While generations are typically marked by world events and trends, segments of generations are defined and impacted by socioeconomic events that strongly impact how a particular age group generally operates. While defining generations is a lot like defining astrology; it’s too general to be accurate. Its benefit to us, however, is to provide a tool to gauge a group of individuals and identify possible correlations.
Even before the financial crises, Millennials lacked trust in established companies and long term loyalty. They witnessed their Boomer parents work overtime at the same job for decades, coming home a little more stressed and gray every day for decades, only to lose their benefits, pensions, and even their jobs. Seeing this, many Millennials view companies and company loyalty as a means to an end, instead of a lifelong career. Many exited college during the financial crisis, carrying “a mindset of an anxiety-ridden job search… where they are forced to keep one eye open for fear of job security” (Nathan Peary, What Does Millennial Loyalty Look Like in Today’s Workplace, https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanpeart/2019/10/30/what-does-millennial-loyalty-look-like-today-in-the-workplace/?sh=56464bdb28f4). Even with this anxiety, it was found that Millennials were less likely to job-hop than Gen X (Kathryn Dill, Millennials Show Loyalty to Employers, https://www.wsj.com/articles/millennials-show-loyalty-to-employers-11582118467).
For Gen Z, they are about to graduate college in the middle of a pandemic, . Their lives upended just as they breached young adulthood. While it’s too early to know for sure, there appears to be a significant impact at the collegiate level. In a survey of 1,500 students, “13%… have delayed graduation, 40% have lost a job, internship, or job offer, and 29% expect to earn less at age 35… typically based on socioeconomic divides” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7451187/). With Millennials being impacted by two major crisis, the following generation is starting their working life following a similar setback.
How do you think Gen Z will react? Will they favor choosing to make the most of life over work and career?