The question may be allowed as to whether the work-life balance ideology really fits into a society.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf Rarely does it contribute to understanding between the generations when older people tell younger people how to work, live and think. This is especially true when the elderly are people who have experienced decades of increased wealth that the younger generation will most likely not have.
In this respect, it is not only tasteless, but cynical when Thomas de Maizière, an older, conservative gentleman of 69 years, accuses “Generation Z” of drinking champagne rather than working. He asks 20 to 30-year-olds to please do something for society instead of making demands.
So there are good reasons for the representatives of the younger generation to get upset about this, as my colleague Roman Winkelhahn did meritoriously, eloquently, but not without humor at this point on Monday.
Because it is the growing generation that will feel the consequences of climate change for which the older generation is responsible with their claim to prosperity. It is the growing generation that has to finance the retirement of more pensioners than ever before with their income from work, without having the prospect of a comparably high pension themselves.
And it is the rising generation that has lost formative years of their youth because they were more or less locked away because of a virus to protect older people in particular from infection.
Communication fails
On top of that, the youth’s solidarity contribution also included scandalously bad homeschooling.
In the Corona crisis, the rising generation lost formative years of their youth.
(Photo: imago images/Cavan Images)
There is never a reason for self-righteous lectures from old to young, here they are completely out of place – regardless of the fact that the supposed dividing lines between the generations are mainly serving clichés anyway. Clichés that ultimately lead to speechlessness between old and young. Communication is then often limited to helpless and sometimes absurd climate-glue campaigns, which the chancellor then trivializes as “crazy”.
In order to overcome the speechlessness, it might be advisable to formulate the right questions instead of wagging your fingers like de Maizière. For example, the question of whether necessary change can be better organized by decisive positions within the system than from outside with radical actions, as representatives of the “last generation” seem to be striving for, at least in part.
Is the work-life balance still relevant?
The question may also be asked as to whether the work-life balance ideology really fits into a society that is already suffering from an acute shortage of workers and will suffer much more. The number of workers and hours is still the decisive growth factor for an economy in the long term.
>> Read here: Generation Z – wanted and found the enemy
Since computerization, we have been waiting in vain for a leap in productivity through technology that could make up for such a development and that John Maynard Keynes dreamed of. And if so, then you first have to work for this progress. It cannot be assumed that he materialized out of the sabbatical.
Does the work-life balance ideology still fit in a society that suffers from a labor shortage?
(Photo: IMAGO / Shotshop)
The youthful certainty that the labor market will scramble for Gen Z simply because of the acute shortage may be understandable. But nothing is guaranteed here either, because the demand on the labor market ultimately also depends on the performance and the number of prospering companies.
“From internship to sabbatical attitude” is just as unhelpful here as “burn-out after starting a career”. As is so often the case, the argument between the generations is about the middle and the middle: many companies no longer want streamlined young professionals with a Harvard degree and a 24/7 mentality. However, neither do companies (like their colleagues) appreciate the spoiled long-term dropout with a revolutionary attitude.
The legitimate concerns of Gen Z – such as their right to ecological sustainability and intergenerational justice – can best be realized if one acts professionally from the decisive points of the existing system. This is rarely the beach bar.
More: Generation Z – wanted and found the enemy