It was under the surface in my ‘return to office’ debate with Kyriaki and Sylvain. The two Generation X’ers preferring face-to-face interaction, whilst the millennial was comfortable communicating through the screen.
After we reach consensus on how often office workers should endure the commute, I believe inter-generational debates will intensify. They won’t be about whether the camera should be on or off during a Zoom call, they will be about the hours and tasks that people are prepared to do.
A Generation X’er, I began work as the millennium started with a final salary pension scheme. I saw Baby Boomer retirees disappear over the horizon with a carriage clock on the passenger seat of their new Porsche. I started at the bottom, doing my turn of the grunt work knowing that the returns would come.
But after 25 years of work, many Gen X’ers can’t see financial security this side of the horizon. The final salary pension schemes have been closed. Huge mortgages are the reward for getting on the housing ladder, with University fees for children preventing over-payments.
Many Gen X’ers see more than two decades of slog before reaching a retirement age that keeps increasing. If we’ve worked hard and not yet got our rewards, why should the next generations get to skip those rites of passage? Especially Gen Z who are entitled and afraid of hard work.
But Gen Z see older generations burning-out from unrewarding work. They have only seen layoffs from down-sizing and restructuring from companies in the last 20 years, never employee loyalty. Pension schemes are starting to look more like Ponzi schemes than good investments. And you can forget about buying a house. Especially in Luxembourg.
Faced with the prospect of never retiring, doesn’t it make sense to only do the most rewarding work and have time off for the things that bring you joy? That’s not entitlement; it’s common sense.
So there you have it, just as I claimed that a bigger argument is brewing, I’ve concluded that Gen Z have it right. Case closed.
Or maybe not... Because if Gen Z become too picky and only work the hours when and where they want, their high-paid knowledge work will be lost to China.
What does their future look like then? Careers in farming and agriculture with no prospect of retirement? That prospect would motivate me to break out the laptop and do the team’s admin. I don’t think the case is closing, the argument may just be starting...
