But turning back to Gen Z

Report after report tells us that Gen Z want flexibility, a great work life balance and to know that their work is purposeful and meaningful. They also want career development, ongoing support and coaching, and a wage that enables them to have the lifestyle they choose. 

Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight given my experiences, I feel Gen Z are going to be disappointed, which will inevitably create stress.  

Gen Z is a generation that has been endlessly bombarded with messaging from influencers, educators, the media and others about living the dream, earning thousands without doing more than a few hours work, life having deep meaning, the only way to look after your mental health is to reduce/limit time at work, quiet quitting so others don’t take advantage of you, pushing for higher salaries to pay for the life you want to be living. And, not surprisingly, after seeing probably millions of similar messages, there is enormous belief about the kind of work you can have and the kind of life you can lead.

The reality of the workplace

Jobs and hours

• There are simply not that many roles where the hours and place of work can genuinely be determined by the employee (most roles in manufacturing, healthcare, education, retail, transport and logistics, hospitality, and security, have no choice about where and/or when to work).
• There are few roles for the self-employed or those setting up a business that don’t require enormous energy and graft on an ongoing basis.
• There are also few jobs that might be considered really meaningful and interesting work as even worthwhile and rewarding jobs such as nursing, environmental protection, scientific research etc invariably have huge parts of the role that is mundane, boring, administrative and not exciting at all.
• There are few technical and professional jobs for those that want to have a career that don’t require close supervision or training in the first few years of learning.
• There are an abundance of roles that are somewhat or totally boring for those doing them and also roles that require the ever unpopular shift working. However, our society would cease to function if no one did these roles. How do we square this circle if our employees are told that jobs can and should always be fun and rewarding?

Money issues

• There are few jobs that provide high salaries for few hours and
• The cost of paying Gen z significantly improved salaries is prohibitive, unaffordable.
• The more leisure time we have away from work the more it costs, putting added pressure on our personal finances.

Working hard and being in the workplace is actually good for us

• Being productive and working is generally good for our mental health and wellbeing (lots of research on this).
• Being part of a team is very good for our social health and as a result our physical and mental health too – this requires us to fit in with the team and compromise, rather than always do our own thing. Research shows that being physically present enables us to develop critical relationships and friendships.
• Very few of us will gain, across our lifetimes, a sense of personal satisfaction and achievement if we don’t have to work for something, don’t have to put the effort in and are not challenged enough. Happiness and satisfaction rarely come from having everything handed to you on a plate.

So where do we go from here?

The stress I talked about in the opening paragraph of this article, I believe arises in large part out of expectations not being met, an uncertainty about how to go about living the life that has been planned and expected, a frustration with not having enough money to do what you want, and a mismatch between what you have and what you believe you and everyone else has or deserves to have.

This is tough for Gen Z, no wonder so many are stressed.

As employers what can we do? I don’t have all the answers but here are a few ideas:

Three Don’ts

1. Don’t be tempted to go with the media messaging about work not being good for your mental health. Check the research and you will see that working is generally good for us. Share this information with your employees, while being up front and honest about when working is not good for our mental health (eg negative workplace cultures, bullies, micro management etc)
2. Don’t listen to those who say flexibility and remote working is the key to happiness. It’s the key to an easier life, to saving some travel costs, to being able to more easily manage the home and children/elder care/pets etc, but it’s not the key to what so many of us enjoy and value, which is the social environment of the workplace, a place where we can form and build relationships with a wide variety of people.
3. Don’t let what is trending on social media dictate your workplace policies, practises etc. This can lead you down a rabbit hole of niche thinking that can exclude as many staff as it includes. Instead, always lead with common sense, business need, long term thinking, and a wide range of views properly considered and discussed before introducing new policies and procedures.

Three Do’s

1. Do provide development and learning sessions for staff on topics such as resilience so we can slowly educate and support our younger employees about the process of building resilience (what it looks and feels like) and how resilience will only be built through a variety of life experiences, many of which will feel uncomfortable or tough.
2. Do foster a culture of open discussion, the sharing of ideas and experiences, respectful listening to other people and healthy debate. Value other people’s views even where those differ from our own. You could even include training on all of this if it is important to you to create a more ‘adult’ culture.
3. Do initiate a discussion with your staff around their career, work, and pay expectations and how realistic those are in your workplace. This needs to be carefully handled of course but without the discussion you will have frustration and anxiety about what is not working for them. You might get some resign when they realise you are not going to be able to deliver what they want, but better that, than a swathe of individuals who blame you for making them stressed, with the accompanying absence and reduced productivity.

In summary

• Employers need to educate staff more, especially about how life skills are developed.
• Employers need to open up more discussions, especially about expectations and differences.
• Employers need to pay less attention to the media, especially social media.

Let’s all take a practical, rather than knee-jerk, media-driven approach to managing all this difficult stuff that is going on. We are all, as employers, in this together. It’s a shared problem so let’s work out how to solve it together.

As a final thought though, is it possible that Gen Z is not quite as stressed as they believe they are? Some might say that being ‘stressed’ by work, life and everything in between is just one more narrative that they have been fed.

Anything you want to comment on or add? This is a very challenging time for so many so the more ideas the better! Leave your thoughts below.

The information contained within this article is for general guidance only and represents our understanding of employment and associated law and employee relations issues as at the date of publication. Jaluch Limited, or any of its directors or employees, cannot be held responsible for any action or inaction taken in reliance upon the contents. Specific advice should be sought on all individual matters.