Gen Z aren't lazy; they just know work doesn't pay

What their seniors, born into a different economic climate, don't appreciate

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This newsletter was originally published in May 2024, but it feels just as relevant today, because Gen Z aren’t lazy. They’ve just clocked something their seniors haven’t: work doesn’t pay like it used to.

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Gen Z aren't lazy; they just know work doesn't pay

What their seniors, born into a different economic climate, don't appreciate

One of my favourite things is to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, but one between two twenty-something males in a café in Devon, particularly titillated me: "There’s this guy who posts reels on Instagram," said one, "where he like lives in Thailand, works remotely for two hours and spends the rest of the day spear fishing in the sea…. He’s like corporate dude by day and gutting fish by the afternoon." He showed his friend some of the Instagram content, eliciting an endearing response: "Yeah, I really want to be a fisherman but also make money doing corporate stuff, y’ know?"

I know what you're thinking. The naiveté of privileged youth! Nonetheless, their daydreaming points to an increasingly common reaction to the corporate hamster wheel amongst Gen Z. Today, work protest comes not in strikes but hashtags: #lazygirljobs, #5-9, #quietquitting. Frustrated managers see this played out IRL in Gen Z's scepticism of overtime, preference for WFH and emphasis on their work-life balance. Retaining young talent is known to be the chief thing keeping CEOs awake at night, up there with concerns over AI. But the key question is this: where did Gen Z get these ideas about work? Is it too much TikTok during a mandatory WFH-pandemic, all the while financially cushioned by their parents? Not really. The truth is more fundamental and legitimate: Gen Z have grown up in a time when work doesn’t pay.

Average real wages are now no higher than they were in 2005. They may have increased in the last two years, but as we know, so has the cost of everything else. And a well-stocked breakfast bar doesn’t do much to offset any of this. We know of the pay squeeze on doctors, but the same frustration, albeit on a different level, exists in the graduate-fuelled private sector. Corporate wages do not bring anything like the rewards they once did, especially in respect to the big-ticket items in life, chiefly housing, childcare or education. And now we operate in an environment where tech-overload requires us to work longer than ever. Meetings have increased by 150% since 2020. Collectively, Gen Z have grown up considering the modern workplace as somewhere you work longer but for less reward.

It is remarkable how few older colleagues, beneficiaries of more favourable economic conditions, are willing to recognise this (whilst at the same time doing all they can to ease their own kids' path to adulthood). They will compare today's starting salaries with their own, but without the context of rents, bills and student debt. The latter, spelt out on payslips, is effectively an additional tax on the graduate young in an era when taxes are already concentrated on income rather than assets.

We are in an asset-driven economy where wealth is supported, but work is penalised. This reinforces the wealth of the older generations and creates disillusioned young people across the income scale. We have been in this stasis since the Financial Crisis; most of Gen Z’s lives. As one young millennial consultant, whose father had lost his job in the 2008 Crash, told me, "I have chosen a conventional corporate path, but it doesn’t feel secure. I know those extra hours rarely translate into something. It's just time I'll never get back."

Older millennials, the inbetweeners with a foot in two different centuries, have tried to contort themselves into the Baby Boomer straitjacket without much success. They were cajoled into thinking that a sense of purpose, #girlboss vibes and a good education could mitigate against harsh economic realties. Gen Z aren’t so foolish. They look at mid-life millennials and think, "You’ve made work your life for twenty years, and you still can’t afford a house."

The only winners in this system are the Gen Z’ers who are buttressed by the bank of mum and dad. Those who can piggyback onto their parents’ piggy bank and enjoy a fast track into adulthood. Wages alone won’t do it. The stark reality is that affluent Mum and Dad offer more certainty and a better springboard than any employer. This divide, between those who can rely on such help and those who can't, splits friendship groups, peers and society, and reinforces a sense of panic amongst a generation that already feels it is playing catch-up after losing three years of life-building to the pandemic.

Arguably, this phenomenon has taken longer to hit the professional class, whereas for those in low-skilled employment, in-work poverty has long been a challenge that multiple tax and benefit tweaks have failed to solve. And while a different dynamic operates in the professions, the fundamentals are the same. The deal used to be clear: fat pay for a pound of flesh. But it no longer rings true. Every generation has challenged the corporate ladder, but Gen Z are different. They have grown up being able to market and monetise everything they do. They’re unconvinced by the deal you are selling. It could be that these two Devon young men, with their fisherman aspirations and side hustle vision of the corporate ladder, actually have a more realistic view of modern-day capitalism than the rest of us.

Thanks for reading,

Eliza