GenZ and Toxic Workplaces

Lazy? Maybe not...

Contrary to popular belief, GenZ is not a "lazy generation"; they don't want to adapt to the hustle culture lifestyle. With the rise of Tiktok, phrases like "quiet quitting", "Bare Minimum Mondays" and "Lazy Girl Jobs" have been spread around the internet. Young people are looking to prioritize their mental health and life outside of work. The creator who coined the "Lazy Girl Job" quit her tech job after fainting on the job due to burnout. She intentionally used the word lazy because…it isn't laziness! It's just work-life balance. But having a conversation about work-life balance in a hustle culture environment can make you seem lazy to the older generations who prioritize their careers to -sometimes- an unhealthy extent.

I currently work three part-time jobs; floor staff at a movie theater (1 year), front desk at a gym (2 months), and graphic designer/admin assistant/blog writer (1.5 years). At the theater, 90% of my coworkers are between 17 and 27. It is extremely obvious how those people value their work-life balance, especially in how they interact with employees, managers, and customers. One of my older managers has more experience in his role but is much more customer-centric. Which of course is important! We wouldn't have a job without customers.

However, he lacks an integral relationship with other employees and cares a lot more about looking good to the customer, and, in turn, will make the floor staff look bad. This is also the case in my job at the gym. I have only been there for a couple of months. Still, it was immediately obvious to me that the general manager, in all ways, cares more about our customers than about assisting their employees. They tell us that we're "not doing our job" or doing it incorrectly but will not provide us with the tools needed to do our job better when asked for assistance.

Uncertainty in Job Security

I am living and working in the USA, and I happen to live in what is called an “at-will” state.
In simple terms, this means that in my state my employer can terminate my employment at any time and for any reason. This means a lot less job security. I could be let go simply because my services are no longer required by the company and I can't do anything about it. Economic uncertainty, especially after Covid, has a lot to do with the rise of "quiet quitting". This means…well, doing your job! More specifically, doing the bare minimum to get your job done, without putting in extra effort or time. If I were to put all of my time and effort into going above and beyond for my job, having no friendships or time to myself, and then getting let go with no warning and for no reason , what would I have left?

The unemployment rate during Covid rose to 15%. A lot of those people had probably been climbing the corporate ladder for years and felt like they were in a good spot, career-wise. GenZ's value of work-life balance means that if we don't have a job, we still have ourselves, our support system, and hobbies because we didn't make our job integral to our identity.

What is GenZ looking for?

I just got a YouTube ad for Wix (a website-creating software) while researching for this blog. The ad showed a single father trying to soothe his crying baby. He used the AI generative tool to help him create this website and start a business selling a product that can help others. It promotes Wix as a way to "turn your past-time into full time". The tagline for the ad was "You can do it yourself". This ad resonated with me and I think is what GenZ is looking for in a career nowadays.

When I was out of work and spent hours a day applying for jobs, I had a lot of time to develop my graphic design skills. My parents recognized that and they helped me start a business. Having to juggle 3 part-time jobs has helped me realize that I need to start putting boundaries in place so that I can do good work but also take note of how I am doing emotionally, mentally, and physically.

I believe that Gen-Z's approach to toxic work environments and hustle culture will become more widespread, and older generations can learn to understand where we are coming from in terms of how we want to grow in our careers.

‍

‍

Photo by Wolfgang Schett: https://www.pexels.com/photo/stack-of-stones-in-the-forest-12556887/