The Big Read: For youths, will pragmatism or passion rule as COVID-19 gives pause to rethink life’s priorities?
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The Large Read: For youths, will pragmatism or passion rule as COVID-19 gives intermission to rethink life's priorities?
Based on findings of the inaugural almanac TODAY Youth Survey, youths have a different take on what success in life ways. No longer is information technology divers by the 5Cs – cash, car, credit card, condominium and country lodge membership – that were once deemed every bit the ultimate Singapore dream by an before generation. (Illustration: TODAY/Anam Musta'ein)
- The COVID-xix pandemic has stretched on long plenty for young adults hither to reshuffle their priorities.
- Some see the turbulent times every bit an opportunity to pursue their passions, while others encounter the need to be pragmatic and protect their livelihoods.
- Another group that has anecdotally grown in numbers recently is determined to apace aggrandize their wealth and retire early on.
- Experts and employers agree that whichever path i chooses has its pros and cons.
- As employees slowly grow to accept hybrid work and home arrangements, employers should adapt their policies to suit such preferences.
06 Dec 2022 06:00AM (Updated: 06 December 2022 06:00AM)
SINGAPORE: When the COVID-nineteen pandemic struck early last yr, 29-yr-old Fiona Loh plant herself working for upwardly to 20 hours a day, juggling her day task as a technology production managing director at a banking concern and baking pastries at home for auction.
Ms Loh, who has a passion for baking, saw a boom in her dwelling house-based business when hundreds of orders streamed in during the "circuit breaker" period from Apr to June last year and across, with the majority of the demand coming from customers who were working from dwelling.
She soon found herself working through the night until 5am blistering brownies and cookies, and waking up before 9am for her day job at the depository financial institution.
Ms Loh then had to brand a decision – to continue her juggling act, or to turn her side hustle into her chief career.
"That was when I took a step back and had to rethink what information technology was that I really wanted to practice."
She then made the calculated risk to plough her baking passion into a full-time career in June final yr, and opened Whiskdom, her own bakery.
Ms Loh has not looked back since, with demand for her bakes continuing to stay strong, and she now has four full-time and two part-time employees.
While Ms Loh has taken a leap of faith career-wise, 29-year-sometime Anthea (not her existent proper name) prefers to play information technology safe even though she is not happy with her work situation.
Anthea had largely enjoyed her piece of work in the marketing section of a public relations firm, until information technology began to take on more projects amidst the raging pandemic last year. While she normally concluded work at about 8pm pre-COVID-19, she found herself staying up to the wee hours working to meet project deadlines, as working from dwelling house had blurred the lines between office and rest hours.
"After a while of working overnight, I merely felt burnt out and that information technology was no longer worth it," said Anthea.
However, she stuck it out for more than a year – before leaving the company in July this year – for very pragmatic reasons: She needed the money to pay her bills and did not desire to dip into her savings.
Anthea is presently working in a contract marketing role at another firm that pays near the same salary but has better working hours. Only she no longer enjoys working in the industry, and feels "stuck" in her current role.
"After a while, I feel no purpose in what I am doing," she said.
For still another millennial, 25-year-old Terence, the pandemic has led him to encompass the "Burn" movement, whose mantra is "financial independence, retire early". Proponents believe that this tin exist achieved by saving hard, investing well and living frugally from young.
Having graduated from academy terminal year, the dour economic outlook at that time – equally COVID-19 decimated one central industry later on another in Singapore and elsewhere – nudged Terence into subscribing to the movement seriously, starting with saving his money.
"There wasn't a major impetus to spend on anything … we couldn't travel, and whatever plans I had such as graduation trips were out of the window," said Terence, who wanted to exist known but by his start proper noun.
His difficult job search after graduation made him more determined to be frugal with his spending, fifty-fifty afterward he finally landed a position with a consultancy firm in August last twelvemonth. For instance, he would agree off upgrades, such as getting a new laptop, preferring to use his current model.
When the stock market place bottomed out at the tiptop of the pandemic terminal twelvemonth, Terence, in line with a key "Burn down" tenet, took the opportunity to invest, and has made healthy gains as the economy recovered.
"I recall even before COVID I always knew I would try my all-time … to climb the corporate ladder," he said. "While the motivation is still at that place, a big office of it is now to achieve 'Burn down' every bit soon as possible."
