Survey: Gen Z employees taking charge of their own work-life balance

Younger workers, more so than other generations, are more likely to prioritize their personal needs over work, according to recent findings from SurveyMonkey. 

Driven by a greater desire to achieve work-life balance, younger workers are more likely to embrace “quiet vacationing.” In the past 12 months, 36% of Gen Z (ages 12-27) and Millennials (ages 28-43) have taken a quiet vacation, compared to 27% of Gen X workers (ages 44-59), the findings showed. 

Additionally, Gen Z and Millennials (21%) are using sick time for vacation more than Gen X (17%), according to the findings. They’re also taking sick time as mental health days for self-care or recharge days more than Gen X (36% vs. 30%). 

Of the fundamental changes to the workplace over the past five years, one of the most noticeable – and a key finding of SurveyMonkey’s research – has been the blurring of boundaries between work and personal life, the platform pointed out in a related blog post. 

The six generations in today’s workforce think about work-life balance quite differently from each other, researchers have found. 

While this probably doesn’t surprise anyone, understanding these differences can help those tasked with developing strong work cultures, and that’s what SurveyMonkey’s August polling of 3,000-plus full-time workers in the U.S. set out to find. 

The upshot? “Instead of asking permission, workers are finding their own way to balance work with their own personal lives,” the post said.  

However, “younger workers are less likely to ask for permission, and are quietly rebelling against the ‘rise and grind’ values of previous generations,” the post noted. 

With the U.S. facing the largest labor shortage the country has ever seen, age will play an important role in companies’ workforce development plans, studies have stressed. 

Younger workers will need to cover the shortage, experts say. Still, that presents a number of challenges. 

Attitude may be the most concerning. Of the more than 800 small business owners who responded to a recent survey by conservative job board RedBalloon, 68% said Gen Z employees have reliability issues, and 62% said they bring divisiveness and toxicity to the workplace. 

“But Gen Z is struggling big-time to engage with the workplace in a meaningful way,” RedBalloon’s CEO stated about the findings. 

Employer expectations could be part of the problem. Employers disproportionately view younger workers as digital natives, but not all Gen Z or millennials have had the same educational experience or opportunities to interact with workplace tech, a former U.S. Department of Labor assistant secretary previously noted. 

Companies also need to help new talent develop soft skills due to remote communication styles, the CEO of a career training nonprofit recently told HR Dive. 

Instead of clinging to past conventional wisdom that workers should come “preloaded” with skills and abilities the employer needs, the best way to make sure new hires have these skills and abilities to teach them, a September report from labor analysis firm Lightcast advised.