Are values more important than tasks?

Today's young people love luxury, despise authority and gossip instead of working [...] In our time, children are tyrants.

These words could have been uttered by neighbors, work colleagues or perhaps yourself. Yet they were uttered by a certain Socrates, a Greek philosopher who died over 2,400 years ago. Criticizing previous generations has always been part of human nature. The whole thing is usually based on a conflict of values; the latter evolving over time.

In search of meaning

Nowadays, the professional world doesn't know which foot to dance on. Experienced and new workers alike have lived through the period of the health crisis and seen the flexibility that companies can have when needed. Or the majority want the companies for which they offer their skills to continue to adapt, to offer telecommuting, better conditions (wages, working hours, etc.) and a strong team spirit. Most employees are now looking for their work to be meaningful. If that disappears, they'll look elsewhere. This is made easier by the fact that there is a shortage of workers in every field, including even liberal professions such as teaching.

With young people, in addition, there are other demands. They are far more concerned than their elders about environmental and social issues. Companies that don't adapt their policies to reduce their carbon footprint and tolerate toxic behavior such as harassment, blackmail or excessive guilt-tripping will automatically be eliminated from young candidates.

Not all will become "revolutionary leaders" of the professional world. Some are quite happy with old-fashioned practices. But they are becoming a minority in a context where convictions play a much greater role in professional orientation. What's more, this question of values, happiness and other issues are now becoming marketing tools to attract new talent. Companies, on the other hand, no longer have the choice to embody the values advocated at the risk of being quickly denounced online and elsewhere.

An explainable transformation

Most young people say they want to work for a living, not the other way around. What has led to this paradigm shift? Different sociologists and specialists explain in this La Presse article the reasons:

• Past traumas: Many young people in Generation Z have seen their parents unable to balance their time between work and family. Many have witnessed fathers and mothers experience burnout, been babysat often because of work, or been children of divorce. Not wanting to replay this scenario as adults, this plays into their choices.
  
  
• A concern for mental health: While the previous generation had been made aware of the risks of tasks on physical health, this one perceives those on mental health. They want to avoid depression, anxiety and other toxic situations in the workplace.
  
  
• Benevolent parents: Much of this generation was raised by adults who fostered benevolent climates, who protected and encouraged them a great deal. So relationships of domination, systemic opposition and unpleasantness don't go down as well as they used to. Indeed, academia is also seeing this trend among contemporary students.
  
  
• Little reciprocity: To develop a relationship, there has to be a willingness on the part of both partners. In recent decades, companies have outright disaffiliated from their employees. Pension plans have been cut, job insecurity has become the order of the day, and career development opportunities have been cut to the bone. Add to this a significant drop in unionization, which diminishes the collective effort for better conditions, and it should come as no surprise that young people are rejecting a major part of the professional world.

These realities have effects on the job of guidance counsellor. Pupils and students arriving at an office will have to face up to the need to respect their convictions and the realities of the professional world. Because while the latter is undergoing change, not everyone has yet followed suit. The Clinique d'orientation de la Faculté d'éducation de l'université de Sherbrooke takes into account the realities, among others, of mental health to help students.

Orienters would also do well to prepare with the person a professional project and elaborate it so that it truly resembles who the person is.  Values orientation theory could perhaps help them in this task. This approach, developed by theorists Kluckholhn and Strodtbeck, is based on five questions that the person must answer. What emerges from the answers provides a better understanding of the person, and where their personal, political and cultural orientations lie. In this way, it can help consultants find a position that matches the values of the person consulting them.

Photo: Priscilla Du Preez / Unsplash

References:

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