Recommendations

This paper might have painted a grim reality of the evolving concepts of work and family within the African continent for the ‘Millennial’ worker. That was never the real intention. The purpose was to highlight the fact that both work and family are facing critical reorganizations and that ‘Millennials’ are uniquely placed to seize the opportunity presented to shape the eventual outcomes of both concepts for the betterment of our time and of those to come.
The first of these opportunities lies in a race, not for greater technological advancement in the work place, but for outdoing each other in infusing humanity into the age of automation.. The numerous interventions necessitous in realizing this outcome portend, in my view, a veritable solution to the joblessness. The largely unregulated state of the digital labour market affords the precious opportunity to re-think the interests of the worker and to conceptualize the meaning and place of work, building on the gains that have already been achieved and dealing definitively with the loose ends which continue to perpetuate inequality. Part of this inequality is a by-product of the stereotypes fermented by generational theories. Instead of lazily labelling the characteristics of age cohorts on a global scale, serious research within individual workplaces will cast light on the needs and challenges faced by workers across a lifespan in order to cater effectively and accumulatively to them. Some organizations are already catching onto the fact that the traditional incentives are no longer attractive, driving up competition towards incentive packages that actually make sense to the here-and-now workplace. Assistance with offsetting some of the student loan is a good example.
Within the education sector, major curriculum shifts toward greater compatibility between pedagogy and the real-time requirements of industry are needed. Emphasis on education that allows active and competitive contribution to the green, blue and orange economies is critical. At the same time, these curricula amendments will allow for greater indigenization of education, especially within the African context to promote and ingrain those positive cultural dimensions of a synergetic community. If the necessary human, monetary and time resources are allocated to this enterprise, meaningful work opportunities will be immediately emergent.
Within the family context, an appreciation of the unsustainability of current family formation patterns is needful. Abundant family research, counselling and training will be useful in shaping better family outcomes especially among young people. Causes of conflict, challenges to parenting, work benefits sensitive to unique family set-ups such as single parents or the elderly need constant exploration.