# An Emerging Generational Work Identity By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-04-26 I've seen several news articles lately highlighting the new perspective the next generation brings to work. One article called them the Toolbelt Generation because they reject college and white-collar jobs. Another discussed the trend of people applying to jobs without any attachment to the organization or job. Some might call this defensive pessimism, but the article reflected more of an attitude shift that organizations don't care about them, so why should they care about the organization? Finally, I heard a podcast discussing how the new generation of workers might work hard but set clear boundaries on overworking to "get ahead." Essentially, the younger generation claims that they saw what working and loyalty did to their parents and refuse to let it happen to them. While it's hard to know whether these are outliers, a different trend may emerge. This trend isn't the typical "back in my day" and "kids don't know how to work" because none of the articles and podcasts discussed that the younger generation didn't know how to work or didn't do good work. They still pursue work and deliver. What has shifted is their identity towards work and the industrial complex. They are far enough removed from the Silent Generation and the Boomers to see the fractured social contract between employer and employee. They also are close enough to the Millennials to see the downsides of outright rejection of work and still living with their parents well into their late 20s. While the last Baby Boomers and old-school conservatives inevitably complain about this reasonable rejection and rebalancing of corporate values and work, I look forward to where the new generations will take work. I hope they keep their momentum and not become trapped like many generations before. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Work]] [[Society]] [[Progress]] [[Conservative]] [[Paradigms]] [[Identity]]