do wonders for pensions and 401k's either.
It reeks of those headlines saying that millenials/gen zs are "losing interest in buying cars and houses".
Motherfucker, interest has nothing to do with it. We can't afford it!
Well interest does come into it. Y'all can't afford the interest payments on the loans you'd need. Can't even find a decently priced used car.
The article talks about millenials not being able to afford houses..
I know... I read about it on other sources too and mixed the headlines too. Sorry for the confusion.
Right, like the majority of my millennial friends also work to live, not live to work, it's just that living is so damn expensive that after we're done working enough to pay rent, there's not many hours left in the week to live.
I'm incredibly privileged. I have no debt, no loans, and housemates to split bills with. I only do 20 hours of paid work per week, and my hourly rate is pretty damn decent for my industry (I'm a coordinator in a community centre, I make $32AUD an hour).
I enjoy my work life balance and I wouldn't have it any other way, I have time to care for my chronic illness properly, and time for friends, and family, and to volunteer in my community for passion projects that could never in a million years pay the bills.
But being in your mid thirties and splitting rent with other people is tough, I fortunately don't want marriage or kids, but I can't see how I'd make it work if I did, babies can't help me split the rent, and most housemates don't want to live with a crying baby that isn't theirs.
So when my friend leaves his fun job for a grind company we know sucks our your soul, but it pays 8x as much and it's "just for 2 years until the deposit is saved for and the baby is born" then it's completely understandable why the next 24 months of my friends life is consumed with work. Because he needs that work now, so that he can live later.
But 2 years becomes 5 years becomes 10 years because first it's the GFC, then it's the housing bubble, then it's the mini recession, then it's covid, now it's whatever the fuck times were living in.
And at some point for millennials (and many younger Gen X'ers) living became surviving and we work to survive, we don't even know what thriving looks like.
I'm a milennial. I live in a country where we try not to work ourselves to death. Even my employer encourages an active separation between work and personal life. I do not remember what my monthly or yearly salary is, but I am able to have a good personal life with alot of spare time and money for my hobbies.
When I talk to my friends over the pond to the west, I'm always shocked about what I hear. 40+ hour workweeks, hardly any time off from work, etc. I also have a couple of friends in Japan, and their stories are actually worse compared to across the western pond.
Me and my girlfriend rent, which is somewhat unheard of around here. After the war, the economy was based on owning your own home. I made a few stupid choices when I was in my 20s, and I'm paying for them now by renting. The prices of homes are skyrocketing, so that every time I save some money, the prices increase and I have to save more to get a loan. Tough luck, but that's the way it is. I do not want to get a side hustle just to kill my self getting enough money to buy my home.
I’m curious about how different Gen Z is from Millennials here, because everyone in my age range that I know seems to share this sentiment with them?
I feel like millennials have a "It is what it is, guess ill work til I die" attitude whereas Gen Z have more of a Bartleby the Scrivener "I'd rather not" energy.
As a millennial: I think it’s the dichotomy between “I play the game even though I hate it because it genuinely feels like the only viable option to have a remotely satisfying life” and “fuck the game”.
As an older Gen Z I concur. Even those of us who aren't completely fucked are extremely anti-corporate with little loyalty to any job. There's a guy named Jordan Howlett who I feel sums up the average Gen Z attitude towards all the bullshit in the world really well.
Don't get me wrong I still work hard and try to do well at my job, but the second I hit my time for the day I'm gone. Work is strictly transactional. No one expects their employer to give them money for time they didn't work, so I ain't about to give my employer time for money they didn't give me. They'll also fire my ass the second they need a stock bump, so I'll be damned if I'm gonna stick around if I find something better.
I'm a millennial too, and I see some of this but it only seems to be some industries. I'm a programmer and my coworkers are like 90% about "the grindset", but people I meet who are in health and wellness are 90% the other way. I also feel like cities and large metros tend to be more focused on work, and less urban areas are more focused on living.
I would say a lot of millenials are this way too, and it's not fair to say it's just a gem z thing, but it's far from the majority... At least around me. There seem to at least be pockets of it, but overall I feel like it's closer to 20%.
With gen z, I feel like the people are way more heavily skewed the other way. I've had gen z general contractors and such just cut the bullshit, tell it like it is, and show that they value ME more than THEIR BOSS. It seems much more universal in their generation.
But that's just my experience. I dunno which is more universal.
So you're saying that Gen Z just lay the truth out and finish their statement with "no cap"?
It’s a gradient.
