Back To Basics

Between rising costs, climate anxiety and post-pandemic uncertainty, Gen Z is coming of age in a world they say feels like it’s always on fire.

Now under pressure to start a career, many young people are struggling with confidence and communication. Many in this generation fear speaking to someone on the phone, for example.

Now, a novel new program in the United Kingdom is trying to help, the Guardian reported.

Last week, the Greater Manchester-based nonprofit, Higher Health UK, launched “Skills 4 Living,” a program aimed at teaching members of Gen Z – people born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s – the kinds of “everyday but essential” skills often overlooked in the classroom, such as empathy, time-management, problem-solving, critical thinking and, crucially, how to hold a proper conversation.

The course will be primarily taught online, but students will also need to complete in-person assignments. It includes sessions on various topics, such as spotting fake news, maintaining online safety, dealing with discrimination, and avoiding scams.

Higher Health UK explained that the goal is to reach 10,000 young people across the region by September. With support from local universities, it plans to expand to young offenders, military youth, and refugees.

The initiative comes amid concerns by companies that many of their young recruits lack “essential life skills” and would rather communicate via text or email than speak to others on the phone or in person.

Complicating the matter is that employers also complain about the challenges of working with Gen Z employees, citing a lack of a strong work ethic and an inability to handle feedback well, among other issues, Euronews added.

Sandeep Ranote, a child psychiatrist and chair of Higher Health UK, explained that the program also seeks to help Gen Z build resilience because they have grown up under immense pressure.

“Young people are going into a world with huge challenges that certainly I didn’t have,” she told the Guardian. “I call it the five Cs: They lived through Covid, climate change, cost-of-living, cyberspace and conflict.”

Mental health is also one of the goals that the program seeks to address, Ranote said, describing teaching Gen Z skills and confidence to enter the workplace as “pre-prevention” against anxiety and depression.

Ramneek Ahluwalia, CEO of Higher Health UK and South Africa, where the program first started, also stressed that it seeks to address some of the gaps found in traditional education. While the traditional system focuses almost entirely on concrete job skills, he said, studies show that 85 percent of what contributes to job success comes from “soft skills.”