There Have Always Been, and Always Will Be, Excellent, Good and Average Workers

Answers to questions from the media, July 2025.

What main differences in the perception of work do you observe between Generation Z/millennials and Generation X or the boomers? How, in your view, has the work motivation of younger generations changed compared with older ones?

I think that such a seemingly structured stratification of society sometimes needlessly creates certain expected differences, and in doing so rather gives up on the richness of the human personality and the “Jungian” possibility of mutual enrichment. In our field, which focuses on design and creative activity, one’s relationship to work is determined by the degree to which an aesthetic answer is found, and our workers, our colleagues, respect one another precisely for those skills. Of course, in general it can be said that media literacy and IT skills are probably naturally greater and deeper.

In practice, how does one cope with differing attitudes to work between generations? Can a common denominator be found?

In our company we do not perceive fundamental differences between generations, because artistic creation often unites experts of various professions regardless of age. That is also the common denominator. We are all connected, from the idea to its realisation, by responsibility for every step in the overall chain. The seasonal nature of our work also requires a certain flexibility and willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone, so age is really not the deciding criterion.

Where, in your view, do two generations meet, and where do they miss each other entirely in their idea of what “good work” is?

The focus of our company probably blurs these “expected” differences, because for many workers satisfaction comes from the successful realisation of our plans, in which they can also feel a certain gratification from taking part in interesting, publicly known projects. Specific work also requires certain skills, so I dare to suppose that in this respect our workers can agree regardless of age, namely in a good assessment. Because without a willingness to work with a certain unusual commitment, they could not work with us at all.

Is “quiet quitting” truly a new trend, or is it just a new name for something that has always been there?

With regard to our company and what I have said above, I think that perhaps we simply have a need to name differently situations we know from the past. There have always been, and always will be, excellent, good and average workers. Much depends on the life outlook of each of us. We live in a time of unusual generosity and opportunity, so it may logically affect the youngest generation through the influence of social networks, where the role models of society become people without deferred gratification. But most young people too will find out in their own lives that without a certain commitment and courage they will not achieve anything significant.

Is refusing “extra work” a problem? Or can it also be a sign of healthy self-confidence and boundaries?

It is probably good to distinguish certain boundaries in working and personal life, so that one does not go against oneself. With a touch of exaggeration, I shall probably now give myself away as belonging to a generation by my conviction, but I am fundamentally convinced that extra work is a condition of everyday life, whether I want to be exceptional in something or in an ordinary human situation, such as offering someone else a glass of water. I fear a world in which we would not be willing to help another person without reason.

What should the individual generations learn from one another when it comes to their approach to work?

Mutual enrichment between generations is an idea as old as Aristotle, and it runs from Comenius to Jung, and I think it is still relevant. It is precisely senior employees who can pass on experience to the youngest, and they in turn can naturally enrich the world of the older ones with new phenomena of the digital world, new technologies and so on. In our profession one can see beautifully how a thought or an idea can be developed technologically, but without content it would be empty. In the complementarity of creative activity and aesthetic perception, an idea is beautifully supplemented by experience of its use, originality by experience, and so on. Of course, younger generations can ideally reflect the experience of the older ones, who usually achieve exceptional results thanks to their ability first to build their own authentic world.