Z世代上班族因为缺乏职场需要的基本技能,已经被公司口诛笔伐,现在,英国一家重要电视台的老板更是火上浇油。
Channel 4的CEO亚历克斯·马洪抱怨称,最年轻的一代职场人士,缺乏与持不同意见的人辩论、提出反对意见或共事的能力。
据包括《电讯报》在内的多家媒体报道,马洪在剑桥召开的皇家电视协会(Royal Television Society)大会上表示:“从进入职场的Z世代年轻人身上,尤其是在疫情之后,再加上以短格式内容消费为主的趋势的影响,我们发现他们缺少辩论的技能。
他们不具备讨论的能力,也没有提出反对意见的能力。”
但这不应该完全归咎于Z世代(1997年至2012年出生):她指出,社交媒体和疫情导致的停课,是Z世代面临职场挑战的主要原因。
TikTok和Instagram等平台会根据用户之前观看的内容,直接向用户推送长度在一分钟以内的视频,这可能在年轻人当中形成一个回音室,影响他们思考相反观点的能力。
此外,在疫情期间,Z世代不得不独自学习,只有在Zoom上与其他人互动,因此这位电视台的老板认为“停课”和远离“持不同意见的人们”,是导致疫情封控期间学生们无法参与热烈讨论的原因之一。
她补充道:“我们认为这是非常危险的重大变化。”
Channel 4对《财富》杂志确认,马洪上周在剑桥召开的皇家电视协会大会上发表了演讲,但拒绝进一步置评。
去年,Channel 4委托开展的一项研究也发现,现在的年轻人对他人观点的容忍度,低于他们的父辈或祖父辈,因此他们不像前辈一样思想开明。
这项研究发现,四分之一的Z世代受访者称他们“非常不能容忍与我信念不一致的人”,接近一半的受访者认同“有些人就应该被封杀”。
这并非Z世代第一次被批评缺乏基本技能
马洪并非评论Z世代的沟通技能或者揭露Z世代缺乏沟通技能的第一位高管。在疫情期间成年的上班族,经常被告知他们缺乏在办公室与他人共事的“基本”社交能力。
以四大咨询公司为例:德勤(Deloitte)、普华永道(PwC)、毕马威(KPMG)和安永(EY)均为新入职的初级员工提供软技能培训,包括如何在会议上发言的课程。
英国普华永道首席人事官伊恩·艾略特对年轻上班族表示理解。她说道:“学生在疫情期间没有机会开展面对面活动,现在他们在某些领域可能变得更强,例如独立工作能力,但在某些方面他们却缺乏自信,例如小组报告等,这是完全可以理解的。”
就连高校也开始行动起来,帮助学生缩小与从业人口之间的社交技能差距。据《华尔街日报》报道,密歇根州立大学(Michigan State University)将提供应对社交对话的课程,包括如何发现对方开始变得无聊和需要继续对话的迹象等,为毕业生进入就业市场做好准备。
该大学还要求公司在新员工入职第一天提供明确的指导,包括着装要求和午餐的用餐地点等。迈阿密大学(Miami University)甚至组织了与公司高层领导的晚餐,以教授恰当的用餐礼仪,例如如何聊中性话题等。
当然,学生们的社交能力并未糟糕到无视自身缺点的地步。事实上,他们就像他们的大学讲师和未来雇主一样,对适应职场生涯感到担忧。
应届毕业生向《华尔街日报》分享的担忧包括如何与同事共事,如何进行面对面报告,以及如何建立个人人脉等。一名学生表示,在办公室里一整天身边都有其他人,这令人筋疲力尽;另外一位学生表示,他发现办公室工作的截止时间很难延长,这与学校里的作业不同,这令他感到意外。(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
Z世代上班族因为缺乏职场需要的基本技能,已经被公司口诛笔伐,现在,英国一家重要电视台的老板更是火上浇油。
Channel 4的CEO亚历克斯·马洪抱怨称,最年轻的一代职场人士,缺乏与持不同意见的人辩论、提出反对意见或共事的能力。
据包括《电讯报》在内的多家媒体报道,马洪在剑桥召开的皇家电视协会(Royal Television Society)大会上表示:“从进入职场的Z世代年轻人身上,尤其是在疫情之后,再加上以短格式内容消费为主的趋势的影响,我们发现他们缺少辩论的技能。
他们不具备讨论的能力,也没有提出反对意见的能力。”
但这不应该完全归咎于Z世代(1997年至2012年出生):她指出,社交媒体和疫情导致的停课,是Z世代面临职场挑战的主要原因。
TikTok和Instagram等平台会根据用户之前观看的内容,直接向用户推送长度在一分钟以内的视频,这可能在年轻人当中形成一个回音室,影响他们思考相反观点的能力。
此外,在疫情期间,Z世代不得不独自学习,只有在Zoom上与其他人互动,因此这位电视台的老板认为“停课”和远离“持不同意见的人们”,是导致疫情封控期间学生们无法参与热烈讨论的原因之一。
她补充道:“我们认为这是非常危险的重大变化。”
Channel 4对《财富》杂志确认,马洪上周在剑桥召开的皇家电视协会大会上发表了演讲,但拒绝进一步置评。
去年,Channel 4委托开展的一项研究也发现,现在的年轻人对他人观点的容忍度,低于他们的父辈或祖父辈,因此他们不像前辈一样思想开明。
这项研究发现,四分之一的Z世代受访者称他们“非常不能容忍与我信念不一致的人”,接近一半的受访者认同“有些人就应该被封杀”。
这并非Z世代第一次被批评缺乏基本技能
马洪并非评论Z世代的沟通技能或者揭露Z世代缺乏沟通技能的第一位高管。在疫情期间成年的上班族,经常被告知他们缺乏在办公室与他人共事的“基本”社交能力。
以四大咨询公司为例:德勤(Deloitte)、普华永道(PwC)、毕马威(KPMG)和安永(EY)均为新入职的初级员工提供软技能培训,包括如何在会议上发言的课程。
英国普华永道首席人事官伊恩·艾略特对年轻上班族表示理解。她说道:“学生在疫情期间没有机会开展面对面活动,现在他们在某些领域可能变得更强,例如独立工作能力,但在某些方面他们却缺乏自信,例如小组报告等,这是完全可以理解的。”
就连高校也开始行动起来,帮助学生缩小与从业人口之间的社交技能差距。据《华尔街日报》报道,密歇根州立大学(Michigan State University)将提供应对社交对话的课程,包括如何发现对方开始变得无聊和需要继续对话的迹象等,为毕业生进入就业市场做好准备。
该大学还要求公司在新员工入职第一天提供明确的指导,包括着装要求和午餐的用餐地点等。迈阿密大学(Miami University)甚至组织了与公司高层领导的晚餐,以教授恰当的用餐礼仪,例如如何聊中性话题等。
当然,学生们的社交能力并未糟糕到无视自身缺点的地步。事实上,他们就像他们的大学讲师和未来雇主一样,对适应职场生涯感到担忧。
应届毕业生向《华尔街日报》分享的担忧包括如何与同事共事,如何进行面对面报告,以及如何建立个人人脉等。一名学生表示,在办公室里一整天身边都有其他人,这令人筋疲力尽;另外一位学生表示,他发现办公室工作的截止时间很难延长,这与学校里的作业不同,这令他感到意外。(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
Gen Z workers are already getting flak from businesses for lacking the basic skills needed to navigate the working world—and now, the boss of a major British TV channel has added to the mounting criticism.
Channel 4’s CEO, Alex Mahon, complained that the youngest generation to enter the workforce doesn’t have the skills to debate, disagree, or work alongside people with different opinions.
“What we are seeing with young people who come into the workplace, Gen Z, particularly post-pandemic and with this concentration of short-form content, is that they haven’t got the skills to debate things,” Mahon said at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge according to multiple outlets, including the Telegraph.
