I read an article recently which was a boomer giving advice to Gen Z employees, and quite frankly, it was rubbish.
Its main takeaway was to be polite, and learn how to communicate your good ideas, which isn’t bad advice, but it didn’t give the reason why. More importantly, it didn’t address the main problem as to why Gen Z have grown to become so skeptical, the erosion of trust.
Trust is a complex topic, you can read an article I have written on this here. You can’t have loyalty without trust, and unfortunately trust has been eroded over the years.
Boomers were taught loyalty not just from their parents, but also through lived experience. They went to safe schools in a closed environment, they left school and found safe jobs that gave them ongoing work security and maybe even tenure. Because of their job security they learnt to do whatever the boss the boss says without question.
But what has happened since then?
Royal Commissions
The Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Sexual Abuse (RCIRSA) showed us that all those Institutions we thought were safe, weren’t necessarily so. Statistically, the average time taken for someone to come forward to report an abuse was 22 years, but those involved in the RCIRSA experienced many instances where it could take up to 50 years for someone to come forward. There are few contributing factors for this delay but needless to say, those children who suffered abuse often didn’t even feel safe enough to tell anyone.
Corporate Mission Statements
Another royal commission, into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (RCMBSFSI) exposed a far more insidious erosion of trust that is too complex to unpack fully in this article. There are some great books available on the topic that are well worth reading[i]. One of the outcomes was a change in corporate mission statements with first priorities now being Shareholders Wealth. These mission statements hung up on walls told all employees that they were secondary. This mentality led to the next contributing factor to the erosion of trust.
The Casual Workforce
Those safe jobs available to our parents and grandparents are no longer the norm. Indeed the average number of jobs for millennials is 12. My husband has mentored a few young pilots over the years who frequently have even less job security than other careers. Long Service Leave has been reduced from 10 years to 7 years in many states, and many industries have introduced portable long service leave funds to address the increased mobility. Millennials have adapted to this new way of life by not investing into their workplace as much as previous generations, hence less loyalty.
Whistleblowers
Whistleblower policies have been around in Australia now for about 15 years. In this time, we have not only learnt that it is okay to question the boss if we think something is wrong, but it may also even be morally wrong not to do so. We know it is complex as we learn how to deal with vexatious claims from disgruntled employees, but blind loyalty is also not the answer.
Yes, Gen Z employees would do well to learn how to communicate better and learn how to be more polite, although I have been quite impressed with the communication skills of many Millennials and in my experience this advice is not just limited to them. My experience is that Millennials do seek advice, and show their appreciation as they do want to learn. We boomers also need to be better at modelling trust and teaching its benefits.
We do have to teach Gen Z how to have loyalty and trust, but we must give them reasons to do so. Skepticism and distrust are not a good recipe for success so we do need to give the next generations reason to learn how to trust again. We need to impart our collective wisdom in a way that has situational awareness and empathy.
Loyalty has to be earned; platitudes and preachiness will not cut it and will only succeed in turning others away.
[i] Three books I found worthwhile are:
Ferguson A 2019, Banking Bad, Harper Collins, Sydney
Kohler A 2019, It’s Your Money: How Banking Went Rogue, Where it is Now and how to Protect and Grow Your Money, Nero, Carlton.
Ziffer D 2019, A Wunch of Bankers: A Year in the Hayne Royal Commission, Scribe, Melbourne.
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