The new generation of the workplace, becoming a freelancer attractive and mainstream? Women's fan, founder of Yourator, shares years of workplace observation, inventory financial security, sense of meaning and freedom, and uncover the advantages and limitations of free work.
In the previous article, "Double CEO Dialogue" between Zhang Weixuan, founder and CEO of Women's Fan, and Lydia, founder of Yourator, we mentioned what characteristics a company that makes the new generation of talents flock to should have, and also talked about how Gen P and Gen Z workers who "regard work as a purpose" think about their careers and look at work.
From career to career, people spend their entire lives pursuing meaning, value and self-practice in order to prove the possibility and creativity of "self", and in the process they become more aware of themselves, find themselves, and exist as an important role in "social relations".
In the face of changes in the employment situation, the development of science and technology, and the change of the meaning of talents, how should the new generation of workers accumulate their future in this era of free choice of work mode and lifestyle; When people are separated from the linear career development, freedom but also more uncertainty, how not to lose their way in the multiple possibilities, not to waste time, is also a challenge faced by the current generation of young workers.
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Work freelance or join an organization... What are your options?
According to the 2022 Workplace Survey, nearly 96.7% of respondents believe that "cultural fit and diversity inclusion are important considerations for them to choose a job".
Under this premise, it is not only how the enterprise shapes the employer brand and corporate culture; The new generation of workers must also make accurate judgments when applying for a job in order to make cooperative decisions that add up and multiply both.
Continuing this context, Wei Xuan said that the era has reached a stage of transformation, and from a macro perspective, since World War II, people have gradually shifted from the pursuit of basic needs to the pursuit of value and influence. If the definition of 'meaning of work' by the new generation of workers is not only monetary reward, at the bottom, it means that the generation with choices has arrived, and these choices may force more companies and organizations to implement positive changes."
(Read more: "From the individual to the organization, so that the organization affects the individual!") How to promote diversity and inclusion in the field of medicine and health care? ）
People crave belonging, to have their own community. Companies and jobs take up most of people's daily lives, forming a fairly influential and close-knit community.
Of course, on the other hand, in order to have more flexibility in their work and life, and truly "be their own master" in the sense, many new generation workers will choose to practice themselves in a freelance or "oblique" way.
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Lydia agrees: "I think this is a trend of the times, young people attach great importance to institutional flexibility, which is why there is a lot of talk about organizational reengineering in the field of human resources recently, just to make the team compatible with members with different thinking."
Freedom is a two-sided street, whether it is participating in a flexible enterprise or working freely without being attached to any organization, young people have become increasingly blurred and difficult to distinguish between imagining careers, defining careers, and dividing work-life boundaries, and difficult to distinguish will also have their own difficulties.
(Guess what you want to see: freelancers "take the case" to take the initiative back and do what they like!) Interview with Ordinary Production Manager Huang Mingzhang)
How can freelancers protect their careers, or how can they ensure that they plan longer-term goals when money is at stake? In addition, does the work model that is not bound by the company have its limitations in terms of long-term development?
"There's no denying that for some freelancers, loans are actually relatively difficult. Because there is no regular source of income, financial institutions may not be willing to approve loan applications." Quite realistically, Wei Xuan notes, free work has its limits in contemporary times.
Lydia adds, "There is a difference between the experience that can be given inside and outside the organization, and sometimes within the organization, it is easier for workers to learn how to deal with and respond to things they don't like, after all, it is difficult to do only what you like and meet only the people you like. So I think it's just as valuable to learn to take on, struggle, and challenge in a range."
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A person's vision is necessary for how many options he can get. That is to say, the more knowledgeable you are, the more people you know, and the more you have experienced a mixed life, the more solid your exploration of the possibilities of life will be, which is often an experience that is difficult to obtain by "alone".
To some extent, people are the product of relationships, and relationships are products of society. Communicating with people in society and interacting with people in organizations is an accelerator for a person's growth.
"All we want to do is tell young workers: you actually have this option; But we also understand that in this era, there are very big differences, and we can't and shouldn't tell them what is good and what is bad, we just provide a self-help space and let them choose what they want." Lydia understands so.
Finding the meaning of work and life depends on one's own excavation and exploration
It's also exciting to have two sides to the same thing. Wei Xuan tilted her head sideways and smiled that in fact, she was very happy that young people were increasingly aware of their "wants" and "pursuits", and she was eager to try.
"I think it's very interesting that the new generation has its own things that they want to practice and know how to create meaning at work, which is quite consistent with the work environment that women fans want to promote. I enjoy working with a group of people who also believe that 'work should be meaningful,' so that we can get closer to each other's meaning and create the maximum value of meaning together."
However, for the question of how to find meaning in work, in addition to relying on yourself, you still rely on yourself.
"I met a job seeker who told me that I left my previous job after about 3 months," Lydia shared, further asking about her motivation for leaving, and the candidate generously admitted that it was because "I couldn't find meaning in my previous job."
(Same scene plus screening: The Great Wave of Departures: People don't want to be used as resources!) Please create a diverse and inclusive workplace experience: multinational companies practice diversity and inclusion)
She began to wonder whether contemporary young people are always waiting or waiting for a sense of meaning to appear, while neglecting the process of searching, "I think this is perhaps a missing piece in education, no one tells them how to think; And there is no one to guide them to explore themselves deeply, to find their own meaning, rather than relying on others to give them."
