Gen Z aren’t lazy. They just don’t want to ‘live to work’

More and more employees are seeking work-life balance. And Gen Z are leading the charge.

Euan Black, Work and careers reporter

Aug 31, 2023 – 5.00am

Jake Spaccavento wants a more balanced life than his parents had.

His father regularly pulled 12-hour shifts working as an electrician – a job he held from the age of 16 until the day he retired at 64 – while his mother juggled a series of different jobs while raising Spaccavento and his four siblings.

“They were often [so] exhausted from work, mentally and physically, that it became tricky to find balance,” Spaccavento tells BOSS.

The 26-year-old brand and marketing manager says he admired his parents’ work ethic but decided as a teenager that he wanted more time for himself when he grew up. He wanted more time for his friends, hobbies and interests. And he wanted to avoid burning out like some of his peers.

“I know that if I do too much at work, then my mental health will suffer,” Spaccavento says. “I get satisfaction from work, I genuinely do. I work a job that I like and that satisfies me creatively and socially. But I know that I need so much beyond work.”

It’s a view that appears to be gaining momentum across the workforce. Research from Microsoft shows that employees are more likely to prioritise their wellbeing over their work today than they were before the pandemic. And executives believe the trend is particularly pronounced among younger workers, throwing up fresh challenges for leaders and managers.

A LinkedIn survey of 350 senior Australian executives, provided exclusively to BOSS, found that seven in 10 believe Gen Z has adopted a “work to live” attitude instead of a “live to work” approach – something Gen Zers themselves have suggested in past research as well.

A global survey of 3404 professionals conducted by Adobe in 2021 found that 74 per cent of Gen Z employees and 78 per cent of Millennials would switch jobs for a better work-life balance, compared to 66 per cent of Gen X workers and 50 per cent of Baby Boomers. Which, according to the University of Queensland Business School’s Dr Adam Kay, is hardly surprising given the economic conditions Gen Zers face.

Kay, a senior lecturer in management, tells BOSS that past generations were more likely than Gen Z to prioritise their work because the pay-off was more clear-cut: if they worked hard, they had a good chance of landing a stable job and buying a home. But Kay says soaring house prices and stagnant wages mean that “social contract” has since broken down, encouraging many Gen Z employees to fight for better work conditions to make up for that.

“The bargain isn’t as good as it used to be,” Kay tells BOSS. “So what Gen Z is doing, implicitly, is recalibrating the terms of that social contract.”

Testing lazy assumptions

In practical terms, that means pushing back against unpaid overtime and demanding greater flexibility over when and where they work. But Kay warns managers not to view this trend as the end of ambition, as some have referred to it. It’s more that Gen Z is testing lazy assumptions about what it means to do a good job.

Managers keen to get the best out of these workers must “practice leadership from a service perspective”, Kay says. This means, instead of making assumptions about workers’ behaviours and motivations, they should ask their staff: What can I do to help you do your job and make you feel part of the team?

“[Leaders must] stop and get curious, and ask their people what’s going on,” Kay says, adding that all workers require autonomy, relatedness and competence to enjoy their work and do a good job.

LinkedIn ANZ managing director Matt Tindale says executives should ask their Gen Z employees how best they can support them.  LinkedIn

Similar advice is offered by LinkedIn ANZ managing director Matt Tindale.

“Smart executives should be doing simple things such as employee surveys or Q&A sessions with the team to understand their needs,” Tindale says, adding that this will often result in offering more flexible working as younger Australians tend to value hybrid work more than older generations.

“Companies that help support their staff in working in their preferred set-up, within reason, will ultimately create a positive workplace culture that drives great results and is a place where people want to work,” Tindale says.

LinkedIn’s research also found that one in two executives believe managing Gen Z workers is “challenging”, as just 17 per cent agree that Gen Z prefer working in the office.

A sense of purpose

Findex Group’s chief people officer, Kath Nell, says Gen Z employees have “a different view on where and how they work” and how work fits into their broader lives. But she describes their view as “really healthy and balanced” and one that has positively influenced other parts of the workforce.

“Not only have you got leaders having to adjust from years of having a different view of work to managing and leading Gen Z in this way, but they themselves have seen the benefits of putting work [in the context] of their whole life as well,” Nell tells BOSS.

Gen Z employees expect more flexible working, want a greater sense of purpose at work and have better access to senior leaders than previous generations, she says. But Findex, which recently adopted a nine-day fortnight across its audit arm Crowe Australasia, hasn’t made any changes to specifically accommodate for their shifting preferences.

“Being very clear about our offer of flexibility, moving to things like a compressed working week and the ability for people to work from other locations as well, these are all things that, I think, are really attractive ... to Gen Z, but they’re available to everyone.”