Continuity or change?

20 22 Zoomers and Millenials through the lens of People Of Greece

Continuity or change?

GENERATIONS

YEAR OF BIRTH

AGE

Baby Boomers:

1946-1964

76-58

Gen-X:

1965-1980

57-42

Millennials: (Gen-Y)

1981-1996

41-26

Gen-Z: (Zoomers)

1997-2010

25-12

Research Identity

Sample: Ν= 1021 Method: Online survey Fieldwork period:

07/06-09/06/2022

2 0 2 2

YOUTH

Social awareness Working flexibility Addressing the leaders of the business industry Society and Democracy Politics Zoomers vs Millennials: Continuity or Change?

20 22

ZOOMERS & MILLENNIALS

SOCIAL AWARENESS part1 %= Totally agree

“At some point in my lifetime, the effects of climate change will harm me physically and psychologically” 36 48 40 36 27

“I am willing to change my lifestyle in order to help in the reduction of the effects caused by climate change” 47

54 48 50 40

Total

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

Baby Boomers

SOCIAL AWARENESS part2 %= Totally agree

“I would not accept a job offer from a company that opposes my social and environmental beliefs”

22 34 20 22 19

Σύνολο

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

Baby Boomers

Zoomers exhibit high levels of social awareness.

They express much higher rates of concern than older generations about climate change and seem the most willing to change their daily habits.

They also note to a much greater extent that they would not hesitate to turn down a job offer that is incompatible with their social beliefs.

WORKING FLEXIBILITY %= Agree

“Working flexibility, i.e the frequent change of work environment and tasks, has a positive impact on the employee.”

34 49 42 28 25

Total

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

Baby Boomers

Rejecting job offers that contradict the social beliefs of young people is also linked to a possible swift in the perception of work, where the frequent change of work environments is not viewed necessarily a negative condition.

The "great resignation" which is observed globally in the post-Covid era is to a very large extent due to the collapse of corporate loyalty among the new generations, where they seem to welcome fluidity in the working environment.

ADRESSING THE LEADERS OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY part1 “What would you like to tell the leaders of the Greek business industry?”

70 64 68

Put people before your profits

47 49 46

Invest in the training of your employees

41 39 42

Try to leave a better world for future generations Say what you believe and believe what you say

26 37 27

Do more to tackle climate change

35 33 34 28 29 28

Talk less and listen to common people

Pay your taxes

21

Hire more women/minorities

10 15 11

You get paid too much

15 14 14

Stay away from sociopolitical issues

42 36

16 14 14

Do more for your customers Engage in socio-political issues with a progressive mentality

%

8 11 7 7 6 5

Total Gen-Z Millennials

ADRESSING THE LEADERS OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY part2 “What would you like to tell the leaders of the Greek business industry?”

Younger people give business leaders 3 important advices, which align with Greek citizens’ answers, regardless of age: -Follow a more human oriented approach in their business operations -Emphasize on education -Try to build a better word for future generations.

Gen-Z is the generation that cares less about the issue

of taxation and more about the reliability and honesty of businesses.

SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY %

“I am satisfied with the levels of democracy in my country” 32

20

26

38 38

“I am satisfied with the society I live in”

16

Total

Gen-Z

23 20

Millennials

24

Gen-X

30

Baby Boomers

All 4 generations are dissatisfied both with the levels of democracy in their country and with the social reality.

Nevertheless, young people, particularly Zoomers’ dissatisfaction rates double the respective rates from Baby Boomers. This fact indicates that younger people disapprove the society inherited by their parents.

POLITICS part1 %

“Showed interest in politics” 50

63 54

71 69

“Are likely to vote in the next elections” 64

Total

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

77 72

84 82

Baby Boomers

Both Zoomers and millennials show significantly lower rates of political interest than the other 2 generations and are less likely to vote in the next elections.

POLITICS part2 %= I agree

“Being informed about political issues and participating in them takes a lot of time and I don't have it” 53 59 62 53 42

“Elections allow citizens to express their opinion, but they do not change anything in particular” 76

71 80 77 74

Total

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

Baby Boomers

They are also more likely to say that being involved in politics requires time that they don't have. Disillusionment with politics, however, is very high across all generations, with Millennials being the most cynical one.

ZOOMERS VS MILLENIALS CONTINUITY OR CHANGE?

“How would you like to be when you reach the age of 45?”

66

Happy 55 53

Financially independent A successful professional

39

27

Married

24

32

Rich

28 23

An active citizen

25 26

Resident of a foreign country

52

29

A parent

Famous

71

Gen-Z Millennials

15

3 6

9

Zoomers seem to be more ambitious, stating in a greater rate that they would like to be successful professionals and famous by the age of 45.

Concurrently, they αre more willing to comply with norms and imperatives of the adult life such as marriage and motherhood/parenthood.

Nonetheless, in both generations active citizenship is rated low, a case which testifies that young people tend to imagine their future in more individualistic than collective terms.

%

Gen-Z vs Μillenials “Compared to my parents' quality of life when they were my age, I would say that my quality of life is better.” %= Συμφωνώ

64

62

52

52 38

Total

Gen-Z

Millennials

Gen-X

Baby Boomers

Our sample confirms the characterization of the Millennials as the generation of frustrated expectations, a generation that grew up with the Western post-war narrative, in which things were "doomed" to get better and then experienced a series of consecutive crises This fact creates a feeling of resentment for the previous generations.

On the contrary, Gen-Z being a crisis-native generation, they are the least reconciled with the state and society.

However, they do not attribute this dissatisfaction to an idealized past.

EPILOGUE part1

There is no political solution To our troubled evolution Have no faith in constitution There is no bloody revolution … We are spirits in the material world

Back 1981, a British band called "The Police” recorded an album called "Ghost In The Machine". The album's title was inspired by one of the most famous books written Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian philosopher who coped with examining humanity's self-destructive tendency in terms of individual and collective functioning. Within this record, we found a track that confabulates with our research. Inspired by Koestler, the frontman and bass player of Police Sting, informs us that there is no political solution", "we have no faith in constitution" while we see no ending to all of these, "there’s no bloody revolution". We are spirits in a material world, imprisoned between high empathy and practical inaction.

Almost 40 years later, we see this perception dominating in the youth. Millennials and Zoomers are the most educated, informed and socially aware generations.

Neventheless, there are records of an unprecedented political resignation and cynicism and a resentfulness about their life chances and plans. This "paralysis", (as described in the documentary series "Can't get you out of my head") is also noticeable in the young people of our sample.

EPILOGUE part2 There is no political solution To our troubled evolution Have no faith in constitution There is no bloody revolution … We are spirits in the material world

We saw common elements in Millennials’ and Zoomers’ attitudes concerning the perceptions of job mobility, the dissatisfaction/indifference with politics and the common "unsatisfied" feeling that they possess.

Looking a little more closely, however, we conclude that we are dealing with 2 different worlds. Focusing on the dreams of young people and their advices, we realize that the discomfort of Zoomers is more extroverted and its direction more realistic than that of Millennials. As a crisisnative generation, the “Zoomer mindset” is very different, aiming more for the unconventional and the new than reminiscing about the past.

Zoomers seem in their own way to have managed to bridge the gap between spirit and matter, while at the same time Millennials remain bound to their high expectations.

Jason Mantinios, qed Data & Market analyst