What we can learn from Gen Z

About mental health, motivation and the future of work

Drawing by Tineke Tammes

‘Gen Z are different!’, is what he said. ‘All this touchy-feely stuff, it’s got out of hand. We still need to get the work done!’

I had to reflect on that for a little while.

You see, I have a Gen Z son. Early twenties. Making his hesitant first steps into the working world. Working hard on his Masters at the moment, which he needs to progress (or even properly start) his chosen career. Lots of friends.

So I was grappling a bit with that ‘Gen Z are different’ comment. What should I feel about that?

Should I feel partly responsible for having raised a - responsible, hard-working, level-headed, sensitive and thoughtful - Gen Z kid (sorry - man)?

Should I feel suitably enraged, like the person I was speaking to?

Should I shake my head at the entitlement of taking ‘mental health’ days and the propensity to talk about feelings more openly?

Should I get resentful because Gen X just got on with it and tried to fit into a system that was built for earlier generations? Yes, sometimes (often) at the expense of our time, our family life and our (mental) health?

But then I thought, no. Maybe there is stuff we can learn from this generation.

So that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today.

What we can learn from Gen Z

Gen X vs Gen Z - where we’re finding ourselves

I grew up in the 80s. Went to university at the end of the 80s. I had a generous monthly study allowance and even a free public transport pass. I came out of university with no student debt whatsoever.

Whilst jobs were hard to come by, eventually I found myself a job and started my career from there. Houses, whilst expensive, were still affordable, even for a single-person household. OK, yes, the 80s was full of the threat of nuclear weapons and the ‘cold war’, but by the early 90s that had all changed. Climate change - in my memory - didn’t go any further than having ‘acid rain’ (what happened to that?) and fridges with nasty stuff in the back.

Compare that with people now: a giant student loan (my son calls it a ‘graduate tax’), a fraught job market, with AI taking (especially) starter jobs, little or no prospect of buying a house, inequality and war, a world in crisis, microplastics, climate change.

And then there was the pandemic. Kids at home. Lots of them affected by the lack of relationships outside the home. Lots of them suffering with mental health issues, and not getting the help they needed (or need). Lots of them not returning to school. These are the same kids that now enter the labour market.

The other day I read an article that said that what makes Gen Z different from earlier generations is this: Hope.

And I believe this to be true.

My generation grew up in the belief that - if you worked hard enough - you would be rewarded with a good life, a house, relative prosperity. We bought into that. We grew up in that system.

That hope, that expectation, is no longer there. That carrot is no longer being dangled in front of the Gen Z generation. They’ve seen through it.

Which means a lot for how we move forward. Which gives us a LOT to think about.

Motivation

First of all, motivation. How do you motivate people if you can’t promise them anything? If your promises have been proven to be empty?

Daniel Pink’s theory of motivation is that there are three things that innately motivate people: Autonomy - to be self-directed, Mastery - to improve your skills, and Purpose - to contribute to something larger than yourself.

NOT a (as we now know, largely empty) promise of ‘if you do this, you’ll get that’. (If you work here you get a great pension at the end. If you work long and hard you’ll be able to move up in your career and buy an even bigger house).

So, if this is the case, how could we look at that for ourselves?

How much autonomy, mastery and purpose do you have in your work? If you had to score each element on a 1 to 5 scale, what would your scores be? Irrespective of the house, another car, a pension?

And for your Gen Z people at work, if the ‘if you do this, you’ll get that’ promise no longer works, how will you motivate them?

Mental health

Then there’s mental health.

I’ve often thought this: that there is no distinction - or there shouldn’t be - between mental health and physical health. They’re intrinsically linked. Your brain is an organ, just like your lungs and liver are. If your physical health is impaired, your mental health can be affected too. Similarly, if your mental health is suffering, this has an impact on your physical health.

Bessel van der Kolk’s book ‘The body keeps the score’ on top of that adds something that seems so obvious it shouldn’t need saying: your environment affects your mental health too. What happens around you affects you mentally. Of course it does.

So, in such an interconnected world, with so many influences and information and (bad) news at your fingertips, the need to look after our mental health has never been bigger.

And rightly so!

Gen Z knows this better than anyone. And for our generation? I feel a bit - I don’t know - betrayed? Because what we’re seeing (well, I am), is that we’ve been taught to buy into a system that’s not good for us. A system that is inflexible, that is not always accommodating human needs (and that’s putting it mildly), a system that thinks of people as ‘resources’. A system that is spiralling ever faster, ever more productive, ever more, ever bigger … to what?

We’re still buying into that. Because we have to. Because - at this moment in time - there is no believable alternative being offered (or heard).

The future of work

Which leads us nicely into the topic of the future of work.

And - spoiler alert - I don’t think I have a clear answer for this particular topic.

What I’m seeing is this: a transition phase. And Gen Z are the first generation that openly states that work isn’t working. Gen Z are the first generation that openly choose themselves first. Good for them!

We’re in a transition phase.

From a capitalist system, where people are ‘resources’, but that has also given the world a lot of prosperity, improved health and - yes - inequality.

Staunchly defended by people who have benefited and are benefiting from this system. People with power. People with wealth. Their followers.

To what this transition will lead? I don’t think we know. Not yet. Not to its full extent.

What I can see is:

• A move to AI, and whatever the follow-up intelligence is for that, where technology (currently) runs ahead of vision and policy-making and regulation

• Jobs disappearing - and appearing? - quicker than ever, with people needing to adapt to change and learn new skills ever faster

• Less reliance on the one job. People have learned - sometimes the hard way - that working for one employer is like putting all your eggs in one basket and are creating portfolio careers and additional sources of income to lessen the blows of redundancy and lay-offs.

• Creativity, collaboration and care becoming the remit for humans, as more process-focused tasks will increasingly be automated and done by AI

• The importance of emotional intelligence and self-awareness for leadership and collaboration

Relationships

And finally this: relationships.

I see it - not just in myself - but in others of my generation too: the focus on getting stuff done, on productivity.

As part of my Career Freedom programme I speak to you about networking as a means of creating a pivot in your career. Sometimes we find that your network has shrunk to the immediate people you need to do your work. You don’t have time to think beyond your immediate team, organisation or industry. Which can cause nervousness when you want to change careers and expand your horizons beyond where you are now.

But - now more than ever - it is important to become intentional about the people you need and want around you. Not just professionally, but personally as well.

Because, in the end, it’s not about how many hours you spent in the office or at work, that matters. No, it’s the quality of the relationships and the people you surround yourself with that matter.

It’s interesting times, with multiple forces at work. We have a LOT to thank Gen Z for: for being so open, for showing us what’s important and for making us think about what we want the future to look like.

Is it going to be painless or easy? Like any transition, probably not.

Should we dismiss Gen Z as ‘problematic’? If my son and his friends are anything to go by, most definitely not.

Should we stop and think about ourselves, about what WE want and how we can motivate and support others? Yes, definitely.

Should we start looking ahead and think about what the world of work COULD look like? How we’d LIKE it to be? How we can shape and influence it? With empathy, emotional intelligence and the right structures in place to support not just us, but future generations? I’d like us to do that, yes.

But how about you? What do you say? What have YOU learned - so far - from Gen Z? If you were to design work from scratch, what would that look like for you?

Tineke X

🔴🟡🟠

Tineke Tammes is a Career Coach and supports professional women in making successful career transitions. Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, obsessive doodler and supporter of senior leaders in their career journey.

Sign up to the newsletter and get it delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Signed up but now considering the paid subscription? Go here to find out how. And thank you!

Already signed up? Why not share the newsletter with your friends?