As we are celebrating youth day, we are reminded of the sacrifices the Soweto youth made to the liberation of South Africa. However, the most disappointing aspects of post-apartheid South Africa is extreme levels of unemployment, particularly less-skilled and younger Back people. These unemployment levels are further aggravated by the lack of infrastructure to equip these young people with the right skills. Therefore in the absence of effective infrastructure, structural unemployment remains the bleakest indicator of the welfare challenge facing the South African society.

 In addition, the majority of these previously disadvantaged youth identify with their poor socio-economic conditions of the second economy. This means that the majority of these youth entering the first economy organisations experience a conflict between the values associated with their social environment and their work. The corporate power relationship in the South African workplace is still unequally distributed in favour of a western culture and this may mean that especially these Black youths' expression of self may be rejected by these private sector organisations. This conflict between the individual's values and the work environment therefore lead to an inauthentic sense of the self, which in turn, breakdown the individuals’ psychological and relational well being.

This detachment may ostensibly contribute to an identity crisis among these young Black professionals and is at the core of our employment challenges. The solution lies in understanding these young people entering our organisations in order to contribute towards their sense of self, develop their professionalism and ultimately emotionally connect them to their work, resulting in commitment to their organisations.