Actually the biggest difference I've seen isn't in effort but ability. I work with everyone from Boomers to Gen Z and by far my Gen Z coworkers have the hardest time with being given a general task and completing it without detailed instructions. Even with detailed instructions, I often have to repeat the instructions due to mistakes and check my younger colleagues' work more closely.
I think this is, in part, because Gen Z grew up with things that just worked or that they needed to go to a third party to fix if there were issues. Boomers fixed their own cars and did a lot of DIY home repair, Gen X and Millenials both learned to navigate computers and the internet before there were any real instructional guides or helpful UIs. Shit, we used to program games on our calculators for fun. I think many in Gen Z just never had that because many of those DIY elements require proprietary tools now. A smartphone just works and is designed to be so intuitive a baby can figure it out. It's not their fault, but it does mean that some critical thinking skills are absent because they're used to outsourcing the solutions to those problems.
But, again, I have never perceived that they're not hard workers. On the contrary, I'd argue my Gen Z coworkers, when they're on their game, are way more efficient than everyone else and definitely work smarter, not harder, which I try to learn from them.
I manage teams at a university. Gen Z types tend to be very motivated but won’t easily do useless busy work just cuz you think they should. You need to motivate them. That’s the boss’ job, though.
The real problem was the previous generations who happily devoted themselves to their bosses getting richer.
Half of genx too but nobody ever mentions us.
I want to put the effort I give earning money to be put towards bettering my life. All my lemons are being juiced for someone else's lemonade.
I agree. And I got extreme with it. because when it comes to making sure all the money we earn goes to ourselves and to our own betterment, the biggest obstacle in the way is the egregious cost of housing. In order to get on top of that hurdle, we either have to become part of the real estate industry, or entirely opt out of it. Well I entirely opted out of it.
VanLife. Yup I've been doing van life for the last 3 years. Complete with Solar panels, plumbing, climate control, bedroom, kitchen, storage space. I am in my van right now in one of my membership gym's parking lot. Every dime I earn goes to me and to whatever I choose, NOT to the extortionate housing industry.
I've lost all trust in employers. From large corporations to non-profits to mom and pop to tech startups- I've been in it all and I learned businesses do 2 things to their employees:
- They lie to you
- They underpay you
I'm now freelance musician and teacher and I'm on track to make more than any employer paid me. I'm still in debt after having the rug pulled from under me from my last job, but I'm digging my way out on my own. I will never let one person be in control of my income ever again.
Yeah no...So every communist either: !) Figures out how to not be a worker and then abandons the thought 2)Actually manages to be in the revolutionary council but may get assassinated later on 3)Never had any motivation at all, writes articles like this.
Bro, stop saying "communist" you are just embarrassing yourself.
Can I put forward a motion that we start treating this cringe McCarthist shit like the edgelord fodder it properly is and make those who use Communist scarecrows the laughingstock they deserve to be ? Like these idiots can't grasp Market Socialism to save their life and are still high on gas lighting from the 1980's.
America isn’t a country, it’s just a business. That business minded model for society has drained all decency out of it. The US is a kleptocratic, psychopathic, oligarchy that has rotted out the brains of formerly decent people who have become the monsters we all see in stories like these. It will take multiple generations to fix this, if that is even possible.
America isn’t a country, it’s just a business
It's three businesses in a country sized trench coat.
Your
brainwashedmesmerized grandparents and their lazy non-voting baby boomer children let Reagan through the door in no uncertain terms, and in that environment the 80s "hostile corporate takeover" and junk bonds fever set in; with bottomless greed as the virus, which like herpes, seems to stick around forever.EDIT: a word
Lazy voters stayed home and let Trump in. (With a strong assist from the Democratic party.). That's not what happened with Reagan. Reagan had incredibly broad popular support. I don't know if that's more or less damning of American voters, but no amount of additional turnout would have saved Carter.
"Many of us built, whether it's bought homes or whatever, based on this promise of stability," Jesuthasan said. "There was this expectation that the tail was bigger. And we took on liabilities and obligations early on because of that tail. I think this generation has seen that tail dissipate."
In other words, when millennials did what their parents did and assumed if they worked hard they'd get to live a decent life. Then they got fucked by companies whose priorities became getting as much out of their employees as possible while investing in those employees as little as possible.
As a millennial, I hated the idea of debt. As a result, I've had no debt beyond college loans despite being able to afford a lower middle class lifestyle. It took me never living alone (roommates, SOs) but I did it. The education was bullshit and the loans were obscene but I got a piece of paper that helped me keep my job. After working in the public sector for 20+ years I actually had my loans forgiven... and now rent is going through the roof to compensate. Still, I might actually own a home before I'm 50, assuming current and future landlords don't decide to take me for all I'm worth.
