Hello from Hamburg,
Social media was abuzz when a Hamburg-based agency recently announced that it would no longer hire Generation Z interns. This well-educated generation—born between 1995 and 2010 and now entering the job market—is said to lack resilience and have unrealistic expectations: “Anyone who has to go to yoga after six hours isn’t any help to us,” the CEO is quoted as saying. Mark Zuckerberg also appeared taken aback when, during a panel discussion on Facebook’s deteriorating economic situation, a young employee asked him whether the additional days off introduced during the pandemic would still be available in 2023. The head of a management consulting firm complained that younger employees no longer want to travel to clients, reasoning that workshops can just as easily be held online.
Surveys show that Generation Z wants a clear separation between work and personal life, as well as fixed working hours, flexibility, a variety of tasks, and a sense of personal connection to their work. They’d rather be unemployed than unhappy at work. Boundless fulfillment at work and a regular end to the workday—how can those two go hand in hand?
Social and educational scientists are quick to offer their analyses. They argue that the reason for this generation’s supposedly limited ability to concentrate, lack of perseverance, and poor social skills is overprotection resulting from an overly caring upbringing. It is said that helicopter parents have turned children into people with weak personalities. “Children who never encounter obstacles don’t learn to assert themselves on their own, to weather conflicts, to cope with tension, or to deal with failure,” said social and educational researcher Klaus Hurrelmann in *Focus online*.
It’s true that “Everything, and right now” is part of everyday life for a generation that can get anything it wants from Amazon at the click of a button. Financially, well-educated young adults have never faced hardship in their lives. This generation also faces virtually unlimited opportunities and possibilities because, due to the shortage of skilled workers, it has a level of agency unlike almost any before it.
But that’s only part of the story. Because of the pandemic, this generation graduated and entered the workforce while under prolonged quarantine. Through interactions on social media platforms, they compared themselves to one another, but rarely encountered leaders in their day-to-day work with whom they could measure themselves. They perceived potential role models as constantly under pressure and at risk of burnout. Is it any wonder that young people are asking themselves: Is this how I want to live? Just as they’re about to enter the workforce, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rapidly rising prices, and the collapse of globalization as we’ve known it over the past three decades are signaling a major upheaval—one that is causing significant uncertainty not only among this generation.
I’ve been through my own learning process. In an effort to support an employee as she juggled her own high standards for her work, her role as a young mother, her partner’s expectations, and her search for fulfillment in her job, I offered her the utmost flexibility in how she structured her time and her role. It was too late when both sides realized that offering even more options to address the dilemma of choice isn’t the right approach for everyone. The effort ended in an abrupt resignation: “It’s all too demanding for me.”
It’s almost unnecessary to mention that it’s not particularly smart to lump an entire generation together. Nor is it original for an older generation to complain about the younger one; as we all know, that’s always been the case and always will be. I see the lament over this generation’s supposedly lax work ethic as a symptom of our inability to deal with uncertainty. It would be better to listen, to seek to understand, and to reduce uncertainty through clarity. For example, clearly communicating what my expectations are as an employer. Enabling personal growth while at the same time clearly stating which requests cannot be met and why. And instead of lamenting the decline of Western civilization, it helps more to see promising individuals in this generation who challenge our leadership qualities.
Recently, the *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung* asked where Generation Z’s current enthusiasm for old-school music heroes like Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull, the Rolling Stones, and Paul McCartney comes from. The answer: Anyone who’s still on stage at 70, 75, or 80 exudes a sense of indestructibility and the promise that, despite all the fragility of the world around us, life goes on. This speaks to a deep longing.
Warm regards,
Markus Baumanns
