How do you solve a problem like generation instability?

The modern working world might be as confusing to retired generations as roll-down windows and the innovative thrill of fax machines are to today’s employees. Long-gone are the days when a degree and a firm handshake could secure most people a job for life, or when decades of loyalty to one company came with a steady promotion plan and ended with a gold watch and an Artful Dodger-esque heel-kick into the retirement sunset at 50.

This might be a glorified view of the past (which certainly had its own issues), but to many of the newer working-age generation, some trade-offs for today’s working life can seem a bit like a Faustian bargain. Despite advanced opportunities, converging economic and social events have left the job market in a state upheaval, with many industries and organisations saturated or skill deficient and more fragile and unpredictable; while employers and employees struggle to remember what certainty ever felt like.

The debate has also re-ignited recently around increasing the retirement age, this time to 71 (even though studies show we live longer but not healthier) – yet another moving target to jarr those facing another 30-50 years of fiscal endurance in a working world where instability and redundancies beget change at the rate of fast fashion.

Lost generations 

Elder millenials are often also referred to as the ’lost generation’. However, anyone of current working age might identify with that term. A great deal of thought is given to what makes the latest working generations tick (currently GenZ): but psyche is formed by environment and experience, which includes unprecedented social and economic upheaval. A generation’s psyche and how stable they imagine their future, influences the type of employees they become.

It’s worth noting that most of today’s workers were sold the idea that achievable progress was available through avenues that are now out-of-date – according to a Stylist study 75% of women across the UK expected to be financially comfortable by this point in their lives, yet only 22% are. 69% expected to have a job they love and only 28% do. Brexit, job automation, inflation, house prices, COVID and university costs, to name a few offenders, have shuttered visions of a financially viable job and future, leaving many with a broken career compass.

Even embryonic workforces are disenchanted. From 1,001 British 4–17-year-olds recently surveyed by YouGov for the children’s charity Barnardo’s, 55% said their generation will have a worse life than their parents. Another 34% thought the next generation’s lives would not be any better, citing money, jobs, and the climate crisis, revealing the impact of some generational shifts and advancements on actual life quality perceptions.

The pendulum of opportunity and struggle

Owning your own home was once possible for a single teacher’s salary in London, where this is now untenable for most workers (without generational wealth). Hard work and an average wage once meant being able to support a home and family. This can no longer be guaranteed in many skilled / degree necessary, professions. 

The rising cost of living creates further urgency to earn more, as companies struggle to meet higher pay demands. It means job-hopping and multiple gigs are now more acceptable, but also more common than climbing one company’s career ladder. 

More opportunities exist too in that diversity and inclusion policies aim to create a more accessible, innovative, and equitable workforce. Yet, many organisations lack a true understanding of its purpose, resorting to arbitrary box ticking, which causes resentment and other unfair disadvantages. Technology has enabled remote and flexible working, simplified processes, and given access to careers, but also blurred work-life boundaries harmfully, creating an ‘always on’ mentality. AI has the potential to improve some working conditions but could devalue human skills, creating a nervousness around whole professions. 

The culture of work has progressed positively in many ways, but instability is gaining momentum on one side, while progress gains higher ground on the other. It’s the strengthening pendulum swing between advancements and negative outliers that’s challenging.

Balancing ambition, flexibility, fulfilment and stability

Until the perfect balance is struck for achieving optimum psychological safety in this environment, mental health will take precedence – either because the way we work today has compromised our mental well-being, or because maintaining good mental health is now seen as more important than potential financial gains or a better life from overworking. (Burning out is a more certain outcome than earning more money.) People are living and working longer (waiting longer for their pensions) so want careers that are not only financially sustainable but also fulfilling.

The outcome is that modern career paths, rather than sticking to one job function, are often fluid and varied as they incorporate better personal development over dedication to companies, helping to equip against a fluctuating job market, economy, and organisational stability. The modern career is being reimagined constantly in terms of how it works day-to-day and how it looks on paper. Organisations can be a stabilising force in this dizzying environment in a number of ways, and primarily by shifting mindset. Some of these include:

• Counteracting information overwhelm: Foster psychological safety through consistent, simple, and transparent communication.

• Avoiding antiquated ideas and processes for achieving productivity: Equip senior staff with training to filter into management practices.
  
  
• Navigating innovative developments: Incorporate organisational-wide training and clear company policies around AI and new technology.
  
  
• Shifting mindsets around modern careers at recruitment level: Consider skills assessments over CVs, apprenticeships as well as degrees, increase part-time job opportunities, back-to-work plans and opening roles and opportunities to career-changers of all ages.
  
  
• Expanding career check points: Facilitate mentorship for stabilising guidance, foster personally tailored career trajectories that respond to change. 
  
  
• When over where: Reconsider presenteeism ideals to maximise workforce diversity and inclusion.
  
  
• Work-life balance: Offer financial planning support and education that also responds to economic events and prioritise mental health and disconnection from work. 
  
  

While the current working reality collapses the classic career model and renders company loyalty a thing of the past, it presents an opportunity for organisations who are willing to embrace a more multidimensional approach and mark themselves out as agile adaptors. Organisations shifting to this opportunity-focused mindset will propel career growth, fulfilment, and retain the best talent, even in a turbulent world.