Dear Boomers, get ready for us zoomers in the workforce
Dear Boomers, get ready for us zoomers in the workforce
From the old and gold to the strong shoulders that carry the corporate world: it is time you support your rickety knees and let live the zoomers who bend at your will.
The supplement-popping generation can only carry so much weight.
You are responsible for guiding the "soulful" feet of generation Z that will begrudgingly take your corporate world into the future.
I'm 21, shamelessly born in 2001 and seemingly one of the few of us young ones in corporate, proud of my generation and our beliefs.
Honestly, what is there to be ashamed of?
That we value work-life balance? That we prioritize mental health over deadlines? Or that we rarely conform to ancient, regressive work culture?I may be passionately defensive, but it is only because of the current atmosphere of mudslinging at my generation, highlighting our "laziness". I'll stand by our nature to relax any day of the week - especially on a Monday.
The current trends in the workforce show that many young graduates delay stepping into the professional world for as long as possible. I have friends who take additional years at university so they can comfortably avoid getting a job, but that isn't a comfort available to many South African youths. Getting a job isn't a choice in our economy. It's a necessity.
By the grace of God, if you can meet this necessity, then getting a job as a graduate is, in fact, a luxury.
But here I am, as a youth of South Africa, employed and in my field of study - and I'm not even a graduate yet.
Why do we, the 'social' generation, dread corporate?
The rising development of new earning avenues is more appealing than traditional industry methods.E.g. investing money into images (NFTs) instead of stocks or turning video-gaming tournaments into a bigger spectacle with more considerable hype than the Olympics; these examples show that our generation's branding is "innovation": creating our path where there is none where the conditions aren't favourable enough to tread, where the support is few, leadership even fewer and where the realists are non-existent.
We're idealistic and strive to break barriers of conformity. We're the first generation born into technology.
As a result of our starkly different configuration, compared to the work culture of yesteryear, we find corporations unwelcoming and hell-bent on sending us rejection letters.
Regardless, the world must go on.
Soon, the over 60's executives will retire, and the baton will have to be passed.
And institutions of business must continue. No matter how untrusting and reluctant the bosses of today are, we have to trust in the law of nature: there is most certainly a need for younger people in the workplace- to be ahead of the trend and create opportunities today. Be a starter instead of a follower.
Accensis proved their initiative by being one of a handful of Durban firms offering a 5-year training programme for students looking to qualify as Chartered Accountants - A programme for which I am grateful.
Generation Z will inevitably make their entrance into corporate.
So let's make it as trauma-free and seamless as possible. I've been fortunate to have found a firm that is steadfast in its digitalization and more open to change and evolution. Every day, there is a new and more technologically efficient way to do things. Even more encouraging is the number of younger individuals in leadership roles.
Our generations differ significantly, and the differences are the essence of evolution … so welcome us. Welcome our differences in opinion and our overpowering spirit.
Don't shun us from your ways and think of us as incapable of adapting.
Let us be the electrolytes that help you reimagine your tomorrow, and we will let you stabilize the eccentricities that hinder our today.