When I finally own a home, I'm sure it'll get washed away by the thirteenth "century flood" that year or some other bullshit thanks to climate change. So fucking glad I decided not to have kids. Fuck this world.
If it makes you feel any better, the rent was going to skyrocket regardless of the loan forgiveness. That's just the generations before us people trying to make sure they get to the top so they can pull the ladder up behind them.
We have no loan forgiveness here in Canada and rent is still going up faster than anyone can afford. It doesn't help that all of the politicians are landlords.
I just saw the other month that only like 46% of Millennials own a house, compared to the 65% average of other generations. And of those who don't, 52% of them aren't saving for a down payment, often because of how shitty wages and even finding a job are. On top of that, only 20% of houses are currently affordable for the average American worker, down from 60% in 2016. And people wonder why we have no faith in the system.
Gen Z saw what happened to Gen X and to us Millennials, and don't expect it to get any better for them either.
That sounds like a horrible Kafkaesque nightmare. I fear my country is heading in the same direction. I'm saddened that it got so bad in the US, and that the "obvious steps in the right direction" were simply voted against. I'm reminded of the Community episode where they explore the alternative realities. We're in the "Bernie lost to HIllary" one. Before that happened, I told a friend "Well... if Bernie loses, it's all going to shit". Sucks to have been right, although it started some time ago with Reagan gutting the middle class.
We either figure out how to redistribute wealth in the society in the next 30 years, or... "going to shit" will be the least of our problems.
X'er here. Been doing this my entire life. Fuck the corporate overlords. Everyone should prioritize life over work. Unfortunately for most the world is against them in this regard.
Yeah I mean mad magazine was talking about gen x like this back in the 90s. But the media needs to pretend everything today is new or they'd have nothing to print.
Also, if you see some of the articles and movies from the 60s/70s, they were saying all this stuff about baby boomers too.
I saw somewhere where they gathered examples of "people in their 20s don't want to work the same way the folks in their 40s did at their age" dating back to at least the mid nineteenth century.
I've also seen the point made that a lot of the assumptions about the boomers having it nice and easy comes from media products that strategically wanted to frame things as doing great, as they thought that's what drove media consumption, folks wanting to feel good about the world. Now the general understanding is keeping people in an eternal state of panic and dread will keep those eyeballs glued to the product. Bad stuff happened back then too, and plenty of it should have been a more prominent source of dread by today's standards.
Further, to the extent it was true, it was mostly a USA thing coming from a couple of phenomenon: -Every other major industrial economy had been severely impacted by World Wars I && II, with USA barely having a scratch. So for a good while, most of the economic activity favored the USA across the globe. -Factors like racism where huge swaths of the USA population 'didn't count' when people were thinking how good things were going.
For you what does prioritizing life over work look like exactly? Genuinely curious.
For one of my friends, who I respect greatly, it means coming to terms with the fact that it's not plausible for them to get a job that they're passionate, in their field of study. They have less identity based attachment to the job they do have, and whilst they do generally like their job, they see it as a means to an end.
They know they probably could find a better job, perhaps even one in their field, but they're happy with the balance of priorities they have now because it's mostly working.
I'm 50 now. I've never held a job more than 5-6 years my entire life and I have changed professions many many times. I never bought into that work till you die life. I only worked to be able to afford the things I actually wanted and I prioritized adventure over stability. I moved all around the country (Canada) and travelled internationally by holding a job long enough to get to the next place and so on. I've recently learned I probably have ADHD which could account for some of my lifestyle choices.
After I was married my wife and I decided to start working toward a zero bill goal. We paid off all of our bills and eliminated wherever we could. We prioritized getting in nature and our own form of travel over keeping up with the Jones'. We saved everything else and invested what seemed a meager $500 into canadian cannabis just prior to legalization. Mostly on a whim. I personally learned to trade and moved that until it was enough to buy a house and some land where no one else wanted to live. We put some minor infrastructure in to help us grow food and invested in our land. All other investments, savings and any so called retirement went towards being mortgage free with enough space and the infrastructure to grow our own food. We have zero savings and less need for even a bank account than most. We recognise we were and are fortunate to get to where we are now. There was a lot of luck along the way.
