Business has become increasingly involved in social and political issues. Some believe this is because each successive generation has been more left wing than the last, and thus expect brands to undertake corporate activism. Certainly, Millennials are not shifting to the right as they age, and Generation Z is shifting further to the left as measured by their voting preferences.

While younger generations are more aware and more closely aligned with corporate activist initiatives, they may in fact be the greatest victims of corporate advocacy gone overboard. 

According to this survey report, instead of believing they are solely assessed on their merits and abilities, most young people think their employers judge them on their ability to toe a politically correct corporate line. Among more right-leaning Gen Z workers, a shockingly high proportion have quit jobs because of corporate activism—especially considering the short time they have been in the work force. 

Most young people say corporations should stick to providing desirable goods and services to customers, employment to workers, and returns to shareholders. 

Younger generations are extremely cynical about big business’s motivations to jump on social justice bandwagons. 

The massive corporate push to get involved in political and social issues is the result of many factors over which the youngest and most inexperienced cohort of workers has little control. The polling shows the majority of them are not engaged with the activism — and are certainly not driving it. 

Rather, Gen Z feel they must contort themselves into the correct ideological box to earn a living and move forward in their careers.