While Ms Loh, Anthea and Terence accept responded differently to the pandemic on the career front, they exercise take something in common: This once-in-a-generation crisis has forced them to re-evaluate or reshuffle their priorities in life, possibly much before than people of their age were wont to practice had COVID-19 not changed the world, literally, as we knew it.
And their respective choices – accept a risk to pursue one's passion; stick to a job even if you don't like it for the sake of financial stability; or find ways to raise one'southward wealth quickly to make early retirement possible – largely mirror that of other young adults, aged betwixt twenty and 30 years old, interviewed by TODAY recently.
Indeed, based on findings of the inaugural annual TODAY Youth Survey, youths take a different have on what success in life ways. No longer is it defined past the 5Cs – cash, auto, credit card, condominium and country club membership – that were once deemed as the ultimate Singapore dream past an earlier generation.
The TODAY Youth Survey 2021, which polled 1,066 respondents between the ages of xviii and 35 in early October, found that when asked what was the top indicator of fabric success, 59 per cent of respondents said it was to accept enough money to retire early.
Meanwhile, 52 per cent hoped for passive income from financial investments, and for 48 per cent, the power to travel twice or more a year.
The survey also asked the youths what were the most important factors in their working lives.
Having practiced colleagues or bosses, work-life balance and financial rewards were the superlative three factors mentioned, with most ix in ten respondents indicating that these were either "important" or "very important".
In comparison, good advancement prospects and a sense of purpose were the answers given by a slightly smaller proportion of the respondents.
The survey results propose that a pandemic-forced menstruum of introspection for many young people – arising from social distancing measures which have restricted gathering of friends, and having to work in isolation from abode – had given them time and space to recall outside of their careers, said some man resources (HR) experts.
"It seems that COVID has made more than young people retrieve about what they really desire to do in life and in having a more purposeful career … more than merely (to focus on) money," said Ms Angela Kuek, director of the Meyer Consulting Grouping.
Veteran Hr practitioner Adrian Tan said that COVID-19 has also led to youths confronting the ugly reality of how a crunch can destroy livelihoods and industries, and this tin can hit close to habitation for some.
For example, with families spending more time at home together during this period, young adults may exist more than privy to the financial struggles of their parents or close relatives during this period, and experience more motivated to avert the same plight in the future.
"If my father owes the banking company half a meg dollars and has to slog himself at work and I barely get to see him, I (wouldn't want) to be similar him when I grow up," said Mr Tan.
Like-minded, the National Youth Quango's (NYC's) master executive David Chua noted that immature people here are well enlightened of how external factors can influence employment and career opportunities in an open up economic system like Singapore.
"The pandemic's protractedness and concerns almost pay cuts, job loss and the lack of jobs could have led more youth to save and want to manage their finances more prudently," he said.
Post-obit Ane'S HEART
While the pandemic has provided many millennials with an opportunity to follow their passions, the journey comes with its own fix of challenges.
For Whiskdom's Ms Loh, she had been getting a "relatively well-paying" salary at her previous job, though she declined to reveal the amount. Starting her own business meant that she is taking home just 20 per cent of her original income.
"I simply allowed myself to draw an assart, and everything else I poured back into growing the brand, be it hiring more than people, or expanding into a new space," she said.
Simply Ms Loh was not one to pursue her passion blindly, without showtime agreement what she was in for.
To ensure that her business would be viable, she had calculated that excluding acquirement from the sales, she could afford the operating costs of her business for two years by just relying on her savings – the time frame she had given herself to run across if she could succeed.
For instance, she at present works on her business for nearly all her waking hours, seven days a week, up from the usual five-mean solar day work week. Her social life now consists of her friends visiting her at work.
Amongst these sacrifices came a growth in her business. She had first launched a stall at Alexandra Central Mall in June terminal year, and expanded concluding calendar month to another stall at Havelock Road.
"I am more prudent in managing my expenses past proactively tracking my expenditure, cooking more than oft at habitation and eating out less, and cutting downwardly on drinking sessions," she said. "Correct now, my entire worldview has shifted from work-life residue, to piece of work-life integration."
For others such equally Ms Buena Araral, the pandemic has introduced a new passion fifty-fifty as it forces her to put her commencement love on hold.