Now we have a family. Our house bills include yearly taxes, internet and unfortunately power. Our truck is 16 years old and paid for. We forage, fish and hunt and grow pretty much all our own veg. I don't work due to serious illnesses (yay Canada that I'm not way in debt there) and my spouse works about 5 months out of the year at a seasonal job so I don't drive her crazy. We make less than $35,000/ Canadian a year and that's enough. Our three kids wear second hand clothes except for outerwear because being dry and warm is important, they know how to pirate and adblock and they can grow food and cook. Our wants are few which makes our needs even less.
For me, it's shutting out work correspondence right at 5pm. Working from home most of the time. If some life circumstance vaguely demands my time in a way that conflicts with work, the life circumstance will win.
It's not horribly absolute. I did connect when I got a request to help some customers in Ukraine, figuring the very least I could do was help them out. Another customer that generally represents 30-40 million a year of revenue needed help off hours in December, and I obliged. In the event of a genuine emergency I'll be flexible (but in a hurry to get it over with, even if it means "slap flex tape on it and it should hold things over" sort of approach).
Keep in mind this is grading on a curve. A close colleague works in person at the office 6 or 7 days a week, generally for 9 or 10 hours, and on top of that spends much of his home time remotely working on things too. He complains that if not everyone matches his work ethic that we won't hit "the schedule", and I respond if that's the case, then there's a problem with "the schedule", not with people failing to work enough. Eternally poor planning with arbitrarily declared deadlines are not a legitimate source of emergency, and I won't play along with that.
Also genX, I went hard in corporate life for a long time, survived many rounds of layoffs and watched good friends go for reasons that are bad ones- until one fine day I was laid off with 18,000 others. Meanwhile they kept hiring H1B workers and doing stock buybacks and doing mass-layoffs every 2 years to keep the regional labor market full of competition and wages depressed. Knowing that they're not interested in keeping their promises of stability and prosperity goes a long ways towards me never going above and beyond
Agreed, , basically what the article here is saying that the kids were watching us and they don't trust anybody. Hell, I never heard my Grand dad yell louder about what I am making. He worked union construction in the 80's in the city I live in now and though I make more than a lot of construction guys I know on a similar docket I'm only making about 3$ more than what he did back then. He ranted for an hour when I told him what the standard rents and apartment sizes in my area. There is nothing so satisfying as having an stenetorian 86 year old positively enraged on behalf of the kids about their pay, working conditions and quality of life.
It's been my personal mental balm to the placid incuriousity and damn near sociopathic lack of empathy I catch off some of the boomers and the elder millenials who picked up trades work immediately after highschool.
Also GenX. Not being able to afford treatment for mental illness robbed me of 20 years of living. I had better insurance in the 90s than I do now. Never thought I would miss my HMO from then.
"If you like your plan you can keep it"
Promise of what? I think the major change with millennials and gen z is that we see through the dogmatism that is corporate culture. Even if the promise was that of the "American dream" 50 years ago it's quite clearly not worth it to sacrifice your youth and 1/3 of your life (another third being sleep) to afford to sit around in a house and squeeze in stagnant social obligations for the rest of your life.
Life is what you make of it, and familial loyalty to a company that doesn't care about me just doesn't cut it.
A corporate 'promise' is a verbal unenforceable contract. What do you even do with the promise of a habitual liar?
Some of us gen x saw this in high school but were surrounded by angry boomers who treated us like we were idiots.
Then don’t work at a corporation. There are plenty of startups / small businesses out there who are in dire need of talented people.
The single most toxic place to work is a startup. The people who make it there tend to be entitled narcissists.
Start ups are still corps bud.
You mean they saw what happened to their parents.
You get what you pay for, pay your employees shit and get shit. Completely remove all rewards for hard work and no ones going to be incentivized to do more than the bare minnimum.
At the last big boy firm I worked at, they set the metrics for getting a bonus so unrealistically high that it disincentived staff from even trying. It had a negative effect where everybody purposely did just enough to not get fired rather than killing themselves to come up short and get nothing.
They wanted something stupid like 2,500 billable hours which do not include meetings, continuing education, mandatory volunteer time, etc etc etc.
The biggest rock stars in the industry struggle to hit 2,000.
So we all dropped down to the 1,500 range because fuck that shit.
It's shocking how much bare minimum work happens, or how much tossing over the fence and "yeah we're aware we'll fix it later" style approaches happen at my job. We can't hire the right level of expertise because we won't pay for it. I've got a foot out the door and it really doesn't matter where I go because it will be a raise for the same stupid kind of environment, but at least it'll be a raise.
Not gen z, but God bless 'em. I came to the same conclusion after the first round of layoffs at my first job. They laid off the experts because they had higher salaries and kept the lower paid, less skilled workers. It was completely absurd. Then it happened again, and again. Why would I ever expect my work to treat me with any loyalty or concern when no employer has even shown me or mine any?
