This column was not only motivated by the unemployment figures that came out recently, but also by the need to address the severity of the problem and how our youth tends to take opportunities presented to them for granted.
According to figures released by Stats SA in February 2024, the official unemployment rate was sitting at 32,1% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Youth unemployment rate, in particular has increased by 0,9 of a percentage point, from 43,4% in Q3: 2023 to 44,3% in Q4: 2023. Even though these stats are announced regularly, the only focus I see is on how big the number is of youth sitting at home, some with certificates but no jobs. We don’t seem to focus on the current problem of youth that do get job opportunities, more especially from small businesses, but take these for granted when they have them.
In most cases, when small businesses decide to give opportunities to the youth – it is not because we even have the budget to afford hiring an employee. At times, it is out of a feeling of concern or a need to do the right thing. We see these figures being announced and we want to be part of the solution to eradicate the scourge of unemployment. Also, we see the amount of youth sitting in the townships idling and also those that comment on traditional or social media platforms about the challenges they face from being unemployed. Some youth even beg us for opportunities to volunteer so that they can gain experience.
We end up feeling sorry for them that we re-adjust our very small budgets to try and accommodate at least one or two young people in our businesses. This is in a quest to help where we can with very limited resources. I don’t know if it’s our democracy that promised jobs, free education, free housing and all sorts, that has created the sense of entitlement in youth that I have seen in the last decade or so. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not all youth that feel entitled and arrogant about the fact that they MUST BE employed by local companies. Because I’m passionate about mentorship, coaching and providing internship or training opportunities – I’ve given ample chances to a number of youth in my business over the years. Some of these young people have now flourished into exceptional PR professionals, but some have been a huge disappointment.
Right now, I’m feeling disheartened by the way youth act at work. They always start out well, eager to please and show that they are serious about the opportunity. But give them three months or so and their true colours start to emerge. They start arriving late at work with absolutely no regard for company time and the fact that time is actually money. They show total disregard to the quality of work they produce, abuse company resources such as data and airtime – that are provided primarily for work purposes. Another important one is their dress sense, rocking up at work looking like they are going out to some casual outing with their friends. I’ve said this to youth before in previous columns, and I will say it again: it is very important to dress for where you are going in life not where you are; and I’d like to re-emphasize the importance of dressing for how you want to be addressed.
If our youth continue to not respect business wear or at least ‘smart casual’ then unfortunately we will address them the way, they are dressed. One cannot expect to be taken seriously when they are not dressed appropriately for a work environment. I continue to share an important sentiment with one of my previous CEO bosses, that over the years – we hired for 80% attitude and 20% skill. We always looked for youth that had 80% positive attitude and 20% skill instead of vice versa. This is because when a young person comes with a positive attitude toward their work and less skill, we are more than able to teach skill to a willing and well-behaved young person – but unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to teach attitude.
It is very difficult to teach a young person that comes with 80% skill and 20% attitude. This is because this group is normally not teachable because they think they know everything. In most cases, even though they have 80% skill, because they have not worked long enough to know everything – there’s usually still lots to learn but in most cases; they are not willing to listen or to be taught anything. And then, there’s a third group – the unmotivated ones that come with absolutely no skill and a bad attitude.
These two groups either come with an arrogant notion that they know it all and cannot be told anything or a just don’t care attitude. These negative characteristics are unfortunately very discouraging for most of us. I’d like to remind the youth that, as small businesses especially, we do not hire you because we owe you anything, so coming to work opportunities that we provide – with the attitude that you are doing us favours instead of the other way round is working against you. It is discouraging us from wanting to make a difference.
To young people – I’d like to close off by saying: We understand your plight when it comes to youth unemployment and we want to do something to help overcome this challenge. However, I would like to remind you that we do not HAVE TO employ you but instead, we choose to. In many cases, we do it not even being able to afford employing someone, but we take our last cent and accommodate you. So please start appreciating the work opportunities given to you, before things get worse than how they currently are when it comes to youth unemployment in South Africa.
If you want to understand why I am saying all of this – please look at the link attached to see what the other country’s attitudes are towards hiring young people (GenZers) in their companies: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-businesses-concerned-about-hiring-young-gen-z-workers-/7445914.html