For the Boomer generation and much of the Millennial generation, work was understood as a good in itself. There were ideological differences in the material conditions between workers, but they existed within an overarching and shared ideology that understood work as a source of identity and social recognition. Thus, the work was characterized by good and honest workers who, by extension, were considered good and honest citizens. Even good and honest fathers and mothers, purely analogue. An identity that the employee also consciously felt and internalized. But the Zetas, children of the Boomers, have arrived., and they have proven to be an anti-work generation. Moral: Their mothers and fathers must have done something right.
Young people no longer build their identity through work, either to themselves or to others. And how does that change things? Well, basically in everything, starting with the language. So when a Zeta talks about his company, he doesn’t use the first person plural. He doesn’t say “the year went well” or “it looks like we’re going to have a good quarter” as if he owns shares in a company where he lacks decision-making authority. They have learned to speak in the first person singular because two things are very clear to them: that the companies that hire them do not belong to them and that their lives do not belong to any company. They are no worse workers than their parents, but their loyalty is significantly lower. This leads, among other things, to them leaving the workplace earlier and looking for less demanding and more forgiving jobs.
The bad news is that the discourse about this generational advancement is monopolized by a reactionary ideology that either criticizes young people for being lazy or regrets their lack of professional horizons and attributes any change in mentality to job insecurity, emphasizing that this is how it was in the past better. Especially the one based on the logic of work-apartment-couple-children-sacrifice-funeral. But they are not right: neither those who limit themselves to appealing to the lack of horizon, nor those who accuse us of a certain lack of character.
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That precarity is not the cause of this identity shift becomes clear when it turns out that the highest-earning young professionals have also changed their priorities. New workers appreciate making more money, but not at any price. Telecommuting, flexibility, professional development and mental well-being are aspects that are valued just as much as salary. In fact, demands on the quality of work are increasing among the best paid and not the other way around.
As far as character goes, it’s not true that the Zetas are soft or lazy. It’s just that they received a different education, the one that most of their parents approved of. Today’s young people grew up with good material conditions (which some denounce with the accusation of “having everything”) and an excellent education. At their age, they have traveled more than their parents, speak more languages, have greater sexual freedom, enjoyed a more respected childhood and had more opportunities. Above all, most people were taught that life is about living and not about proving supposed worth. That they didn’t have to prove anything to be worthy of love. Now all that’s left is to shout: Blessed Boomers! Furthermore, as Juan Luis Arsuaga said – who is hardly suspected of being a Zeta, lazy or precarious – “life cannot consist of working all week and going to the supermarket on Saturday.”
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