Companies were never loyal to worker not in 80s and not now. They are loyal to profit 😁
The internet is the reason they get to grow up with tons of details about how and why these promises are bullshit and vapor.
I'm immediately click bait suspicious of any reporting that's generation says this.
This generation says they're not falling for your clickbait headlines!
Yeah and a "future-of-work expert"? 🤣
I'm so fucking tired reading articles about boomers this, millenials that, zoomies this.
What you're seeing is the result of decades of Reaganomics coming home to roost.
Look up Hunter' Thompson's book about the "Hell's Angels." There's a chapter on the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970.
A biker could work six months as a Union stevedore and earn enough to live on the road for two years, and a part time waitress could support herself and a musician boyfriend.
All I see is author projection.
a future-of-work expert
Saw the writing on the wall and just invented a new job.
I wish I had that kind of foresight
"Robots are taking our jerbs"
i remember reading similar headlines about millenials... this bullshit is always targeted at young adults, and its always the same superficial "analysis"
Corporate America is a shit lifestyle and double digit iq is enough to realize that.
I mean I'm GenX, and I've been fired from three different jobs for reasons beyond my control.
The concept of working for one company for your whole career, getting promoted to a high paying position, retiring with a healthy pension simply no longer exists anymore. You can work hard and do everything right, even be in a division that's making money and you still might lose your job simply because laying off employees looks good to the shareholders.
But it's all the fault of the young people! You just need to work harder... on your LinkedIn profile because what you do for the company you're at right now doesn't matter, it's what it looks like you do that matters more now.
The company I work for had record earnings recently and there were high spirits, long praising newsletter from the CEO. Praise for maintaining a very stable production and higher output with fewer people than competitors.
Until our closest competitors reported their earnings. Which were higher, not surprising as they are bigger than us. Then it was doom and gloom
All of a sudden we had to have substantial budget cuts, and couldn't rehire to fill a position for someone who had left.
Crazy huh, earned a boatload of money, but someone else earned a bit more. So then we have to cut expenses and optimize.
They still had the audacity recently to try to push the company "spirit and mindset" to employees. Something something buzzwords..
They will still discard you as fast as yesteryears iPhone.
Yup it's all the fault of Jack Welch. He worked at GE and company culture at the time was to be proud of the number of employees they had. Some companies were proud that they never laid anyone off even during the great depression. They proudly took a loss rather than lay off anyone.
So Jack works his way up the ranks of GE which is how things worked back then. He got all the way to the top of this great company that was proud of his employees. And as soon as he was CEO he started laying everyone off. And the stock price of GE soared.
Ever since then that's what every CEO tries to emulated. The stock market sees the CEO emulating Jack Welch and buy buy buy.
But it's all short term thinking. Products get worse and worse, nobody give a shit about their job, work doesn't get done. But just blame the employees and do another layoff.
Jack Welch fucked us all, but very few people even know his name.
"We care about you until you start underperforming during a global pandemic because of mental health. Then fuck you"
It's easy to tell when a company actually is serious about caring about employees. Our executives took $0 bonuses last year so employees could have normal bonuses, and they bought everyone a free turkey for Thanksgiving. Our financials aren't the best right now, but we still have a 401k match and all our benefits, and they've frozen hiring so they don't have to do layoffs. Our CEO chats with us weekly and takes questions, and he tells us to not worry about the stock price. We do good work, and success will follow, he says.
Anecdotally, I had a serious health issue at the beginning of this year, and my boss told me to take off all the time I needed. I'm still on leave through the rest of the month, no questions asked. My previous company had people like that, but they weren't supported by HR policies.
I'm still very wary however, because it doesn't take long at all to get screwed over.
what thinly veiled parochial mentality, isn't it?
In 1960, minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the price of the average home was $11,000.00. Of course people wanted to work hard and save, because they could see that it paid off almost instantly.
BTW, in 1960 $1 million would buy a mansion, a few nice cars, and a couple of businesses. Today, it's what a rich guy pays for a party.
I wanted to see a graph, and couldn't find one online.
It looks like, at least in the middle of Canada, being born between 1960 and 1980 was the ideal time if you wanted to buy a home.
This doesn't take into account mortgage rates, tax rates, average household income, unemployment rates, or other cost of living expenses.
