TODAY’S WORKING HABITS
The changes that have made lasting contributions difficult
I’m writing a family memoir, and when it came to the topic of my mother-in-law, my 31-year-old son said to me,
“You know what’s amazing? She could sum up her whole mission in one simple sentence. ‘I teach children music.”
She taught music for 55 years and wasn’t your average music teacher, leading choirs and bringing music into her classrooms from across the globe at a time when universalism and cultural awareness were not hot topics. But there she was, year after year, teaching children, and then eventually, teaching their children. She briefly retired at 78, then came back and taught some more.
Compare that single-minded focus and tenure to what a career looks like today, especially if you are younger — Gen Z or Millennial. It’s more fractured. We have shorter stints, a distraction called “side hustles,” and an uneven, if not questionable, social contract between employers and employees. These factors contribute to diminished commitment where no one benefits.
Consider the average work stint today. Recent research reveals that the average stint of a typical Gen Z employee is only 1.1 years. The same study…