There is a litany of stereotypes when it comes to Gen Z. They’re lazy. Obsessed with money. Like to prioritise self-care a little too much. Not scared to set their laptops down at 5pm and go off for their yoga class. In fact, in a recent survey 31 per cent of managers said they would avoid hiring Gen Z and 30 per cent said they’d had to make one redundant after a month.
In my experience none of these negative associations are true. In fact, in my role as a market research director, I have learned so much from my Gen Z colleagues about how to work and how not to work. They have taught me more than I have taught them.
Each time I’ve joined a new agency, I’ve made a beeline for someone younger because they are great at giving me the lie of the land. Who’s the guy that’s going to hand you a project in the shape of a giant nervous breakdown? Ask a Gen Z colleague and they’ll come right out and tell you who to avoid like the plague.
Colleagues my age, in their forties and fifties, are unlikely to share this information because we’re still busy trying to toe the line. We’re worried about losing our jobs if we are seen to be anything less than positive and happy.
My generation, Gen X, defined ourselves by our work and our role in hierarchical structures. The key message we got, starting off, was that you got your head down, “did your time”, and one day if you worked hard enough, for long enough, you too could be a stressed-out manager eating Rennies for your stress-induced heartburn, and shouting into a phone in your own tiny office/prison. The culture was quite macho: a case of go hard or go home.
And I followed the rules.
In my twenties, in my first junior role in a big company, I spent the first three years taking notes, carrying the director’s luggage, laughing at their unfunny jokes, and was told not to say anything in case I said the wrong thing. I was a scared robot who made tea and worked like mad.
I made sacrifices as I progressed and became more senior – but at a price. I always prioritised work over health and friendships. I battled constant headaches. I was always in fight or flight mode. Hours were long and I barely slept. But I told myself that work was my family and they would always care for me.
The cracks started to show when I came back to work after having my first child. I soon realised that women with kids were encouraged to pretend they didn’t exist or they risked losing any chance of promotion. As it was, I came back from maternity leave to find I’d been demoted and my role no longer existed. I was too tired and overwhelmed to fight back.
I had an important turning point in 2018 when I was made redundant from the role I’d had for over 18 years. I realised that work wasn’t going to love me back and that I had to put myself first.
The younger generation already knows this.
They are not lazy – they just know that jobs are not for life. Hell, they might not even be for another six months! They don’t want a job for life anyway as it’s weird and boring – some younger colleagues look at me like I’m an alien because I worked in the same company for 18 years. Work is important but it’s not so important that they are willing to fall on their sword for it. What a healthy attitude!
I think a lot of the attitude against Gen Z is pure jealousy.
My generation threw their entire lives into work and then got bitter and burnt out. They now feel resentful that this younger generation aren’t working at the same intensity. They don’t think it’s fair that they sacrificed everything and now their younger colleague is taking a sabbatical.
“And they didn’t even bring a pen to the meeting!” If I had a penny for every time a Gen X person has said this to me – aghast because their younger colleague didn’t want to write down every word coming out of their mouth – I’d be a wealthy woman. But the way that we worked wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t sustainable. I observed colleagues being signed off work for months at a time and two senior people who had nervous breakdowns because of work stress.
There are still some of those values lurking around many companies because people my age are the bosses and refuse to acknowledge that they could learn something from younger generations; that it’s about smart working, rather than working to the point of exhaustion.
Gen Z has boundaries. They don’t owe you anything. They want a life outside of work. Which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense and is exactly how things should be.
Annie Auerbach, author of Flex: Reinventing Work for a Smarter, Happier Life, believes younger people are changing the workplace for the better. “Gen Z have challenged some of the outdated norms of the workplace – for example that presenteeism, long working hours and 24/7 responsiveness are the ways to signal commitment. Burnout is higher on their cultural agenda than it was for previous generations, so they are more attuned to understanding how they work best and when they are at their most productive. They’ve shown that working flexibly is ambitious, creative and productive.”
At one of the companies I worked in recently I made friends with a younger colleague called Zoe. We would work on projects together and everything flowed. I sent her memes from Schitt’s Creek and she didn’t laugh and tell me it was a sad thing for a late-forty- something woman to be doing. We had each other’s backs. I admired her chutzpah because she always put her health and wellness first (if she was sick she took the day off rather than working through it, which many of the older team members did). After I left that company I had a vision of her moving in a zigzag motion across different companies, never sticking around too long, and squeezing what she needed out of each environment. She’d probably make director in half the time it took me.
She taught me the importance of looking after myself first – which has completely changed my perspective on work.
Over the past few years I’ve taken roles that were beneath my pay grade so I could free up more time to write which has always been my true passion.
Last year I pivoted and pursued writing and journalism full time. I now have a monthly magazine column and things feel like they’re finally happening for me.
It’s what I’ve always dreamt of but no matter what happens, I will never again sacrifice my health, relationships or family on a regular basis. Work is great but it’s only one part of life. I have learnt that from colleagues like Zoe.
