Recycled Bullsh-IT

In the news this week it is reported that about a third of people earn money outside their day job from content creation, eCommerce or trading. For Generation Z, about 70% of them admit to having a second job. For those control freaks who used to insist that everyone should work in company offices, and that working from home would be abused by the work-shy shysters we all are, this provides proof for their paranoia. But before we believe this blatant baloney, let’s step back and consider what is really happening in the marketplace and with people’s lives.

A Design for Life

Back in the day, we Boomers and Gen X expected to leave education and start a career, spend forty-odd years slaving away doing the same thing, then retire on a fat pension until we died from alcohol poisoning, a heart attack or boredom.  Prestigious professions such as law, medicine and accountancy were seen as the pinnacle of career aspirations. Actual useful jobs, such as commerce, IT or manufacturing, were deemed suitable repositories for the less gifted to keep them off the streets.

Pretty Vacant

Fast forward to today. Many Gen Z & Millennial folk will struggle to recognise a career as something you do all your life, particularly whilst at a single company. Whereas we older folk averaged 5-10 years in each job, Millennials struggle to stay put for 3 years, and Gen Zs are down to about 2 years per job. You’re not going to amass a lot of loyalty points with your employers if you’re hardly there for more than one crappy Christmas party. Obviously, the shorter tenure is due both to companies chopping and changing their staff, and to many younger people demanding a better work/life/worry balance so they can focus on their main priorities of saving the Earth, fixing historical wrongs and moving us all to a plant-based diet.

I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself

With the added employment disruption over the last couple of years, and with more of us working from home, it should be no surprise that attitudes to work are changing. Why slog our guts out, doing unpaid overtime, while our manglers get the glory? So, what does our portfolio future look like now:

• I Me Mine: Our career is centred on us not our employers. We define what we do, to which the company needs to agree, or we’ll take our talents elsewhere. Note that if you’re not talented this only works in marketing
• The One and Only: We are selling ourselves as a brand that can service multiple channels. If your company is lucky, you could be one of those outlets
• 5,6,7,8: Who wants to be doing one boring job all week, when we could be working on lots of interesting stuff in different projects for different clients
• Money, Money, Money: We’re now in mercenary mode. You want some of my time? You pay for it. No freebies, no extras, no hassle
• Beat the Clock: We’re not interested in working 9 to 5 (or 8 to 6 as we used to have to work). We’ll fit you in between our wellbeing sessions and digital detox retreats. DON’T call us: we’ll message you when we’re ready
• Do Anything You Wanna Do: We can code, compile, compose, control, construct, conceive, and commercialise a considerable collection of creations using our clever competencies and capabilities. Just tell us what you want, and we’ll give you a price

For many people who go down this route, the ability to just say no to tasks they’d rather not do takes a lot of the stress out of their lives. Of course, saying no to everything makes it slightly more difficult to pay our crippling rent or buy our avocado toasts, but maybe ascetism is for you!

John “I Me” Moe