I just wanted a little chart, not to lose my whole dayIn the middle of Canada; Winnipeg, MB:
Year Minimum wage House price Price/wage (lower is better) 1960 $0.66 $15,151 22,956 1970 $1.50 $51,678 34,452 1980 $3.15 $53,513 16,988 1990 $4.70 $87,173 18,547 2000 $6.00 $95,520 15,920 2010 $9.50 $231,411 24,359 2020 $11.90 $299,994 25,209 Lazy sources:
https://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/standards/history-min.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3TKC-H0omc
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/980512/dq980512-eng.htmIn 1960 you could buy an estate in Beverly Hills, or La Jolla, for a cool $100,000
And then you've the fucktards who say in the WEF and other places that "people have to suffer" in order to be more productive / want to work.
They have seen the legacy of all these broken promises. In the old days and in many parts of the West, they would promise you if you worked for 30 years, you have this defined benefit pension, you have retiree medical care, etc. None of that exists today.
But at the end of the day it was the same fucktards who broke the social contract when it comes to work and benefits.
I'm only as good as the value I'm delivering today, and so these are the terms under which I want to work, and you either meet them or not.'"
That's the right approach to the job market and I'm not even Gen Z. The current state of things, like expecting people to work multiple jobs, underpaying, firing to then hire at half the rate, constant layoffs, unreasonable demands and managers it's all bullshit that people can't stand anymore.
numerous Gen Zers are "quiet quitting" and taking a step back at work because they're painfully aware that their hard work could essentially amount to nothing.
When a employers and governments "loudly quit" on people's life's and expectations that's what they get.
In one survey last year, 74% of managers said the generation was the most challenging to work with.
How many of those managers are 50+ years old, with all they ever wanted and a sense their hard work payed off?
Could amount to nothing
Read between the lines here, article writer 🥲, everything amounts to nothing. Nobody wants their life to pass by unlived
Old people are impossible to talk to, painfully neurotic and stupid and obsessed with collecting clothing and electronics. They have zero compassion. They know the social contract is broken and they keep telling us to make the same decisions as them knowing we will get nothing for it and die
Old people are impossible to talk to, painfully neurotic and stupid (...) They know the social contract is broken and they keep telling us to make the same decisions as them knowing we will get nothing for it and die
I guess this is the story of Brexit? The UK shouldn't have allowed people over 50 years old to vote on that referendum, because they aren't likely so see the effects of the decision and they're still delusional about a great empire that can stand alone while they watch American TV shows on a TV made in China and a chair designed in Sweden...
Pfft. This article isn't nearly in depth enough on the topic.
How about the fact that minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation? How about the fact that social security and medicare will be gutted by the time they reach elder years? If they reach those elder years at all with all the homelessness, famine, drought, war, and genocide that is already here and creeping into even the most affluent parts of society?
When you ask why kids don't want to work these days, perhaps you're not asking the right question because the better question is so uncomfortable, you'd rather not ask it?
Cuz the better question is "Why would kids even want to live in this increasingly nightmarish world my and previous generations have all had a hand in creating?"
But hey, don't worry about it. Just keep your head in the sand, keep removed about shit you don't want to understand, and count your stock options, capitalism daddy. /s
Recently the boss asked since guy why he doesn't put in more effort for the end of year evaluation and a promotion. Guy opens a spreadsheet that he'd been working on. It basically shows that even when he'd double his wage in that promotion, he still would not be able to afford a house and felt striving for a promotion in those circumstances didn't matter much. The boss left.
When you ask why kids don’t want to work these days...
It's simple - just don't ever ask:-). \s :-( 🥲
And yeah, the rate of suicide (including overdosing) is quite shocking. Or depending on who you ask I would guess, "excellent" (evil laughter while wringing hands). Factors like race or even class doesn't seem to matter to them (edit: okay so they do matter, but it still happens across all of them) - globalization and mechanization means fewer workers are necessary, hence what is not necessary is irrelevant, to The (Illuminati's) Machine, that cares only for survival of the fittest. :-|
Oh, and no - "keeping removed about shit" implies things like not actively voting to take away further rights & privileges. Roe v. Wade was just the start! Next are elections and democracy itself... I only wish I could add a /s here, but from the chatter... it's no longer just a joking matter anymore? :-( That generation isn't done yet it seems, implementing the will of whatever their chosen TV Man tells them to do:-(.
Like "You Must Bow Before the Will of God" - oh so you mean like care about people, taking care of widows & orphans, pay workers the wages they are due, always show kindness and compassion even to the undeserving, stuff like that? "No, I meant lower taxes on the top 0.0000001% - and also wipe my butt for me". Ooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyyy then....