“They haven’t got the skills to discuss things, they haven’t got the skills to disagree.”
But Gen Zers (those born between 1997 and 2012) aren’t entirely to blame: She pointed to social media and the pandemic’s disruption to education as the main cause of the workplace challenge.
On the likes of TikTok and Instagram, videos under a minute long are fed straight into viewers’ feeds based on content they have previously enjoyed, possibly creating an echo chamber among youngsters and impacting their ability to consider opposing ideas.
Meanwhile, as Gen Zers were forced to study alone and limited to interactions on Zoom during the pandemic, the broadcasting boss cited “being out of colleges” and away from “people with a difference of opinion” as the reason lockdown-era students can’t hold down a heated discussion.
“That is a really dangerous step-change that we are seeing,” she added.
Channel 4 confirmed to Fortune that Mahon spoke at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge last week, but declined to comment further.
Last year, research commissioned by Channel 4 similarly found that young people today are less tolerant of others’ views than their parents or grandparents and as a result are less liberal than previous generations.
The study revealed that a quarter of the Gen Z respondents said they have “very little tolerance for people with beliefs I disagree with,” while nearly half agreed that “some people deserved to be canceled.”
Not the first time Gen Z have been told they lack basic skills
Mahon isn’t the first executive to shine a light on Gen Z’s communication skills—or lack thereof. Workers who came of age during the pandemic have repeatedly been told they lack the “basic” social aptitudes needed to work in an office with other people.
Take the world’s Big Four consulting firms, for example: Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY are all offering incoming junior hires soft skills training, including lessons on how to speak up in meetings.
“It’s wholly understandable that students who missed out on face-to-face activities during COVID may now be stronger in certain fields, such as working independently, and less confident in others, such as presentations to groups,” Ian Elliott, the chief people officer at PwC UK, said in sympathy with young workers.
Even colleges are stepping up to close the social skills gap between their students and the wider workforce. Michigan State University is getting its graduates ready for the job market with lessons on how to handle a networking conversation—including how to look for signs that the other party is starting to get bored and that it’s time to move on—reports the Wall Street Journal.
The school is also asking companies to give explicit guidance on a hire’s first day, including what to wear and where to get lunch. Miami University even organized a dinner with senior leaders in order to teach proper mealtime etiquette, such as how to engage in conversation on neutral topics.
Of course, students aren’t so socially inept that they haven’t taken stock of their shortcomings. In fact, they’re just as worried about settling into working life as their university lecturers and future employers are.
Fresh graduates shared concerns with the Wall Street Journal about how to work with colleagues, deliver in-person presentations, and build a personal network. One student shared how draining being surrounded by people in the office all day was, while another shared his surprise at finding office deadlines were harder to extend than those set for a college assignment.