Why my generation doesn't care about work

Gen Z has figured out jobs aren't worth the hassle — so what's the point?

-  MADDY MUSSEN

When I first heard people accusing my generation of not wanting to work, I was incensed. But that's not because it isn't true. It is. Only one in 10 Gen Zers want to work from the office full-time.

We're less likely to have ever worked beyond our contractual hours, less likely to have looked at work emails out of hours and more likely to be 10 minutes late. We take more sick days, demand full lunch breaks, and don't want to do any work during those lunch breaks. We don't dress in traditional "office wear" and we tend to take the total amount of our allocated annual leave.

To me, this is all totally fair. After all, why would we Gen Zs want to work? I'm a 27-year-old in a traditionally "good" career living in London, and I am still clawing my way out of my overdraft each month. I have to sell my belongings on Vinted to make ends meet. I will probably never own a house. I don't have dreams of being the highest up person at my company, or in my industry, because it doesn't seem possible. Not only would that involve working much harder for relatively little financial reward, but all of those jobs are occupied by older people who won't relinquish them until they literally die. So, yes, why would I want to work?

My generation also don't like work: according to YouGov, those aged 18 to 24 are way more pro a Severance situation (based on the hit Apple TV+ show where people's work and personal lives are totally separated) than any other age group. In case that's not clear: Gen Zs dislike work so much they'd rather a reality where, in their downtime, they have absolutely no memory of their 9 to 5. Sorry to anyone who's become work friends with a Gen Z recently, but it turns out they might want to forget you altogether.