The state of the workplace
We’re about to enter a new era of work, where Gen Z (1996-2010) is slowly making its way into today’s startups and businesses. Great. Another cohort of new interns. Not so fast.
What makes Gen Z special is one word: impact. They desire a life of personal impact. Z’ers want to live a life that holds deep meaning for themselves rather than work without zeal for bigger bucks. And what does that mean? It means that while the newest members of our working society are going to be finding work soon, they’re more likely to pursue it through their own means—through side hustles, startups, and small businesses.
Less 9-5, more personal grind
The appeal for a corporate job is quickly leaving the table for something on the exact opposite end of the spectrum—entrepreneurship. While it seems like everybody has a personal brand on the side, it goes to show that nurturing the human spirit within us — self growth, community, belonging, and creativity — is a healthy sign of being alive. The upcoming Gen Z will be pursuing personal impact through ways that are not written in the current playbook of adult life that our parents demonstrated for us. Gen Z will spend more time on themselves and the mark they wish to leave on this world, and less time wishing for the next weekend to come.
So what were we meant to do in our society?
We can first start off with what we are not meant to do. As human beings in this day and age, we are not meant to do labour-intensive, soul-sucking, unimaginative work. We are, however, meant to do things that help us live simply and find personal happiness. We are meant to play, question, and express ourselves in ways that are contributive to the world views around us. We are meant to create and find belonging to a group of other people, and to leave a difference in both our life and theirs. Sound familiar? Tons of us are doing this already, and are having an absolute blast—think YouTubers, bloggers, and influencers. If you are reading this, chances are that you wish to leave your own impact too (you are reading this on WAYE, after all). There has been no better and easier time to start something you’ll love.
The world is human, why are we avoiding it?
By allowing people to focus on their artistry and passions we can push the envelope for better systems, better services, and stronger communities. If life was about experimenting, what are you meant to do? The future of work is not work, but to be human and humane to ourselves in the things that we do. Meaning, all the things we can automate can help us live more fulfilled lives, because they help free up more time (our most precious resource) to do the things that are valuable to us.
A Glimpse Into The Future of Startups:
People are re-prioritizing their use of personal time (e.g. digital minimalism, work burnout). More effort will be put into contribution, empathy, and generosity to the communities we each belong to, which will allow us to do the things that we dream of for the world, benefiting our communal wellness and human spirit. The future of work is not really about the future of work, but about the future of impact creation. And, since impact creation is not reserved for a single person, this will stem from millions of different angles and perspectives, from different people who wish for a better, more human world.
Why have we been inhumane to ourselves for so long? As adults, we must unlearn a lot. We must unlearn that money is the deciding factor for our happiness. We must unlearn that other people have control—rather, you have control over your own happiness and impact. We are living in the information age, where information is highly and freely accessible if you wanted it. An age where technology can do just about everything we consider to be a chore: driving, transcribing, flipping light switches, door locking, putting in extra effort to check the weather, grocery shop, pay bills, own a house, own a car, returning clothes bought online because they were the wrong size. The list goes on from here.
With all these new services and systems created through technology, the message is clear: We’re intent on finding relationships and things to do that bring us inner happiness and meaning. This is about the spirit of being alive. And if that is true, what are you alive for? And if you haven’t found your reason yet, today seems like a great day to start.
Something every entrepreneur needs to do
One of the final things I want to leave you with relates to an act called contribution. Contribution is a deeply human thing to do, yet it does not come naturally to everyone. To contribute means to provide value for somebody else, and there is no shortcut or fast way to do it because building something great and worth talking about is difficult. If we are focused on building new businesses and startups for other people, one of the key factors to its success is contribution. How much are you contributing to the betterment of your target audience? We must unlearn that we have to buy our way to growth. Rather, we have to learn that we can be more human to each other by serving and contributing to a community.
We are our strongest assets. We are all made up of our own networks, thoughts, relationships, and emotions. With that said, the question for entrepreneurs then becomes: how can we provide more value to the others? When technology is able to do just about everything else, the only thing we have left is to be deeply human.
If you enjoyed this article and want to send a comment or create further conversation, you can find me at annapeng.design@gmail.com or my website at www.annapeng.ca
Anna is a designer from Toronto with a mission to create brands, voices, projects, and businesses that are human-forward.
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