Gen X gets it right?

A recent survey by an Indian conglomerate stated that Gen X is better in ‘making space for life’ than the millennial groups. It is said that 59 per cent of the Gen X spends time in pursuing their passions compared to 38 per cent of millennials. While millennnials are the chief wage earners with a share of 47 per cent, Gen X prefers a work-life balance. We talk to both millennials and Gen X members for their perspective.

Sankya Dey, strategic consultant at IBM opines, “Being a part of  the Gen X brigade, I work to meet my financial commitments in order to ensure that those dependant on me will have a good life. Only someone with no financial liabilities — like EMI, rent, other related expenses can afford to quit their job or work for a meagre salary.

On the other hand, there are some who found their passion in their work and are enjoying themselves along with a hefty pay. Through proper work delegation between family members, we have a properly planned life.”

Shashank R,  a theatre artiste and a millennial says, “Desiring to be self-employed, we, the millennials take the steps that disrupt the usual balance of just having a nine-hour job.”

Elaborating further on Gen X, he opines, “They probably have had enough time to secure their future so they are in a place where they have a secure job and can take time off to follow their passions too.”

Ashutosh VSL,  theatre artiste and a millennial states his reasons as, “We the millennials alre always driven by our passio. We even excel at multi-tasking, whereas Gen X follow the traditional way of working. Percentage of older millennials is less than Gen X in pursuing passion because of the nine-hour desk job paying ample amount with which we fulfil our dreams. We mostly try not to miss out any sort of fun we could at this age and our work-life balance is terrible because of the extreme amount of work and overtime we do. Lives after the office is stuck to screens and partying, this of course makes us a lazy and is the reason for lesser scope for making space for a better life.”

Sunil Kumar AN, infrastructure delivery manager in an IT company and a Gen X member says,  “The work-life  balance  has come with time and patience. Multi-tasking may not be possible for us but the way we work is satisfying. In our times, we opted for professions that appealed to us instead of opting for preferred desk jobs with five digit salary which was didn’t even exist in those days. Various profession with ample amount of stress is the reason for the poor work life balance in millennials.”