My dad worked for the same company almost my whole life until he retired. Yes, he was actually able to retire – even though he was always an hourly, blue-collar, employee – because he is a Boomer. […]
As a burnt-out Gen Xer, I got the message: Show loyalty to work and you’ll be rewarded for it. That was a scam and I’m glad Gen Z realizes it.
Yep, we got played.
I worked and didn’t protect my time at all, which I started thinking about when I read Toni Crowe’s excellent piece, Companies Are Having a Hella Time Getting Younger Generations to Work Unpaid Overtime.
She notes that Millennials and Gen Z employees refuse to make themselves available to their employers during their time off, and I’ve noticed the same thing. The work ethic of the younger generation is markedly different from what I’ve seen.
Younger generations protect their time and deprioritise loyalty to a specific employer far better than Gen X did and good for them.
Boomers would do anything for their work and our Gen X generation blindly followed their examples. We thought we’d also be appreciated, but we were not. Many people in my generation know what it’s like to perform thousands of hours of unpaid work and then be kicked to the curb anyway.”
So much for being rewarded for loyalty.
[…] Because here’s the scam: So many Gen X workers went all-in on work, were loyal to their employers and never reaped any benefits from it.
[…] In retrospect, it bothers me that I gave so much of myself away and I’m glad Gen-Z is devaluing employer loyalty and enforcing stronger boundaries around work-life balance.
Maybe Gen Z isn’t as lazy as everyone reckons. They’ve just learnt from watching us Gen Xers and said, ‘Yeah, we’re not doing that.’
Employers can’t have it both ways. Either employees are valued and will reap the rewards of all their work and sacrifice, or they’ll face employees who feel zero loyalty and won’t do anything more than the duties they are explicitly paid to perform.
I can’t say I blame them. You want me to work overtime: pay me. If you want me to sacrifice my Saturday to do some team-bonding exercise, either make it a work day or go fuck yourself. And just because I’m on a salary, doesn’t mean I have to work extra hours, come in early and work late.
My generation of chumps was screwed and I’m still plenty irked and bitter. Generation Alpha, I hope you’re paying attention.
Us Gen Xers got played. As for Gen Z, it looks like they’ve learnt what we should have. And every time they get called lazy, especially from Boomers who have never known what it is like to have to go from one job to another, or God forbid actually apply for job after job, I hope they continue to tell them where to go.
