What Gen Z founders want you to know about reverse ageism in the workplace

“Gen Z isn’t asking for a seat at the table, we are willing to make our own chairs and join the table,” states Mehek Malhotra, creative lead for India at design platform Canva and founder of Giggling Monkey Studio. With bubblegum pink hair grazing her shoulders in a blunt cut, a penchant for mermaid blue smoky eyes and a here-to-take-up-space approach to graphic design, the 25-year-old is the embodiment of all things Gen Z. Her statement is representative of all the things that make older generations bristle at the mere mention of the younger cohort making inroads into the workforce.

This generational conflict isn't exactly new—millennials had already been feuding with Gen X long before Gen Z sounded the warcry of ‘OK boomer’. Being raised at different points of time in history has led to radically different worldviews for each successive segment of the population, but as the new order reaches adulthood and makes their presence felt in the professional workforce, they are facing a new form of generation-shaming that tethers their abilities to an arbitrary numerical metric: age. Ahead, a career expert and Gen Z female founders take us through the modern workscape and draw up a roadmap for unshackling the next crop’s professional merits from their age.

As the gig economy continues to soar towards unprecedented heights, the 9-to-5 workday might soon become a relic of the past—and research concurs. A study conducted by Nielsen found that 54% of Gen Z respondents would prefer pursuing entrepreneurship over a desk job. And it isn’t hard to see why, states Sadaf Shaikh, talent strategist and founder of Caras Consulting. “This generation has grown up seeing their parents struggle through the recession and now, the pandemic. The thought of relying on the whims of corporate giants just isn’t appealing anymore,” she observes. Malhotra seconds the notion, and says, “Young people have always been bubbling with fresh ideas as we have access to the rest of the world right from our phones. Nothing is stopping us from imagining bigger goals that feel more achievable with each new day as we can connect with anyone across the world through the virtual-verse,” she says.

However, even as Gen Z leans in favour of an entrepreneurial career trajectory, there is a notable paucity of role models for them to look up to. “While growing up, I had very few people to ask the right questions to understand if I was working towards something that existed. Role models provide a safety net of possibilities but because we are working with new methods and processes, it can mean disconnecting with older approaches. What we need is more relatable role models rather than people we can put on pedestals,” insists the Mumbai-based creative designer.

The lack of role models or a tried-and-tested path to follow in an ever-evolving world isn’t all that ails Gen Z—young founders are also grappling with the need to be taken seriously at the workplace. “Girls of your age…,”, “you will never be successful,” and “I have 15 years more experience than you,” are all frequently fielded statements by Rukhsar Kazi, the 24-year-old founder of digital marketing agency, Our Quotient. “I have had clients double my age who were very considerate of my advice, but there is definitely a preconceived notion of ‘the older you are, the more experienced you must be.’ There are clients who will always find a reason to intervene and tweak things around, and it isn’t uncommon to have your decisions second-guessed, simply because of your age,” she confesses.

The need to be taken seriously has also gradually percolated into more physical changes for the newer generation. “You know how you dress up a certain way for interviews—fresh, formal, ready to take on responsibilities with your game face on?” questions Kazi. “An interview probably ends in thirty minutes, but in the professional life of a Gen Z founder, we live in that interview. We have to be on top of things, look a certain way and speak a certain way to show our worth to our investors and clients,” she adds. While she doesn’t have a problem with maintaining appearances, she believes it should be a choice rather than a compulsion.

Malhotra agrees with her on encountering similar experiences in the professional sphere—although her appearance has never affected her work quality, she has noticed the need to show up conventionally on certain occasions. “I have had pink hair since my college days and often had to tie my hair in meetings, so I look like I’m a serious professional. I even coloured my hair back to brown for a while to look more grown-up, but I quickly went back to pink because it felt unnatural without the bright hue in my hair. Appearance is often seen as a marker of professionalism and we need to let go of that—I’m very much capable of creating something amazing with my pink hair and tattooed arms too,” she observes.

While ageism in the workplace has traditionally been defined by a discriminatory attitude towards older generations, its alter ego is just as damaging for a hopeful generation of youngsters stepping into the workforce. Shaikh says, “Younger workers’s need to question the ‘why’ of processes can be misconstrued by older workers as rebellion. However, this questioning is needed in many organisations to break out of the staid ‘we’ve always done it this way’ mentality.”

Malhotra sums it up succinctly, “Don’t ask people’s age; instead, ask them for their portfolio. See their thinking process and reasoning power rather than the years they have spent at a job. We need to let go of age and look at the wealth of skill and knowledge that we can all connect on.”

Ultimately, Shaikh believes that we can only make headway in the generational divide if older professionals take the time to understand the new generation. “Much like the challenges millennials faced with the generation before them, Gen Z is different in how they have been raised and what they expect from the workplace. It’s not enough to simply get a pay cheque—they want to feel like they’re contributing to something bigger than just a job on a piece of paper. If you give them latitude and actually listen to them, they will revolutionise your business,” she assures.

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