“Working hard or hardly working?” The moral career of young employees

• Published in: Journal of comparative research in anthropology and sociology Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Author: Ioan, Ana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucharest University of Bucharest, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work 01.12.2023; Universitatea din Bucuresti, Facultatea de Sociologie si Asistenta Sociala; University of Bucharest, Department of Sociology, Doctoral School of Sociology
• Subjects: Beneficiaries; Business Ethics; Careers; Confidence; Data collection; Discourses; Employees; Employers; Employment; Generation Z; Groups; Human Resources in Economy; Labor market; NGOs; Nongovernmental organizations; Occupational roles; Occupations; Qualitative research; Small business; Social identity; Social relations; Sociology; Subjective experiences; Work; Workers; Youth; Employees; Belonging group; Identity; Moral career
• ISSN: 2068-0317; 2068-0317

This study examines how young individuals who were born between 1996 and 2000 navigate the moral career stages in their professional life and how they come to terms with the significance of their own work. The study employs a qualitative methodology with the objective of presenting the views, discourses, and behaviours unique to the group under analysis, as well as the subjective experiences of highly educated workers in various roles. The ten respondents—seven of them women and three of them men—come from various backgrounds and occupations in Bucharest, including NGOs, small businesses, multinational organizations, and veterinary clinics. Semi-structured interviews were employed to align with the study’s exploratory and descriptive methodology. The primary findings indicate that young workers experience learning and anxiety in the first stage of a moral career at work, self-confidence, and social relationships in the second stage, and routine and self-confidence in the third stage. Young employees negotiate the meaning of their own work using three different approaches: the first group views work as having intrinsic value, the second group views work as providing opportunities for learning, and the third group defines work as adding value for clients and beneficiaries.