A column by Gilles BonnenfantChairman of Eurogroup Consulting, published in Les Echos on January 26, 2023.
A generation suffering from an epidemic of laziness. Sluggishness at work, sluggishness when going out, sluggishness even in leisure activities. This is the current tune that condemns our youth, distorting the careful analysis of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. It would be demobilized and disengaged, seized by a lethargy that would spare no one.
It's a convenient explanation, supported by the aplomb of "it was better before". But there's no evidence to support it. There's a gap between the reality of commitment to work and this growing perception. And what if, like the much heralded but still unconfirmed "great resignation" in France, this is just an illusion? If we take a closer look at the day-to-day life of our companies, it's not the level of commitment that's changing: it's the forms of commitment. We are experiencing a succession of brutal crises that are shaking up all our certainties. We're talking about a generation forced to learn a vocabulary we thought had disappeared: "confinement", "curfew", then "war" and now "offloading". In recent years, the unthinkable has happened, cruelly underlining the inadequacies of our models. No masks, no ammunition, when a pandemic and then armed conflict erupt.
When landmarks crumble, new ones have to be created.
It's simply the ways in which we defend them that are changing. At a time when we have to work together to bring about transitions on an unprecedented scale, the meeting of these actions holds out the promise of complementarity in the service of the common good. The change we are witnessing is the emergence of a multi-commitment model in a determined new generation. For our collective destiny, there is an immense reserve of vitality here, provided we are able to understand and take account of these new aspirations in commitment. Our great challenge, then, is for companies to create interest.
The challenge is to open up the discussion forums needed to integrate these new expectations.
For if commitment means "being part of society", if it resides in the feeling of being part of a group, then everything hinges on the leader's ability to inspire, and on the local manager's responsibility to bring concrete meaning to everyone's missions. For the company, the challenge is to open up the discussion forums needed to integrate these new expectations. From employee training in climate issues to new forms of corporate philanthropy and volunteering, our companies are adapting to the new forms of commitment that are already transforming their day-to-day operations.
Faced with the brutality of the crises we are experiencing, and the scale of the challenges facing our societies, only multiple, collective and complementary commitments can set our societies in motion.
