Today’s Generation: Work Pressures Exceed Previous Generations

Employees of “Generation Z” are complaining of unprecedentedly high levels of job burnout, and a recent study indicates that they are facing pressures beyond their ability to bear. While people of different age groups suffer from job burnout, “Generation Z” and “Millennials” reach peak burnout at an early age.

Job burnout among generations:

In the United States, a poll of 2,000 adults showed that a quarter of Americans experience job burnout before the age of 30.

Similarly, a British study assessed job burnout over 18 months after the COVID-19 pandemic and found that “Generation Z” individuals reported job burnout levels of 80%. The “British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)” also pointed out several years ago to higher levels of job burnout among “Generation Z” individuals.

Globally, a poll of 11 countries and more than 13,000 frontline employees and managers revealed that workers from “Generation Z” were more likely to feel job burnout (83%) compared to other employees (75%).

Another international study on mental health showed that nearly a quarter of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 suffer from “unbearable psychological stress,” with 98% of them reporting at least one symptom of job burnout.

In Canada, a poll conducted by “Canadian Business” magazine revealed that 51% of participants from “Generation Z” feel job burnout, a percentage lower than “Millennials” (55%), but higher than “Baby Boomers” (29%) and “Generation X” (32%).

As an experienced university professor for “Generation Z” students, and a father of two children from this generation, I find the levels of job burnout among “Generation Z” in today’s workplaces worrying. Instead of considering these young people distracted or demanding excessive work-life balance, we can consider them a warning bell alerting us to the imbalance in the work environment and how to fix it.

What is job burnout?

Job burnout varies from person to person and from profession to profession, but researchers generally agree on its basic characteristics. Job burnout occurs when what the worker expects from their job conflicts with its actual requirements.

This contradiction takes many forms: ambiguity of work tasks, or excess of tasks, or insufficient resources or skills necessary to meet job requirements.

In short, the likelihood of job burnout increases with the increasing disparity between an individual’s expectations of work and its reality. Young people, women, and less experienced employees are more susceptible to job burnout.

Job burnout usually develops across 3 dimensions. While fatigue is often the first noticeable symptom, it is followed by pessimism or loss of empathy, leading to feelings of alienation and detachment from work. This detachment leads to the third dimension of job burnout: a decline in the sense of personal accomplishment or self-efficacy.

Why is Generation Z more susceptible to job burnout?

“Generation Z” is exposed to job burnout due to 3 main factors:

1. Many of them began their professional lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying isolation and disruption, depriving them of normal daily learning within the work environment.
2. They face escalating economic pressures.
3. They are entering a labor market being reshaped by artificial intelligence, with a distracting hybrid work system, increasing automation, and leaders unable to provide appropriate guidance.