The 20-year-old had long dreamed of becoming an arts director or creative director in the theatre scene.
But after graduating from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Practical Drama and Psychology in May this year, she knew that information technology would remain an elusive dream for the foreseeable future, with COVID-19 restrictions putting a damper on the performing arts industry.
Instead, Ms Buena decided to accept a gap year before continuing her studies, and is currently working as an intern at a media firm equally a podcast producer. She is involved in much of the production procedure, from the sourcing of profiles to hosting them on the podcasts.
Through her new office, she has developed a passion for podcasting.
"With the electric current job, I realise it is not the same as what I wanted, merely ultimately I am still telling stories and it is still a artistic job … so this is really a job that I could be happy with.
"While information technology is sad that my dream was always to do theatre and that was non what I ended up doing, I don't consider that to exist a loss," said Ms Buena.
While Ms Buena has found a new passion via her job, another youth, Mr Thaqif Ismail, has yet to notice his.
After graduating from the National University of Singapore with a political science major early terminal twelvemonth, he was "rushing to get a job" at a time when companies were shedding or freezing their headcount.
The 26-year-erstwhile'south first full-fourth dimension chore was with a media analytics company, which was not his platonic career choice. Instead, Mr Thaqif had set his centre on taking on a more public-facing media function, such as working for international or regional organisations, or a journalism outfit.
After working about one year in the media analytics role, he decided to quit in June and pursue further studies, with an center to getting his ideal job after. He is currently pursuing a primary's caste in Asian studies at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological Academy.
"(A job) is more most just getting by, I demand to work in a job that I believe in and I am passionate near, it's something that helps me get up in the morning, and it is a necessity for whatever future task," said Mr Thaqif.
The search for a better job fit was also a journey with several detours for Mr Marshall Too, who had graduated in 2019, soon before the pandemic. He had wanted to join the finance industry, but had not notwithstanding found a full-time job in the manufacture past the time the first coronavirus infections were reported hither in January 2020.
With task opportunities across most sectors drying up, Mr Besides had to grapple with the limited range of jobs on offering. He ended upward becoming a consultant at a financial establishment fifty-fifty though he felt information technology was not an platonic fit for him.
"I felt pressured to commit to a 70 per cent situation whereas if COVID didn't exist, I could have waited out to find an lxxx or 90 per cent fit," he said.
After working for a year, he took on a new job as a risk analyst in another financial institution in Apr, which he described as an "85 per cent fit".
Finding fulfilment in a chore is a process of growth, rather than a goal achieved in a unmarried pace, he said.
"It is an ongoing process of what you want to change (in your chore) and defining that for you will have time."
Is 2022 the year when employees have back control over work amid predictions of a great resignation wave? HR experts discuss on CNA'south Heart of the Matter:
PRAGMATISM HAS ITS LIMITS
Those who have chosen to hunker down in their less-than-ideal jobs to pay bills are ready to motility elsewhere if the opportunity comes along.
Anthea, the marketer, said she had thought of a mid-career switch to sales, an industry she envisions herself having a greater involvement in.
However, the risk of the unknown has been holding her back from making the jump.
"I am not doing it yet because of the uncertainties," she said. "What if I switch to this brand new industry, and struggle with all the unknowns and end upward not hit sales targets?"
Mr Quinn Caleb Lim, who has worked for three years equally an IT support engineer, is no stranger to the struggles of trying to be financially stable.
The 26-yr-one-time has been doing odd jobs, such as retail assistant and hotel housekeeper, since the age of sixteen to pay for his didactics, daily allowance and other expenses.
Despite his working experience, nothing could prepare him for the starting time few months of the pandemic, when more than people were hired in his visitor and he had to assist them with preparing laptops and other IT equipment.
His workload increased and he found himself staying in the office for two consecutive nights. After that episode, the workload continued to exist heavier than usual for the next two months, partly because he had to help with Information technology issues during his company's transition to working from home.
While his employer actively discouraged working overtime, the increased workload gave Mr Lim little pick for most days during that menstruation, which added to his stress. At that time, he found himself gaining weight and not sleeping well.
"I had changed my perception of what to prioritise in general," said Mr Lim. "Earlier 2020, I would requite information technology my all at piece of work, but after 2020, I realised that I really demand to take care of myself."
