“They don’t want to work for it.”
I was attending an event recently and when the person seated next to me asked about my line of work, the immediate response was: “Young people are so different today. They don’t want to work for it.”
It’s not the first time I’ve heard this phrase, and it’s always muttered with a tone of significant disdain. What’s the ‘it’? Accolades, seniority, power.
Perhaps young people don’t aspire to work for these things, but whether they do or don’t isn’t really the point. The bigger issue is that statements like this are a form of age discrimination.
Whenever we make blanket assumptions about groups of people or perceive them to have a common character trait which we consider negative or ‘bad’, this is stereotyping and it leads to discrimination.
A recent instance of this occurred when JD Vance, the Republican nominee for Vice President, referred to Democrats as “childless cat ladies” and people who are “anti-family.” These types of comments – whether about gender, race, religion or political party – are wildly inappropriate and usually stir up considerable controversy and backlash.
But age discrimination typically evokes a much different response because age discrimination is the last accepted form of discrimination in our society.
Think about it. We nary bat an eyelash when people make rude or inappropriate comments about young people. I’ve heard it all and so have you.
‘Young people today are entitled. Lazy. Rude. Inept. Difficult.’
These types of statements are considered perfectly acceptable, even welcomed and warranted, and it has to stop. The damage we are doing in our organizations and to individuals is considerable.
XYZ University is currently working with a professional association which represents a profession renowned for age discrimination and the bullying of young professionals.
For decades this was the norm, but the community has begun to realize how truly terrible this tradition is – largely because young professionals are leaving the profession in droves, unwilling to accept this toxic treatment as status quo. As a result, the association is working with XYZ University to create large-scale change and establish communities of belonging, respect, care, and inclusion.
The fact is, society has shifted and organizations and leaders are being called to reconsider their
strategies and practices and question whether they are built upon the ideals of today, or the traditions and expectations of the past. For the first time in history, we’re learning how to teambuild and community-build across generations and co-create a different – better – future together.
The magnitude of this challenge should not be underestimated.
For centuries young people were to be seen and not heard. For centuries society held beliefs and put systems into place to prohibit young people from having any real influence or power. We said things like “pay your dues”, “work your way up the ladder”, “you’re too young to know anything”, and “wait your turn”.
But that was then, and this is now.
Today, like it or not, young people do have influence, their choice of jobs, and a desire to align themselves with something more than a paycheck.
Today, young people aren’t going to work for ‘it’ if ‘it’ represents anything discriminatory, slanderous, unjust, or unfair.
So before you criticize and dismiss young people for not being willing to ‘work for it’, you may first want to consider if any of ‘it’ is really worth working for.
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