The generation clocking the most hours

Jasmin has always been a hard worker. While studying for her undergraduate degree in cultural and media studies at the University of Leeds, UK, she would routinely put in up to 30 hours per week at a part-time job to pay her rent. She then secured a full-time job at a PR agency while midway through her master’s degree.

Now a media-relations executive at that same company, Jasmin no longer works a part-time job in addition to a full-time role – but she’s still putting in plenty of overtime.

“I often start my day very early reading what’s breaking news in education, tech or the climate, as my job requires me to know what’s going on across a very broad range of topics,” says Jasmin, now 25. “Often in the evenings, I’ll spend a couple of hours making sure I’m ready for the next day, and on a Sunday, I’ll often head to Caffè Nero for a coffee and croissant to do admin and make sure I’m set up for the week ahead.”

Her partner and friends of a similar age approach work in much the same way, she says, taking business on holiday; or cramming in extra hours in evenings, mornings and weekends.

Some statistics and experts alike say young people are the most likely to be putting in unpaid overtime. April data from ADP Research Institute’s People at Work 2023 report, which surveyed 32,000 workers across 17 countries, showed people aged 18 to 24 tend to put in an extra eight hours and 30 minutes of ‘free’ work per week by starting early, staying late or working during breaks and lunchtime. That compares to seven hours and 28 minutes for 45-to-54-year-olds, and just five hours 14 minutes for those 55 and older.

Gen Z workers have had to navigate a tough job environment from the start of their careers. Many started their jobs during the pandemic, and others have experienced furloughs or layoffs for the first time while still in their early 20s. Lots of these workers have also watched companies scale back on jobs, pay rises and promotions to survive the ongoing economic uncertainty.

Experts say this has left many of them insecure about both their jobs and their longer-term career prospects, feeling they need to prove their worth to an employer by piling on the extra hours. It’s an effect that’s left them toiling in overtime – and setting them up for stress and burnout down the line.

An exceptional career start

Job insecurity seems to be the biggest driver behind Gen Z’s diligence, according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at the ADP Research Institute. In their People at Work research, half of respondents said they feel insecure in their roles, double the proportion of over-55s that said the same.

While Richardson says this could be “a function of being young”, she also notes young people were among the workers who most acutely felt the effects of furloughs and layoffs, which has cast “a shadow of insecurity over the early start to their career”.

Additionally, in an unstable economic environment – one in which they are already struggling to build wealth and hit milestones – job security feels particularly elusive, and anxiety is sky-high. “[Young people] don’t have the type of security I assumed I had when I was coming out of university,” says executive careers coach Lara Holliday, who is in her late 40s. “I didn’t know if I’d get the job I wanted, but I knew I’d get a job and I know some day. If I worked hard, I’d be able to afford my own home. They’re coming into a very different world.”

To survive it, say experts, they feel obligated to put in extra hours.

Much of this chimes with Jasmin’s experiences. “I want to make sure I’m on it so that people know they’ve made the right choice in hiring me,” she says. “Obviously, it’s extremely competitive, and I feel really grateful just to have a job with everything that’s going on.” She adds that she and her peers are also keenly aware of the negative stereotypes around Gen Z workers. “Everyone thinks we’re lazy, and that we just want to work from home, so it’s also going above and beyond to challenge that.”

Notably, it’s not that they necessarily expect the hard work to translate into pay rises or promotions either, points out Richardson. “While most of the workforce feel they’re going to get a bonus or a pay increase, young people don’t,” she says. ADP’s research showed only 50% of Gen Z workers expect to get a pay rise in their current company in the next 12 months, whereas around two-thirds of most other age brackets anticipate one. Only a third think they’re in line for a bonus.

 

Source: BBC