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Young people are experiencing high levels of stress more often than previous generations. What does this tell us about modern attitudes to work and wellness?
Reports of high stress levels among young professionals have become so frequent they hardly register as newsworthy. 98% of Gen Z workers report experiencing symptoms of burnout, with frontline workers facing some of the worst conditions. So what’s going wrong? And why does a generation that prides itself on self-care and wellbeing find itself so chronically exhausted?
According to a Cigna survey, Gen Z is the most stressed out generation on record, with almost all young workers battling burnout symptoms, and 23% saying they experience ‘unmanageable stress’. Another 48% report feeling drained.
On many levels, this is unsurprising. Twenty-somethings like me are all too familiar with an unrewarding workforce, one many of us entered under strange circumstances during a global pandemic. The backdrop to this digitised, hybrid, often isolating professional life is an economy in continual collapse, oversaturated industries, low salaries, and an omnipotent threat of AI-takeover. It’s all a bit much.
Despite these pressures, Gen Z are still continually deemed a ‘lazy’ generation by their predecessors – largely due to their vocal stance against unfulfilling work and a determination to put wellbeing and mental stability above income and career progression.
But these priorities themselves explain the rise of stress amongst young people. Crucially, stress at work doesn’t just stem from a packed schedule and tight deadlines. Feeling unfulfilled and lacking purpose – professionally or personally – has been shown to create high levels of both emotional and physical burnout. And while older generations argue that a sense of meaning isn’t a necessary byproduct of a stable career, Gen Z think otherwise.
According to a recent study, one in four (25%) of Gen Z employees report having taken lower-paying jobs in exchange for better work-life balance, highlighting a preference for work that supports a personal sense of purpose and wellbeing.
Anthropologist David Graeber has written extensively about this issue within the West, dubbing his theory ‘bullshit jobs’. He postulates that the existence of meaningless jobs, and our increased reliance on them as society becomes more populated and higher numbers of individuals enter an already heavily saturated workforce, are damaging society at large.
It’s a theory that’s clearly struck a chord. The essay in which Graeber’s theory first emerged went viral and has since been translated into more than 20 languages. It’s central idea goes something like this: if your job isn’t making the world a better place, if you could disappear tomorrow and nothing significant would happen, then your job is most likely bullshit – part of a system designed to keep us under control.
Graeber’s work gets to the heart of rising Gen Z burnout, and explains why, despite prioritising a slower pace of life and a stronger sense of wellbeing, young people are still finding themselves stressed at work.
Combine this lack of purpose with external pressures like economic downturn and a rising cost of living, and you’ve got a cocktail of emotional exhaustion.