On the bright side, Gen-Z has stuff figured out - they know how to be happier, simply by not giving a shit:-D. Yes they will suffer - as will we all - but less so, having broken free from that horrible mindset that blinded their predecessors? :-)
Also, nobody wants to hire anymore.
If employers get to say it when they can't fill poverty wage positions, the rest of us get to say it when employers fail to offer 7 figure salaries.
“Gen Z is catching on. Vilify them!”
it's genuinely bewildering seeing someone my age talk about a 'career'....like...what dude? oh maybe if i work hard the guy will shake my hand and give me a raise? do you live in a norman rockwell painting?
My grandfather was a soldier so my dad could be a farmer so I could be a poet.
My grandfather was a garbage man so my father could be a fireman so I could stock grocery shelves whilst writing the Great American Novel on my days off.
My stepfather worked his entire life like a goddamn donkey. Even when he was supposed to be on pension his old boss still called him and he actually went and worked for him for free. Today, he's practically crippled from all the physical strain he put his body though. His ex-boss, meanwhile, is rich as fuck and doesn't give a fuck, while my stepfather has the absolute minimum pension and no healthcare.
My grandparents, on the other hand, had a very different story. My grandfather worked for the same employer for 50+ years, never missed a day, and had a decent wage AND a pension which he could access at 55 years of age. They were the last generation to receive their part of the social contract, but the generation of my parents and myself are completely missing out.
Small wonder that the young'uns have eyes in their heads and the werewithal to say "No way, not for me!".
I'm GenX, and I spent about ~25 years in the corporate racket before I realized that they don't give a fuck. I'm all about living now as well, and I encourage others to do the same.
The pandemic was a big mask off moment for corpos.
OF COURSE we prioritize life over work. Normal people always have. That doesn't mean we don't work. What is life without work? Amusing ourselves to death?
It's the imbalance that's always been the problem. People want to work, but many have to work to survive. So every day is a struggle for survival. It's no wonder we're seeing a rise in anxiety disorders, depression, suicide, and general health decline across the board. Some day every late stage capitalist society will normalize the kind of work culture we see in China, South Korea, and Japan, where people are worked to death and have no time for themselves. No time and no safety net for starting families. And paid just enough to get by, not to thrive.
I'm with the younger generations here. I'd rather amuse myself to death than work myself to death.
I disagree, individualistic societies work less. It is people who are taught they have a responsibility to society that work more.
"You better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a-changin'"
-Dylan
Everybody, everybody has to work to survive, from aboriginal people, to the most developed country, to the most socialized country in the world. It has always been thus, and that does not explain rising anxiety, depression, suicide, or health decline.
Abuses of workers and exploitive attempts to move toward a serfdom where no worker owns anything have existed as long as humans have been selfish. It's not the result of a political system.
The French in the 1700s didn't lay down and amuse themselves when exploited. Neither did the American colonies. Neither did Russia. Neither did China. It might be time to stop dropping out, give up on comfort, and start the hard work of getting shit fixed.
Hey everybody, you're anxious and depressed because you know you have to do something about it and you don't want to. Maybe you even know you're going to let it happen.
I was criticized for years about this approach to work so I'm glad others see it now. If work yielded results sure I'd focus a little more but as it's gotten worse I can't even have hobbies because I can't afford to get into anything financially, mentally, and because of time of working multiple jobs to make it by...
How does one become a "future-of-work expert?" If I decided to become one, what training would I need?
Optimistic: an economist who specializes in speculation about the labor market Pessimistic: just some person who said some shit
Work, but in the future. Duuhh
I'll do it later
Why the hell shouldn't they?
Could gen Z become the new gen X? As an Xer, I feel some solidarity with gen Z.
My mom can see the corruption with modern work culture and she's Gen X and knows the same reasons I do as to why people don't want to work. I think Gen Z, Millenials and Gen X are starting to stand up to the Boomers shitty work culture. We just want to be treated with kindness and have a good work environment how hard is that?
You're not even number two.
Of course not. That's Bono.
Hi Gen Z here I got diagnosed with Complex PTSD and Psychosis after a very awful and abusive work environment that's ended in the Ministry of Labour thinking of fining the employer and me suing them for reprising against me for calling the ministry to get the abuse to stop. It has nothing to do with money it has everything to do with being treated with respect and not getting abused. And these employers wonder why no one wants to work for them if they'll just come out with a mental health, psychiatric or psychological disorder
Seems pretty selfish to me
/s
Don't you think about the poor dividends?
How is this selfish?
