You Can’t Always Get What You Want
We’ve been in a tight labour market since the pandemic for a variety of factors, which has caused recruitment problems for many organisations. Whilst some of them look wistfully at a possible downturn or the ‘magic bullet’ of AI to deal with these recalcitrant wage-slaves, the only long-term solution is for more people to enter the workforce. That means the kids coming out of college. Only they are not playing ball.
Gen Z, it seems, are not all that interested in jumping on the corporate treadmill. At the Workplace Trends conference in 2021, a presentation of some research on Gen Z gave the amazing statistic that 50% of them wanted to be entrepreneurs. Or to put it another way, half of them looked at the ‘corporate career’ and said “No thanks, you’re alright.”
This was a global sample and more than half of Gen Z live outside OECD countries, so that perhaps gives a different picture to that in the Western developed world we are familiar with - or maybe not (if we allow that ‘Influencers’ are entrepreneurs too).
What is undeniable is that a large number of Gen Z are rejecting the career path that was ‘de facto’ for their parents and see their future very differently. That means organisations face a constrained, and possibly shrinking, labour pool going forward. This squeeze is not a temporary after effect of the pandemic, it’s now a permanent feature of the labour market.
Suspicious Minds
So why are Gen Z not running willingly into the arms of their corporate suitors?
Is it because they are privileged? Perhaps they are entitled and lazy. Or could it be that are just a bunch of snowflakes, terrified of a hard days work that might get in their way of their Netflix binges and yoga sessions?
Well no. And it’s got nothing to do with Chai lattes or avocado toasts either.
They are not being over-emotional, or soft, or commitment-phobic. They are being rational. Because the deal they are being offered sucks.
The ‘corporate contract’ is basically one where you trade your body and some of your soul in return for a decent salary, security and a good quality of life. Or that’s what it was when I entered the workforce some 40 years ago. That’s the promise that’s still being peddled today but the reality is somewhat different.
Gen Z see what’s happened to their parents. Dumped after decades of loyal service because the CEO wanted to make this quarter’s numbers. Made to uproot their lives, and their families, because their division relocated to cut costs, or the CEOs commute time, it’s not entirely clear which. Driven harder and harder and working longer and longer hours, causing their health and their family life to suffer. Unhappy, unfulfilled, disconnected, neglected. Eventually burnt out or discarded.
But at least they got to have a nice home and raise a family, right? And they can get by OK on their pension, so maybe it evened out.
Except now you can forget owning a house. And who can afford kids on these salaries? As for a pension, are you having a laugh? They’ll still be paying off their student debt at retirement age (whatever that will be in the future).
Whereas for me, working for a corporate meant a world of possibilities, for them it means a world of constraints. Mark Cole and John Higgins write about ‘Corporate Dictatorship’ in this Radical OD article, pointing out the feudal nature of organisational life today, where the rulers are unaccountable to the people they rule (employees); untouchable by those employees; and appointed, not elected. CEOs are the new Kings of the world of work, exercising their power through cultural expectations and norms that shackle their employees. (also expressed as the idea that Capitalism is being succeeded by Neo-Feudalism).
This is part of how ‘the job’ takes more and more from us and of us and gives less and less back. It certainly aligns with my experience and my view that the work experience has been seriously degraded over the past 3 or 4 decades. However, it has a particular dissonance for Gen Z because of the particular values and priorities they have.
They value self-expression, authenticity, freedom and purpose. They prioritise mental health and wellbeing, and are acutely aware of their impact on the planet. This makes the ‘corporate offer’ particularly unattractive to them in a way that hasn’t been the case for earlier generations. It’s practically like Kryptonite for them.
And what’s more, they are not reticent in making their opinions known and their voices heard.
(I am generalising enormously above but I think the point stands nonetheless. Not for all GenZ but for enough of them to be valid.)
These Boots Are Made For Walking
This is highlighted by this recent FT article ‘Quit-Tok: why young workers are refusing to leave their job quietly’ on the phenomenon of Gen Z making videos of themselves resigning or being sacked.
It refers to the TikTok video from Brittany Pietsch being laid off from Cloudflare that I wrote about a few weeks ago, as well as one from Christina Zumbo of her resigning from her job because it made her unhappy and was affecting her mental health (she concludes by saying “My therapist is going to be proud of me!”)
Apparently, some are calling this ‘Loud Quitting’ and it’s certainly touching a nerve, with these videos getting millions of views. It’s pushing transparency, something Gen Z value, and in a truly delicious twist, turning surveillance back onto management and holding them accountable.
