Gen Z seems to be the punching bag for most people from the older generation, especially when it comes to young professionals entering the workforce.
Any given day, you can find some or other influential person talking about how Gen Z have a bad attitude towards work that they are lazy, don’t want to work, and more such traits are attributed to them.
In a time when employers and companies have become aware that they cannot keep up with wrong or unethical work practices, with most Gen Z preferring to work in a safe and healthy work environment over job security, it is becoming common to see professionals from the older generations consider it as something wrong.
In a recent incident, an Indian-origin executive found herself being trolled after she spoke about Gen Z job seekers and how they should be willing to work “any hours, at any pay”.
She encouraged young job seekers to be flexible and determined, with a ready-to-work attitude even if that means sacrificing one’s comfort and perks. Her emphasis on being open to any type of work and not worrying about the pay, hours, and more has rubbed people the wrong way.
What Did The Executive Say?
New York-based website building and hosting company Squarespace’s chief marketing officer, Kinjil Mathur sat down for an an interview with Fortune.
In it, she spoke about Gen Z job seekers, her own experience when starting as a worker and what advice she would give to the younger generation looking for work. The executive, who has Indian origins has reportedly worked at Conde Nast, Saks Fifth Avenue and Foursquare before, starting her professional career almost 20 years ago.
Mathur spoke about how she was “worried about her future” after getting a finance degree in the 2000s but she said “Every single summer I was trying to find some internship,” and “I just wanted to get experience.”
She further said, “In my freshman year—and this is dating me—but this is when we used to have telephone books where you had yellow pages that had the name and number of every business and every person in your city. I went to the business listings and I just started calling up companies and asking them if they had internships available and that I would be willing to work for free.”
Mathur then said, “I was willing to work for free, I was willing to work any hours they needed—even on evenings and weekends. I was not focused on traveling,” and how “You really have to just be willing to do anything, any hours, any pay, any type of job—just really remain open.”
However, it seems like Mathur’s advice has not gone down well with online users trolling and slamming her comments.
Read More: ED VoxPop: We Ask Gen Z If They Agree With Infosys’ Murthy On 70 Hour/Week Life
A lot of people did not like what Mathur was seemingly encouraging, which is unpaid labour, something seen as quite wrong in today’s time and younger generations requiring fair compensation for their work. 
One user wrote, “Kinjil Mathur interview summarized: My labour was exploited and now that I’m in a position to make a change, I want to force that same barrier of entry to the workforce because I’m a complete ghoul.”
Another wrote, “Kinjil Mathur is promoting something that has been advocated by many Indian origin CEOs and owners including Narayana Murthy of Infosys who wants youngsters to work for 70 hours a week. Most recently Karnataka state government in India proposed a 14-hour workday for employees in Karnataka.”
User @CherieDamour_ replied, “This is how it is in India. They’d do just ANYTHING .. there’s open exploitation of the poor and those in need of a job. I suppose this is the new culture in US too now, congratulations.”
A third wrote, “Gen Z hold two or more jobs to make ends meet against rising food and rent prices that fund the obscene salaries of C-Suite executives of price-gouging monopolies. Instead of making a difference, Kinjil Mathur uses her position to perpetuate wage theft.”
User Chris Grey commented how “The only people who can work for free are already rich. So only people who are already rich can have jobs? Great economic model.”
This was a common sentiment with user @gerrypayne writing, “The point is only the children of wealthy parents can afford to work for free. Rich kids have always had the advantage of their uni fees paid for and access to contacts and now they will get the opportunities because they can work for free. This is all about returning us to class structures of the past.”
Another user @GClueit replied with how working for free is not what should be encouraged, especially in today’s time writing, “No one should ever work for free.
I’ve always insisted, for example, that interns should be paid at least the living wage where many companies not only pay them nothing but charge them for the “privilege” of being an intern at their company. If you have interns “just” making coffee or photocopying, that’s on you.
Get off your arse and do it yourself and give interns meaningful work. Companies like this don’t deserve to survive and GenZ (or any other Gen) is advised to avoid these exploitative bastards like the plague. When you pay peanuts, don’t get surprised when you get monkeys. This isn’t capitalism. It’s taking the piss.”
Some brought up how this is slightly antiquated thinking and doesn’t take into consideration how modern workplaces are changing with a growing focus on work-life balance.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: NDTV, India Today, Moneycontrol
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Squarespace, Squarespace Kinjil Mathur, Kinjil Mathur gen z, gen z, gen z job seekers, career, unemployment, employment, internship, gen z internship, young graduates, young professional, jobs, job seekers, work life, work life balance, intern, entrepreneur
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