Exploring meaning, digging for meaning, defining meaning and embracing meaning is a complex process.
For everyone, meaning is not fixed, but constantly communicating with oneself in change, finding the important part of oneself in each task, and completing meaning by enriching oneself, which is the way to practice meaning and explore meaning.
Wei Xuan kept nodding while listening to Lydia's sharing, and quipped: "This friend just didn't live himself as a verb." And the so-called living oneself as a verb is the concept that emphasizes self-initiative.
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On the other hand, Wei Xuan also mentioned that "it is true that the real meaning is to be given by oneself, but I think that the company should also provide a more open and free environment for young work", as a manager of the enterprise, it must be able to fully communicate, so that each employee can connect with their own meaning in the process of achieving the task.
In order to achieve this goal, sometimes Over Communication is important, why?
"Each person's meaning needs to be created by themselves, but it is precisely because everyone pursues different meanings in their work, diversity and inclusion are more important, through understanding, communication and communion, so that every employee within the company, can complete their own meaning based on the company's goals, I think is what we pursue." Wei Xuan mentioned.
Create a work environment that gives "choices" at different life stages
Choosing an enterprise that matches the corporate culture, connecting the meaning of oneself in the work process, and achieving the meaning of oneself while completing the work task, is simple to say, but the process is a series of attempts, iterations and exercises, and to achieve this, in addition to the exploration and excavation of the "individual workers" themselves, whether the enterprise provides "psychological safety of communication" is also quite important.
There are many unavoidable situations in the workplace from political wrestling, unsafe environments and interpersonal strife and alienation, which are often described as "emotional labor" in modern times, Lydia emphasized: "I don't like the four words emotional labor myself, I do think I need to avoid unnecessary "emotional labor""
"However, it is undeniable that there are many professions in this world, and their work content itself includes the so-called 'emotional labor', such as elderly care and intensive care in the medical system, or headhunting companies and departments, psychological counseling, consulting, etc."
(Guess what you want to watch: "Black Heart Izakaya": Why does "Traceless Emotional Labor" make others tired of watching? ）
In this way, it is necessary to talk about the rejection of emotional labor by the new generation of workers.
"Generation P is a generation driven by value, and this value is quite personal, so it is difficult to drive young workers in the past performance appraisal, appraisal, promotion, etc., so the current human resources system needs to be comprehensively adjusted, and we need to think about what is new and what should we do?" Lydia said.
Wei Xuan nodded in agreement, and mentioned: "The new generation of young people cares more about the sense of the moment than the expected promotion."
"That's right," Lydia responds again, "it's the sense of freedom in the moment, or 'visibility' of the moment."
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At the same time, Lydia also reminded the new generation of workers: "In addition to caring about the current time node, there are actually many different time dimensions and thinking scopes, which should be comprehensively put into your own career development to think."
Many things are related to the pros and cons, "but if enterprises can establish a 'psychological safety of communication', they can greatly reduce the feeling of emotional labor."
Lydia believes that most of the startups are quite open, "and because of the relatively 'diversity and inclusion' corporate culture, it is easier for us to attract colleagues who are more open-minded, and the organization's thinking, colleague inclusiveness and communication can be smoother."
Similarly, in response to the imagination of the new generation of workers in the workplace, continuous change, openness and iteration have the opportunity to attract more diverse talents into the workplace than sticking to the rules.
(Guess what you want to see: quit the e-commerce supervisor and become a freelancer: get closer to your true self and enjoy everything on the road)
The matter of freedom can be discussed in a wide range, including whether the workplace environment can give more flexible choices and working styles in the face of women's life experiences that are different from men, and is also an important attitude of enterprises to "different life choices".
"For example, designing a work environment where female colleagues with family planning can do not feel pressure and trade-offs," Wei Xuan shared. To this end, women's fans continue to strengthen the friendly working atmosphere, so that all partners who want to become "mothers" can maintain the pursuit and practice of work, and at the same time respond to the wants and needs of his life.
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Creating choices is the common mission of contemporary enterprises; The right to choose the mode of work and meaning is the consensus of contemporary workers.
Under the reconciliation of the two, diversity and inclusion have become a necessary criterion in the workplace. In the process of promoting women's fans and Yourator, they also continued to appeal: "No one needs to ruin his career for any choice in his career, he can choose any way he wants, to maintain the feel, experience and expectation of life, and continue to accumulate his achievements and value."
This applies well both inside and outside the organization, Lydia firmly adds: "We want to, and we set out to push for it. It's not just Nice to have, it's more ingrained in every organization."
From personal choice to organizational restructuring and response, enterprises and individuals jointly face the changes in contemporary "work meaning" and "freedom of choice", trying to find the meaning of their own and enterprise existence from a large number of working hours, and a "sense of value" is born.
(Guess what you want to see: what is diversity and inclusion|Young people can't bear the responsibility, and the old ass doesn't want to learn?) Generational opposition, see unconscious bias)
The purpose of a company's existence can not only be economic, and people are no longer just selling their life time, but have the right to invest "my time" in important things, so as to achieve the common benefit of the enterprise and the individual.
Combine career and career into one, so that life is not broken into two parts, but every moment is for what we are betting on, and our eyes shine.