Every now and then, I pop into the Antiwork reddit for a more unfiltered view of what people are feeling and, more importantly, what they are experiencing. The behaviour and attitudes of some organisations and managers make my hair stand on end. It’s deeply shameful to me that this has been so normalised in business practice but it is also, ultimately, self-defeating. There is no longer an endless supply of suckers who can be abused and exploited in this way.
It seems that ‘Loud Quitting’ is having an impact, as some organisations review how they handle people and seek to improve their conduct. I can’t see it stopping any time soon, though, as each week brings another example of mass sackings and callous indifference to employees.
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Bad Moon Rising
None of this is new, of course. Dissatisfaction with corporate life has been growing for a long time now.
Although as a Boomer I got a relatively good ‘corporate contract’, it ended up being very much a mixed bag and I meet lots of people who, like me, got damaged by the corporate grind and wonder if it was such a good deal after all. We wish we’d pushed back more and not put up with so much bullshit. (It’s OK, I’m not expecting you to pass me your handkerchief here!)
Gen X, the ‘latchkey kids’, followed us into corporate life during uncertain times, valuing the stability and financial security it brought. They consciously put more emphasis on a work-life balance. However, they’ve seen their jobs become more precarious and their finances less certain, whilst being loaded with increasing demands on their time that have been hard to resist. It’s fair to say reality has fallen rather short of their expectations, and through no fault of their own. Unsurprisingly they are somewhat disenchanted.
There are plenty of Millennials in corporate roles who are wondering if they made the right choice as they find themselves in the middle management mangle, squeezed between the rollers of senior management and staff demands. All the while they are struggling to keep their heads above water, financially and emotionally, and see a future of ever-shrinking opportunities and ever-increasing demands.
The pandemic lockdown gave many of them a chance to stop, breathe and look at their lives in the round. They connected again with their values, re-evaluated their priorities, and many made changes in how they related to work and the other parts of their lives. Although they aren’t abandoning corporate life in droves (although some have), they are deciding they don’t want to climb then corporate ladder because the trade-off isn’t worth it. They are putting boundaries around work to constrain it as part of their life.
And now a large part of GenZ aren’t even entertaining the idea of a ‘corporate career’. This is a trend that is likely to be even greater in Gen Alpha. All at the time when many advanced economies are facing a declining workforce .
We’re heading for a crunch. Organisations can no longer rely on a steady stream of ‘human resources’ to be available to meet their needs, to be fed into and consumed by their business models. Without this ‘key input’, the machine can no longer function.
How are organisations responding to this existential crisis? In the usual way, by ignoring it. By making small changes, tweaks around the edges, rather than looking at fundamental change. They are rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic rather than changing course to avoid the iceberg.
It’s also remarkable that these ‘Captains of Industry’, these super-star CEOs, these champions of market forces, are suddenly unwilling to face the reality of their own credo. If the people aren’t buying what you’re offering, you have to change the offer or you go out of business. It’s simple supply and demand. Economics 101.
So they need to rethink the offer that they make to employees, particularly to Gen Z.
I don’t mean superficially. I don’t mean to up the salary, improve the benefits package, talk about ‘purpose’ and ‘the environment’ and ‘DEI’ as if you mean it, provide free yoga and chai lattes (or even avocado toasts). I mean a radically different offer.
Work should be an opportunity to grow and develop, to get new experiences, to be challenged, to develop your potential. It should be a means to a full, fulfilling and happy life. It should enrich your life, not diminish it.
If corporates were offering that (and it’s entirely within their means to do so), then they’d have plenty of people wanting to buy it.
However, if the CEO Kings keep trying to con people into serfdom, they are going to get dethroned. And maybe quite soon.
Vive le revolution!
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this or any other topic I have rambled on about. I’m interested to hear about your experience in Corporate Fantasyland and what your challenges are (especially if they are about making good trouble or getting the hell out!). Maybe I can help you figure out what to do next.
So get in touch, I’d love to hear from you
Book a call on my Calendly page
Email me at colin@colinnewlyn.com
Hi Colin, you know my story. But in support of your thesis and for your readers I was laid off in a division closure a year ago and not only have no offers, I’ve had no interviews. Just a bad employee, perhaps? A “bad employee” is not recruited by their direct manager to follow that manager in a move from one of America’s largest defense contractors to one of the world’s largest medical manufacturers, Thermo Fisher Scientific…..for 19% more money. I thought that would be the clincher to getting a new position quickly and it’s in most of my cover letters. No one gives a damn about me being that good. What’s the problem? It’s anyone’s guess…but being 61 is a big part of it. Last time I was unemployed 7 years ago I was unemployed 18 months during which time I had 23 interviews with no results. I died my hair back to pure black, had one interview and was hired.
I encourage Gen Z to steer clear of working for anyone - and the bigger the company, the less the ultimate reward. It is at best a crap shoot.