Move over bullshit — we’re more than a paycheque in the mail.
This post was born out of an interesting conversation with a friend. After an exceptionally exhausting day at work spent interviewing candidates for a role in his team, he lamented, “No one seems to try anymore. It’s like they don’t even want the job.”
It’s surprising that I read an article on similar lines this morning. Results of the recent YouGov-Mint Millennial Survey show that a large majority of the Indian youth prefers going solo over finding a job.
It’s an interesting detour from the India of our parents-generation where a secure bank job with post-retirement benefits was seen as the epitome of success. Life in urban India seems to have changed and how.
But what changed — was it the people, was it the jobs, or was it the expectations and priorities of those doing them?
The Confidence to Dream More
India of the 1990s was a land of opportunity. Better education and job prospects for the Baby Boomers and Gen-X meant that their kids (the ones that would be christened ‘millennials’) grew up with more exposure. They could dream bigger and wish for something more than the roti kapda aur makaan. While a majority of the population was still risk-averse (and continues to be so), there was now a segment of the populace that found within it the possibility, the sheer accessibility — to dream. And those who were adventurous enough to venture in that direction inspired the younger ones that followed. Something akin to a Domino Effect for success, or at least for the possibility of finding success, on the path not taken.
The Confidence to Demand More
As it turns out, urban Indian millennials are not just unhappy with their job prospects — they’re not too thrilled about the salaries offered to them as well. The same survey found a serious mismatch in salary expectations of urban youngsters and reveals most youngsters aged under 21 years and below, that are not yet working, expect a salary of Rs.30,000 per month.
I can almost picture the elders and even 40-somethings shaking their head in disapproval at this stage. But lest ye starts to judge — stop.
Here’s why it’s not entirely a bad thing.
The Confidence to Want More
In the decades and years before, a job was primarily about two things — it paid the bills and it was a status symbol that offered a sense of identity to the worker. Jobs today are still about those two primal things except the charm of the designation alone isn’t strong enough to denote purpose. At least not for the younger workforce. Think about it — does the average workplace today actually end up utilising all 8 hours of your time? Technology has automated a huge chunk of the monotonous tasks and the laborious ones have been cut in half. As a result, you’re left with a workforce that ends up doing the one thing that workers in older generations were too busy to do — they end up thinking.
Keep ’em in, Keep ’em Motivated
Workplaces are no longer just about the security of a monthly pay cheque or the status that comes with a designation. Anthropologist David Graeber in his book, Bullshit Jobs, discusses the phenomenon of “employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.”
Quite naturally then, a talented worker who feels undervalued or under-utilised — with a little bit of gumption — has the freedom, the means, and the avenues to venture into the exciting, albeit scary, world of entrepreneurship.
What does this mean for the tech-startup scouring LinkedIn and similar platforms for talent or the HR team fighting rising attrition?
If indeed you do want to hold on to that talented developer or the creative designer, give them something more than a job, a task, a workplace or a pay cheque. Give them the means to find purpose. And if you can’t offer them that — well, be ready to cough up some serious dough.
