Generation Y, refers to people born during the 1980s and early 1990s. The name is based on Generation X, the generation that preceded them. And now we have Gen Z these are people born between 1997 and 2012. So as of 2023, the Gen Z age range is anywhere from 11 to 26. They are commonly referred to as the first fully “digitally native” generation. But, why are these generations often misunderstood? To a point that this generation gets called names like "The lost Generation" as one politician, (The former Democratic Alliance Leader, Mmusi Maimane) in South African parliament once named them.
They are misunderstood because they always ask the question WHY? Many a times they are seen to be arrogant, inconsistent, unreliable and half hearted people. Who only want a flashy life and instant gratification.
And the most unfortunate of all this misunderstanding is that, this attitude also affects their relationship with employers in the workplace, therefore, affecting their longevity in a particular company. But, why is it like this? It is because these generations always believes:- There is a better way & they try to find it. Whilst the traditional set up believes:- Why change something that is working?
A large part of what sets these generation apart from other earlier generations is that, they have what is called the entrepreneurial mind set. Meaning, they are: passionate, energetic, risk takers, determined, flexible, and optimistic. They are well informed for the most part, they consistently question the status quo. And many at times create their own destiny, not waiting for a particular system to define their future. We may refer to a few years back, taking the South African example in the higher education debacle that sparked the global #FeesMustFall trend on the X (formerly known as Twitter).
Perhaps the biggest question is, can business, political and social structures use the positive energy found in these generations positively? The most probable answer from those closest to their hierarchical structures of their organization, their obvious answer will be Yes. However, the statistics and the individual on the ground will have a different response. Because, the current reality is that more young people are either not included / participating in the mainstream economy. The rising youth unemployment figures is evidence of this reality, showing that 2022 was 29.81%, a 1.04% increase from 2021. South Africa unemployment rate for 2021 was 28.77%, a 4.43% increase from 2020.
What is evidently continuing to increase is more entrepreneur forums, conferences and programs; but, sad to say, that the results are either very slow or not impactful enough to translate to tangible and measurable results that impact the economy positively.
A few of this youth that manage to make it in the entrepreneur or business arena; are either a start up and remain in that phase for longer, and more often than not the business dies a few years later; or, those that stay active continue to make a very small turnover that often does not make much of a significant impact, at most employing maybe 3-6 people in their company.
Maybe to tackle this issue better we must start at the grass roots; from our society, to education system and to corporate. In South Africa, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research highlights that negative perceptions towards entrepreneurship as a career option are rife. With families and friends considering it to be low status or not socially accepted. in our education system, most of the programs do not have a course that teaches entrepreneurship. Whilst in the corporate, innovative thinking and risk taking is not popular, nor embraced. Decisions and ideas are always from top down, and never bottom up.
Will there ever be a solution to bridging this generational gap?
No comments:
Post a Comment