That they demand executives take progressive stances on issues of social and climate justice. The prevailing narrative says these new hires will quit on a dime if they don’t get their PTO. But overnight, possibility turned to uncertainty as COVID-19 called into question the very efficacy of our social, political, and economic structures. While the millennials came of age during the Great Recession, their younger siblings and even their children were in line to inherit an economy with record low unemployment. Young workers were hit hardest by layoffs in 2020, per the “last hired, first fired” custom, and had fewer resources and relationships to fall back on. Gen Z-some 2 billion people born between 19-is sputtering into the workforce at a time of crisis and revolutionary change, which experts say they are responding to more than driving, contrary to news headlines. Other qualities adapt in real time in response to external factors, like the pandemic or personal prospects. After months of interviews, reading, and surveys, Gonzalez-Forster learned that some of those generalities hold true across demographics (such as contempt for e-mail). The zoomers-whose entire adolescence has been synced with smartphones and social media-have been characterized in some scary ways. “The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them,” proclaimed a New York Times headline last year.
“The ‘Millennials’ Are Coming,” warned 60 Minutes in 2007. Whenever a new generation hits the scene, there is a wave of pseudo-moral panic, as organizational psychologist Cort Rudolph calls it. “If you can make it easy,” Gonzalez-Forster says, “they are more than willing to engage.” Within hours, her team can rally hundreds of acquaintances and colleagues to participate in a survey or impromptu meeting. Simple and fast.” Where these young adults excel, Gonzalez-Forster says, is in their reach, ability to motivate, and willingness to do the work. You have to get your message across fast. “They hate e-mail.” And the research that says they have a seven-second attention span? “I would actually say it’s more like four seconds. What did she learn? “They are not on e-mail,” she says. Others were military recruits and high-school dropouts.
#TIME UP KIDZ FULL#
The first thing Gonzalez-Forster did when she began work on the startup in March 2020 was to create an advisory board of Gen Zers and young millennials representing the full spectrum of socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and education levels. The idea came to her when she watched her own children-her son is now 19 and her daughter 26-looking for ways to donate to the many social causes that were aggressively competing for their attention over the last several years. In November, Joanne Gonzalez-Forster, a public relations specialist, launched the beta version of Wishly, a social media fundraising platform targeting Gen Z. See the latest issue of Briefings at newsstands or read in our new format here.
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