How is Gen Z redefining ‘work hustle’ in 2022?

How are business hours changing?

Young people are looking for personal meaning in their day-to-day lives, and this mindset extends to their work.

Gen Z has seen the devastating environmental effects of capitalism first hand and understand that the world cannot sustainably continue with an ‘exponential growth’ approach.

This impacts our decisions and personal choices when it comes to career, relationships, and work. Hustling for our own businesses or, at the very least, working for employers we have moral faith in is hugely important. As a result, we’re less likely to all be working at the same pace and schedule.

The pandemic brought lockdowns and Zoom calls for many. Tons of companies now offer remote work, or a hybrid model that only has employees in office a few times a week. This more fluid, dynamic schedule also encourages a shake up in regular working hours, which Gen Z respond to well.

Microsoft’s study found that many Gen Z workers were ‘re-evaluating personal and professional goals’ and that they prefer to work at their own pace. Some firms and corporations have been testing new routine hours. 2022 saw the largest ever trial of a four day week in order to experiment with employee productivity.

There is a sense across the board that changing working hours to better suit individual needs is the way forward. This extends to Gen Z, who are already feeling the effects of burnout in early adulthood thanks to constant news exposure, climate threats, political unrest, and weakening economies.

An evolved working schedule that offers more personal time could become a normality as young people take over working spaces. This provides ample opportunity for side hustles too.

The steady increase in ‘quiet quitting’

Speaking of burnout, you may have read about the recent surge in ‘quiet quitting’ from young people.

This is the idea that you remain working for your employer but simply do the bare minimum, rejecting the conventional ‘hustle’ attitude that promotes extra responsibilities, working overtime, and defining self-worth by your productivity.

Gen Z is more receptive to open conversation about the ethics of hustle culture and whether it’s even healthy to engage with at all.

This makes sense given that many younger people feel comfortable discussing their mental health struggles and emotional sensitivities at a time when large portions of the world’s work force struggle to feel invested in their employer.

A study by Gallup called the ‘State of the Global Workplace’ from 2022 found that only 21% of employees are engaged at work. 44% feel stress throughout their workday. 33% of employees say they’re ‘thriving’ in their overall wellbeing. Those are low numbers.

It’s no surprise then that many of us are simply outright dismissing hustle ideals entirely. If working extra is not a necessity, why accept it as a reality at all? Launching businesses and being your own employer may be Gen Z ambitions, but they’re likely to be realised in ways that don’t succumb to the usual trappings of ‘hustle culture’.

We’re ‘hustling’ at our own rate, in our own ways, and the new work routines we’ve become accustomed to are facilitating this change.