look news india
A recent post by entrepreneur and content creator Sheetal Rijhwani on social media platform ‘X’ (Twitter) has sparked a very interesting and heated debate in the corporate world and on the internet. In his post he said that today’s new generation i.e. Gen Z Some shocking claims have been made about the unique way of working in the office and their attitude of the employees, which has divided the working people into two different camps.
On one hand, the youth believe that Gen Z is actually ending the exploitative and ‘toxic work culture’ that has been going on for years, while on the other hand, old and experienced professionals believe that this is indiscipline and it is being exaggerated more than necessary. This single viral post has once again brought serious issues like office working hours, work-life balance and office discipline into the mainstream discussion of the country.
‘9 to 5’ means only work; No extra time to please the manager
According to Sheetal Rizwani’s post, Gen Z employees set their own boundaries within the office. They work by forming a separate group of their own, away from office politics or gossip. The biggest characteristic of this generation is that they are very strict about their working hours; If office hours end at 6 pm, they close their laptops at exactly 6 pm and leave.
Like the old employees, they do not try to do ‘overtime’ by staying late in the office unnecessarily just to look good in the eyes of their manager or boss. Apart from this, they keep the weekend (Saturday-Sunday) completely reserved for their personal life and completely avoid or ignore any work call or email coming during this period.
When the AC broke down in the office, the entire group shifted to the cafe; youth unwilling to tolerate
The most talked about and interesting part of the post was where Sheetal shared a live example. It was claimed that one day the central AC of the office broke down and the humidity increased. While the older employees (Millennials) kept working silently and sweating, the entire group of Gen Z immediately stopped working. He clearly said that work cannot be done in this environment and they all immediately shifted to a nearby café with Wi-Fi and completed their work from there until the AC of the office was fully restored.
Emotional Damage: The post sarcastically said that while Millennials have been silently tolerating every bad office situation and boss’s scolding for years, Gen Z challenges it directly. There has been a flood of memes and casual comments like “Emotional Damage” on the internet on this issue.
Direct question on wrong things in office; Now the manager’s arbitrariness will not work.
The post also underlined that today’s youth is in no mood to tolerate any kind of mental harassment or misbehavior at the workplace. If a manager or senior talks to them in a bad tone or applies forceful pressure, then instead of getting scared, these employees send a written complaint directly to the Human Resources Department (HR). The special thing is that with the changing times, now the HR departments of the companies are also taking these matters very seriously and are openly supporting the rights of the employees in many investigations.
The war on social media: corporate slavery versus discipline
As soon as this post went viral, an ideological war has started in the comment section between different generations (Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z), which is being seen mainly from two perspectives:
| Arguments in favor (Gen Z supporters) | Arguments against (Old Professionals/Corporate Leaders) |
| The youth say that it is very important to question the old and rotten thinking of ‘overwork = dedication’ (more work means loyalty). | Older people believe that such behavior stunts career growth and shows carelessness towards serious work. |
| Work is just a part of life, not the whole life. Work-life balance is essential for mental health. | There are many corporate emergencies that require flexibility and extra hours; Such stubbornness is harmful there. |
| Companies pay only for working hours, not for our personal life and peace. | Today’s generation lacks patience, they leave work even at small inconvenience (like AC breaking down). |
Experienced consultants believe that the job environment is changing globally with time. While earlier generations used to spend 10 to 15 years in the same company for stability, today is the era of freelancing, remote work and contract based jobs. In such a situation, companies will also have to understand that it is now impossible to retain the new generation talent by intimidating or creating a ‘toxic’ environment.