Suzy Welch, 66, an author and professor at New York University, has some thoughts about Gen Z in the workplace after a 25-year-old office worker asked her how to deal with burnout. Welch was flabbergasted by the young professional’s question. After all, at 25, they are just three years into their career.
Welch said she told the 25-year-old that she worked “seven days a week” when she was 25 and loved it. In fact, if there was any way she could have worked more, she would have. The young woman simply said, “But you had hope.” Welch was stunned and that statement made her stop and think, she recounted to Jeff Berman on the Masters of Scale podcast.
“And I did have hope. We all did have hope,” Welch said. “We believed that if if you worked hard you were rewarded for it. And so this is the disconnect.”
Sometime over the years, that sense of hope disappeared. Gen X came of age with the threat of nuclear war and by the time elder Gen Xers got out of college, there was a recession and the Gulf War. Things just got bleaker for the following generations with September 11, the war in Afghanistan, a worldwide financial crisis, unchecked school shootings, and the current political divisiveness.
As far as Gen Z is concerned, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope for the future, let alone advancement in one’s career. Who can truly commit to their 9-to-5 job when the world seems to be on the verge of World War III most days?
The missing ingredient
Gen Z watched what happened to their parents when they worked very hard and still got laid off, Welch said in the interview. As a result, Gen Z doesn’t want to give too much of themselves at work, she added.
Companies, meanwhile, have installed wellness programs to help young Millennials and Gen Z thrive in the workplace. But the companies that put these programs in place often don’t truly understand the disconnect between younger workers and their older bosses.
Welch goes on to say that workplaces can’t give their younger workers hope because the cost of doing business includes layoffs and firings.
Different values between Boomers and Gen Z
Boomers can’t expect Gen Z to reflect the same values; their values don’t align and Gen Z isn’t going to change to match their workplace. Very few Gen Zers want to display the Boomer values of achievement, work centrism, belonging, and community. Rather, their values are a combination of meaningful work, work-life balance, flexibility, and authenticity.
High level of workplace stress
There are unprecedented levels of stress among younger generations in the workplace, according to the American Psychological Association. A 2024 Gallup Poll revealed that just 31% of workers under age 35 reported that they are thriving while 21% said they felt lonely.
“I think the distance between people is greater than it ever has been before,” Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist of workplace and wellbeing, told Fortune. “When people become more distant physically, you become more mentally distant. That’s what’s happened with younger workers.”
