You often hear middle-aged office managers moaning these days that Zoomers are completely unable to adjust to traditional Boomer office culture. They challenge everything. Refuse to be directed by line managers. Question the ethics or culture of the organisation. Demand to work specific hours. Request time off for stress and other mental illness related conditions. And the usual response is that Gen-Z just don’t get it. Work isn’t supposed to be a holiday, etc.
But of late, looking back at my own working life from the mid-1980s to the present day, I’m beginning to wonder if Zoomers are on to something. Maybe, they are right to challenge Boomer office culture. Because if we’re honest, much of what we all experienced in the past was dreadful. There are good things to highlight – which I will below – but also practices that need stamping out.
Where to begin?
Hierarchy: The 1980s office was rigidly hierarchical with middle and senior management hiding away in ‘goldfish bowls’ – sectioned off areas that you entered, almost tugging your forelock in deference. As a junior member of staff, your views were neither sought nor valued. Even though some of the managers above you ranged from mediocre to dreadful.
There was this curious idea that you should be learning from them. I did – I learned to do the exact opposite of anything they did.
Many rose upwards as a result of long service as opposed to delivering tangible results. So you had this resentful layer of middle managers who were fully aware of their limitations and did their best to undermine anybody they suspected was smarter. They had impostor syndrome – because they were impostors, devoid of flair, creativity, or strategic insight.
In my five years at the BBC, there almost seemed to be a policy of promoting failed producers and reporters into management or BS areas like ‘policy and planning’. Though I’m sure many of those people were incredible human beings, brimming with talent.
DISCOVER: Unemployment in the 1980s
Bullying: For two years after university, I worked in the Lloyd’s of London broking market. It was the late 1980s and the whole ‘yuppie’ thing was in full swing. The most pathetic specimens of manhood mistook themselves for alpha males treating male and female employees like dirt if they could get away with it.
Reducing somebody to tears was seen as some kind of victory.
I remember one odious character, a broker aged about 35, ‘accidentally’ dropping a load of forms on the floor and then ordering me, a new joiner, to pick them up. Admittedly, his gut – fattened with endless broker lunches – was so capacious that I don’t think he could physically reach the ground without inducing a hernia. But I curse myself to this day that I obliged and got his papers.
Nicknames were very prevalent in Boomer offices. Some were pretty benign while others were more malicious. And it was all seen as ‘banter’. But pretty reminiscent of school playground stuff you might imagine should have been left back in childhood.
Racism: Still in the Lloyd’s market, I worked for two brokerages before changing careers and going into journalism. The clients were based all over the world and in one of those firms, that shall remain nameless, the files were colour coded as follows. Africa – brown. Asia – yellow. You get the drift.
In case you imagine this was coincidental, the clients were referred to as ‘Scandihooligans’ (our Nordic clients) and words for the Middle East and African clients that are entirely unrepeatable.
In the City, ethnic minorities just didn’t feature on the payroll. When I got into journalism, that situation improved a bit. Though there was a lot of casual racism and under the breath ‘jokes’ about black and Asian people.
DISCOVER: 1985 – thrilling year for Cold War spies
Sexism and homophobia: I mean, where to start? Again, in the Lloyd’s market, the first woman allowed to enter the Lloyd’s building in the City of London and conduct broking was in 1973. And even in the 1980s, it was still a boys’ club. Two executives I worked with had pornography in their drawers. One openly boasted about it while the other kept his fondness for S&M photo-story mags a secret until we discovered one of them in his desk while he was out broking.
In many professions, the drinking culture essentially delivered an ultimatum to women – become a drunk like the lads or forget your career progression. God help any woman who decided to raise a family and hold down a job.
When I went into TV journalism in the 1990s, women held their own in the newsroom but there were disparities in pay and recognition. Two examples of newsroom sexism stick in my mind. On one occasion, I was covering a fashion event and went to interview a designer at her studio. While I chatted with her ahead of the interview, my camera operator wandered into the changing area to surreptitiously film (up-skirt basically) some of the models. The designer was facing in his direction and ordered me – quite rightly – to make him stop.
On another occasion, I was in a newsroom and pointed out that a female employee of a global company had just got a massive payout in a sex discrimination case. The response from another journalist was that we weren’t going to cover it unless she had been ……… by the entire accounts department. My jaw literally dropped. Even by the standards of the time, that was low.
As for being LGBT, you daren’t mention that in the 1980s as it could very easily lead to the sack in any job. Plus you wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage or life assurance. And you’d be the subject of horrific abuse.
In the early 1990s, working as a reporter on a financial magazine, I interviewed two underwriters of household name British insurers who openly stated that they would never insure gay men. Top marks to my editor who published their odious views. Little victories like that made a difference.
Today’s Zoomers: So, I guess the point I’m making is that Zoomers are right to challenge the traditional office environment. Things should change. For the better, hopefully. What do you think?
