Rectifying the workplace? Gen Z will eventually face reality

I refer to the article “Will China’s Gen Z, who decry toxic work cultures, yield to reality of unemployment?” (May 17).

The buzz phrase “post-2000s generation rectifying the workplace” is based on anecdotes about young Chinese confronting what they perceive as injustice in the workplace.

In this utopian narrative, this generation – the “saviour” of downtrodden workers – is successfully changing the toxic work culture in China.

Other young workers who are already immersed in the social norms of a workplace sincerely detest the toxic culture.

But they have adapted to it, knowing they cannot afford the costs of defiance.

Actually, the post-2000s generation won’t be an exception, even though they now appear to be more courageous in challenging the status quo.

In fact, the first batches of post-2000s graduates have learned the first lesson from society, given that the latest unemployment rate for the 16-24 age group, in April, has hit a record high of 20.4 per cent.

The less demand for workers, the more candidates for companies to choose from. This would lead to an unbalanced labour-capital relationship, in which employers could afford to care less about employees’ feelings while requiring them to do more. Employees have no choice but to accept the excessive workload, so as to hold on to the job amid intense competition.

Nevertheless, the unfavourable macro environment is not the sole cause of poor working conditions. Some companies tend to recruit as few people as possible, even with much work to be accomplished.

As a friend of mine working for an entertainment company in Beijing put it, why hire more if the workload of three people can be done by one? The exploitation of workers is necessary for the company to achieve the highest efficiency.

A sense of frustration is common among post-2000s graduates. They grew up in boom time, but now find themselves in a situation that is much less optimistic than they had imagined. Nonetheless, every generation has its own unique challenges, and it is meaningless to try and determine whether the post-2000s generation is having it worse than others.

Louis Liao, Shenzhen