Generation Z is just entering the workplace — and they’re already over work (or over over-working, depending on who you ask).
According to a poll from Axios and Generation Lab, 82 percent of Gen Z members said that doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs is “pretty or extremely appealing.”
Fifteen percent polled said that’s already what they’re doing.
The pandemic has shifted people’s relationships with work, especially its youngest members, who have contributed to backlashes against “hustle culture” and movements like the Great Resignation.
The term means doing exactly what one is required to do at one’s job and not more. Arianna Huffington pushed back against the trend and said it is the wrong response to burnout. Others say it’s just a way to avoid it.
In the survey, respondents also listed work as a lower priority than wellness, hobbies, family, and friends, per the outlet.
Related: Google’s ‘Quiet Hiring’ Method Is Excellent for Employers, But Dangerous for Employees Who ‘Quiet Quit’
Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workplace report showed that just 21% of people overall are engaged at work.
Still, the term “quiet quitting” has taken online and social media by storm as of late, inspiring a host of think pieces and TikToks.
Related: 3 Ways to Avoid the Quiet Quitting of Your Gen Z Employees
“Anti-work sketch comedy on TikTok has become something like the sea shanty of the Zoom era… a communal art form by and for an increasingly self-confident workforce,” the Los Angeles Times wrote.
@saraisthreads #greenscreen Poor Debrah. #fyp #work #working #corporate #corporatelife #corporatetiktok #corporateamerica #corporatehumor #office #officelife #manager #managersbelike #career ♬ original sound – Sarai Marie
Axios’ survey results also showed that the desire to do the bare minimum is not isolated to one demographic group.
Eighty-five percent of women surveyed and 79% of men said that approach to work is ideal, as well as 82% of white people surveyed, and 86% of Black and 79% of Asian people surveyed.
Anecdotally, it seems Gen Z is also sticking it to their bosses. A 19-year-old Domino’s worker said she quit via Post-It after her manager kept scheduling her to work weekends by herself and went viral on TikTok.
The poll surveyed a representative sample of 828 people aged 18 to 29 in the US.
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