Like in Anthea's case, the pandemic-induced toil has dampened his enthusiasm for his job, and has led him to wonder if there are other opportunities out at that place that would meliorate adjust his interests.
He now has plans to look for job listings in the nigh time to come that will give him a improve sense of progression, and has started to recollect of what other industries would interest him, while his current job helps to pay the bills in the meantime.
While he withal does not know what would interest him yet, he said that the pandemic has at least spurred him to recollect deeply about it.
"If not for COVID, I would be clueless as before, equally I did not have much aim and I did non know what I want to exercise in the near future," he said.
LIFE IN THE FIRE Movement
For those pursuing the Burn down movement, gaining financial independence is not just about saving or making enough money to make early retirement possible. It is also almost making a conscious endeavour to stay debt-free, and so that 1 has the flexibility to make career changes without having to worry about where the money will come from for the next debt payment.
Terence, the Fire follower, concurred with the findings from TODAY'due south survey that the most popular indication of material success is to accept enough funds to retire early.
He said that he had merely chanced upon the Fire movement one calendar month into his job, considering more people online were talking near it during the pandemic and he institute that its goals suited his mindset towards work and retirement.
His arroyo to financial independence is to immerse himself in his piece of work to leap up the ranks to receive bigger paychecks.
His motivation to give it 100 per cent in his chore is so he can "utilise the energy in (his) youth to climb as fast as possible and accumulate wealth as fast as (he) tin".
"I'm going to exist diligently working at my main task, and try to go as many pay increases as possible, and pb as frugal a lifestyle as I can while being comfortable, and invest what I have (in stocks)," he said.
For xxx-yr-old Chris Chong, he has been subscribing to the Fire motility for almost four years since 2017, when it became more pop.
The pandemic has emboldened his drive to pursue the Fire movement, and also encouraged more young people to try out the movement, he said.
"There'due south definitely a stronger focus on (Burn) as people desire to really take charge of their finance then that ane 24-hour interval, if they e'er get retrenched from their chore, in that location is still hope for them, that they still have other kinds of income sources, and their savings are enough," he added.
Mr Chong, who is an analyst in the manufacturing industry, aims to gain financial independence past the time he is 35 only has no intentions to fully retire.
Instead, he wants to be a self-employed content creator, and aims to do this by expanding his existing YouTube channel Honey Money SG, which doles out fiscal communication to immature adults.
He envisions himself making enough to pay off his basic expenses, while withal receiving passive income from his financial investments.
"My motivation is to be a self-employed person and so I don't have to reply to my bosses," he said.
Hour EXPERTS, EMPLOYERS Counterbalance IN
While there is no one correct arroyo to career planning amid the pandemic, whichever path a young person prefers to take has its pros and cons, said Hour experts and employers.
For people who are passionate about their jobs, they practice not usually feel that work is separate from their lives, since they derive straight satisfaction from information technology, said Ms Kuek from the Meyer Consulting Group.
"Why must work and life be dissimilar compartments? When y'all are doing something that yous really enjoy and it is your passion and you derive a lot of satisfaction from information technology, then it is part of your life."
She added that people such as Ms Loh and Ms Buena take been successful in their career choices, not necessarily because they are earning the nigh income compared to their peers, merely because they are able to notice purpose and meaning.
"To me, a high salary is non a defining standard for success," she said.
Notwithstanding, employees with passion practise non always stay long in the company, since they are constantly looking to upgrade their skills and larn new things.
Mr Adam Piperdy, founder of events company Unearthed Productions, said that in the creative marketing industry, there are many youths who enter with a "decent amount of passion" but who only stay for ii to three years.
"I don't recall they are looking for a career, only are looking for projects," he said. "They come in and they contribute, and when they find that they have reached their personal ceiling, then they would desire to move on."
While this do – some telephone call it job-hopping – may have been frowned upon in the past, Mr Piperdy best-selling that this is a norm among the younger generation, who are interested not in growing within a company but developing their own skills and interests with different portfolios.
"We encourage them if they feel they accept maxed out their potential in the company and then they should motion on," he said. "For employers, we have to be ready for this new workforce."
Surveys conducted past NYC have besides shown that acquiring new skills and knowledge have been superlative life goals for immature Singaporeans, said Mr Chua.
For those who accept prioritised pragmatism above passion in their careers, Mr Tan, the HR practitioner, said that the power to discover piece of work that serves their businesslike needs differs from case to instance.