It was sarcasm, hence the /s
You shouldn't live to work, that's a terrible, shitty, boring, sole sucking way to survive, sure some people enjoy that way, but those guys are the minority, or theyve managed to make their hobby a job so they're not actually working a day in their life, just getting paid to enjoy their hobby
You work to live. You do just enough work so you can go and enjoy yourself. I generally try not to work too much overtime, and I refuse to be on call unless I get desperate for a cash injection.
Working to live is the one reason I haven't moved out of home - I pay A$450 a fortnight in board, and that's far less than most rental properties, (who usually require that but weekly but for a residence that is far worse than where I currently live) and the only room and clothes I have to keep clean are my own.
I got my hobbies and I indulge in them regularly - I game or read my book on the bus to and from work (recently managed to obtain a steam deck for on the go gaming) I livestream when I want to, even if no one's watching. I go visit my friends on weekends - usually an hour out of my way down the back roads, because I like driving the winding roads and it's a bonus that it just happens to unironically be the fastest route to their place.
My job isn't too stressful, and honestly I'm not wanting for much more than I already have. And because I live at home, Im not in debt (apart from my government university debt, but added taxes slowly pay that off, and there's no deadline to pay it off in full) and am actually saving for a house deposit in the future.
I'm happy, I mean it won't last, I'll eventually have to move out - my parents won't want me living with them forever. Wether I can save enough to get a deposit on a mortgage or have to rent remains to be seen. Hopefully the housing market collapses like it needs to.
Welcome to South Europe. We know work is what pays the bills, only that. Live is everything else.
we are the dividends
The only reason i work 80 hours a week is so that my employees and my future children don't have to have the same luck as me.
If i had a regular life i would not ever work 40 hours.I see how little my dad gets as a pension and how much my grandpa got. I will not receive anything.
many genx i know to and im guessing millenial as well.
I wish I could tell somehow, to people, that this is what I did. I chose "nope". It's not socially acceptable. Is there a hotline I can call?
What do you mean? There is ofcourse propoganda to work hard for less.
No I fight the system from without. And talk about an unpaid, thankless job.
I opted out, the social contract is void, I don't accept living on the terms proposed, I'm not signing myself over to modern slavery while supporting a system devastating the planet just so some fat fucks can eat burgers all day. I would literally rather live on the street- and I do. Change has to come from people saying "no". Guess that's not for everyone, because by the time they get a clue, they're already knee high in the system and can't break free from it except at tremendous personal cost. Not everyone is willing to pay it, but I can't reconcile that with my base conscience and if nobody steps up then we're fucking doomed.
Every generation does this. Gen Z can barely afford to.
They don't really think middle aged man are going into work every day busting their plums, just so some cunt above them can buy a nicer car do they?
Bare minimum, every day, don't get sacked. Winner.
This just isn't true in the US. There's absolutely a culture among older generations here of people working their ass off for nothing. And those people look down on younger folks who aren't as stupid as they are, and don't give away their labor for free.
"I just can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to work!" --my grandma, who's been supported by my grandpa's money for as long as I can remember.
Yeah, the people who were brainwashed into thinking that 'working just to work is great,' are undeniably unconcerned with the rest of us, and far too many people think that way.
While it's true that I would want to do something productive with my downtime, and not be wasting it on video games or whatever, I definitely don't want to do it for some CEO or other higher power who cares as much about me, as I do about the ants in my yard.
Not only look down on, but accuse younger generations of being “disrespectful” for not accepting them same level of exploitation from them.
I hope this is true but I don't believe it
living over working
Yes, we all want that. But...
Are they eating air? Living with their parents? Accumulating debt?
What are their plans for the next 50 years, because living will get a hell of a lot harder than it is now.
We've all been forced to put work over life, just to survive long enough to work past retirement age.
You missed a word. It says "prioritizing living over working". The promise was to work hard and a lot to get a good lifestyle (house, a nice car or two, vacations). Now it's work hard but without those rewards in sight. So we cut back on working to a point where we can still have an okay lifestyle.
So because the generations before them made the wrong choice, they have as well?
If my kids live with my my whole life I am A-OK with that.
So because the generations before them made the wrong choice, they have as well?
I'm not punishing younger generations, I'm saying that they're even more screwed than previous generations, so they'll still need to work hard... it just won't get them any luxuries.
If my kids live with my my whole life I am A-OK with that.
You might be, but not everyone wants that, especially in homes where there is no separation (like no basement apartment). That could be a nightmare for both parents and the adult child.
Where are they living while ‘living’? Costs money to live..
This you?