As a Gen Z I can vouch for this statement. There are so many times where I just look at what alot of my peers spend their time doing and I think I'm so out of place...Where is the work ethic?? the desire to improve.
However I can also say that there are always some good apples in the midst of the bad ones and that we aren't all that bad!
People want to do meaningful work and improve their skills and lives.
However, incentives are not lined up to promote and reward this for quite a lot of people. Workers look around and see that working harder just means you get more work and maybe a pizza party. Raises don't beat inflation or are non-existent. They might be scheduled or classified in a way that makes them ineligible for health insurance. Pensions don't exist and "the market" ruined plenty of people's paths to retirement. Their free time is disrespected with inconsistent and last minute scheduling or with on-call duty. Their leaders can decide that inflation is caused by high salaries with layoffs as the solution and their employer obliges. They can work full time and still be in precarious positions when it comes to basic necessities like housing and healthcare.
I stopped at a McDonald's to use their WiFi and a group of high school kids were there, and I overheard a girl get very upset because her mom was laid off from the job she worked at since the girl was born, and can't retire, keep her health insurance or home. She was crying for her mom and herself. She yelled about how her mom worked crazy hours and put up with abuse. Then she said something to the tune of, "what's the point of giving yourself to your job if you will just be thrown out like that?" This was in a middle/upper middle class neighborhood.
Screw work ethic. We could all reap the benefits of AI by working a day less but instead it’s gonna get given to the machine owners who just lay everyone off and have them fight down to the bottom
They wisely took a look at us millennials, who worked ourselves to the bone and all we got was bony fingers, and decided they didn't want any of that shit. Good for them, honestly.
Something that I have thought is that gen z may be just like every generation except we know way too much. The same trend of a few winners that worked hard, a few lucky, and then a sea of misery.
I've found a few crazy hard working gen z, and im happy to be mentoring g one.
In 20-30 years when Gen Z is the backbone of the working economy, what is it supposed to look like? Will there be doctors and lawyers? Specialist engineers and experts in various fields? Somebody needs to be working and learning now to have the experience and knowledge then. Not everyone in a generation can sit back and say “nope”, and those who don’t will be the new task masters/managers/CEOs. The vacuum will be filled by someone.
To be honest alot of my reply was directed at the first part of it, but to answer the second part....unfortunately I don't think you'll see that 'apathy' towards issues that the Gen X / Millenials were fighting for. If anything, my generation finds new ways to get hurt about things that actually make us stronger as working career driven individuals. People want remote work, but also benefits, but competitive pay, and the list goes on
I'm sorry, are you saying that it's UNFORTUNATE that the younger generation won't be apathetic to workers' rights issues? Is that your actual position or did you just double-negative yourself by accident?