For example, a young adult who happens to be a software programmer volition exist in high need and will continue to receive handsome paychecks during the pandemic tech nail. However, someone who works in the hotel industry may exist forced to switch careers in club to remain pragmatic.
Employers say that they empathise with employees who announced to be disgruntled in their jobs but are staying put due to the uncertain economic situation.
Mr Kelvyn Chee, managing director of clothes retailer Decks, said that some of his employees who have chosen to stay in the visitor to ride out the pandemic are frequently demoralised when they see how the retail industry has been hard hit.
"Every bit an employer for apparel and retail, information technology is difficult for us to requite them a clear direction as to what the future will be like," he said. "Even nosotros are not sure how this pandemic volition turn out, so it'southward very hard to motivate them."
Withal, he added that most of his employees would grit their teeth and would often enquire him what they could practise to help make the business concern more profitable.
To aid some employees stay motivated, Mr Chee said the firm creates "profit-sharing" projects, where employees involved can have a share of the profits.
For example, when Decks was 1 of the companies hired by the Temasek Foundation to supply facemasks to Singaporeans, there was a projection created to customise some of the masks, and the profits were shared betwixt the mask designers and the salespersons.
"This helps even some of those who are fatigued well-nigh the pandemic to work hard to reach the level (of motivation and remuneration) that they want," he said.
For those who subscribe to the Burn move, experts said that while it is feasible, 1 should exercise caution to avert burnout from working likewise hard at such a young historic period.
Mr Tan said that the motility has resonated with a growing number of people during this period with more than workers losing their livelihoods and saddled with debts.
He likened the double whammy to being in a "financial jail".
"For whatever of u.s.a. who have been in financial jail, you have to exercise things that you lot detest and information technology is really very painful," he said. "You have to make sacrifices, and it's not the kind of torture I would desire my kids to get through."
Yet, Ms Kuek said that the movement is based on the theory of "suffer kickoff, enjoy later".
"You're only young once, and you will be spending your youth to slog," she said.
She said that while people are entitled to choose the kind of life they want to live, she would advocate for a more balanced lifestyle.
"There's nix wrong with finding purpose with what you lot do and slowly building upward your savings," she said. "You don't have to save 70 per cent (of your income) and retire at 40, you lot tin can save 30 to 50 per cent and retire at l while not being so hard on yourself."
WORK- LIFE Remainder, Good OFFICE VIBES STILL A PRIORITY
Mirroring the survey results, most of the young adults spoken to said that work-life rest and their relationships with their bosses and colleagues have become the acme concerns in their careers – a shift too brought about by the pandemic.
Mr Daniel Farhan, 26, who had just started his job at a bank in Baronial, said that having to work from habitation led to the usual issues for some of his colleagues, such every bit a lack of face-to-face interaction, a sense of isolation and the lack of demarcation betwixt piece of work and dwelling, which led to feelings of burnout.
They were quick to arrange to the situation, however.
"What we try to practise is demarcate specific blocks of time to make sure nosotros accept time to ourselves, rather than be stuck at our desks," he said.
Mr Chua reiterated that youth increasingly intendance about having work-life residual amid the pandemic. Noting that COVID-19 has blurred the lines between work and personal life, he said: "Immature Singaporeans who have increasingly prioritised work-life residual are now more deliberate in maintaining a healthy balance and positive outlook for their overall well-beingness."
From an employer's perspective, Mr Piperdy noted that at his business firm, the immature adults looking to join often ask near company culture and work hours, questions that were not asked as much before the pandemic.
"I do feel like those (aspects) are more important (to immature adults) because they know that money can be earned in other means … coin is i of the last few things they discuss nearly, they are request more most benefits, diversity and welfare policies."
Ms Kuek added that companies will have to rethink how they want to restructure the workplace, and adapt to a hybrid work system, even when going back to the part is allowed.
"People are very used to having a hybrid model of working from the office and working from dwelling, so the young working adults similar that and are used to it," she said. "There will be a lot of lethargy going back to the office."
"Companies will accept to recall a little about how they want to structure their workforce after nosotros emerge (from the pandemic)."
This story was originally published in TODAY.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/big-read-covid-19-youth-life-priorities-pragmatism-passion-294906
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