I read a piece off Fortune magazine, which is often chatty about employment in American and trends in business.
So the topic was....Generation Z folks (born 1996 to 2010) are slow to return to the office (mandating they want home-office) and are 'defying' orders to return to the traditional office.
I would agree....in some cases, people are currently willing to quit a company over this issue.
What'll happen is my question.
I believe eventually....companies will let the Gen-Z folks know that they can play out this 'stay-home' game but there's some pay scale change, where you accept a 20-percent less pay deal....which triggers most of the Gen-Z crowd to quit. As the 'herd' goes to search out new jobs.....companies will hold a line and Gen-Z folks will be forced to compromise....taking a $5k to $8k pay-cut if they consider home-office so important.
Here's the thing....they are fixated on avoiding difficult people....from their peers, to the bosses. After almost four years of this in the Covid-era....they believe they can play this out for the remainder of their life.
But I look at this and wonder...if you were born in 1996, you've got to play this until 2061 (fairly long time away), and avoiding difficult people just isn't going to be possible for that amount of time.
I don't think there's been a phobia word designed for this Gen-Z problem....but eventually, some medical folks will have to create one, and then design a 'rehab' for these people.
Kinda funny how business operations now have to deal with this stupid problem, if you think about it.
It’s not just Gen Z. There are a lot of folks out there who figured out during the pandemic how much money, time and effort they had had been spending on commuting to and from an office and really valued getting that extra time and money back for themselves. Now they’re getting told they need to go back to an office for what they see as no good reason and they’re pushing back.
ReplyDeleteAt some point in 2010, while still working in the DC area...I came to associate with a guy who had around eight more years left before retirement. He and his wife had been long-time Virginia residents and reached a serious level of negativity about the state, it's economics, and political bickering....so they left for rural West Virginia, and he was in the mindset to drive roughly 80 minutes each way.....day in and day out.
ReplyDeleteThis mindset has probably over the past two decades across the US...doubled. As long as gas is priced at X....people are willing to give up five to seven additional hours each week, to live in 'peace'.
Yeah, it is part of this problem and getting people to a home-office mentality.