Quirkbag Collection #3 – 04.04.25
Work…?
Work-life balance was a lofty ideal, a myth even. Today, it’s almost an essential criteria used by Gen Z to judge a job’s suitability. I could understand needing ‘balance’ but I never understood the ‘how’. Much more elusive today is the concept of professionalism—a virtue far easier said than practiced.
Many employers facing challenges trying to infuse new blood into the company cite compatibility as a primary concern. The employment landscape is transforming. University degrees and qualifications are the norm. Yet, finding ‘good’ fits and ‘good’ people is getting harder with each generation. Youths are hardly willing to tolerate incompatibility with the job. Employers may have a larger pool of candidates than ever but a smaller chance of landing a great hire. Job-seekers today are less willing to compromise their criteria for a paycheck. Furthermore, the new generation has a deeper desire to fight for their ‘fair share’, choosing to do the bare minimum – or less if placed in a toxic work culture – if they so deem fit.
Let’s not forget, the nature of competition has evolved. It was about hard work, patience, and many familiar and classic characteristics. Of course, they still apply – albeit with a new mix of other virtues and traits employers seek. Today’s workplace evolved from the familiar 9-to-5, to the new work-from-home and a mix of both modalities. Perhaps there is a more accurate way to describe these changes – professionalism.
More precisely, the notion of professionalism has changed. I find professionalism to be the compromise between one’s respect for work and for life. It is knowing when to give and when to take. The line between work and life used to be clear as day, when you clock in and when you clock out. Today, more individuals are pursuing side-hustles and starting small businesses. Gen Z seeks to redraw the line for themselves. I’ve seen videos and podcasts of how friends get together to build a business and slowly the lines of professionalism and friendship merge into a sweet spot like the centre of a venn diagram. It’s no longer ‘employee’ and ‘employer’. It’s now ‘business partner’ and ’co-founder’.
Here’s an interesting thought: if everyone were to start a side hustle, quit their jobs and leave the rat race, how far would companies go? Surely there must be some, if not increasing, value to the remaining workforce.
Professionalism now takes a new form, redefined by Gen Z as the workplace evolved. As country boundaries were redrawn after 1919, work-life boundaries are similarly shifting. The traditional workplace can no longer accommodate the rising non-traditional generation.
So, how do you define your professionalism?
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