Tim Knox; iStock; Insider
Business Insider just did a cool survey of 1,800 18-26 year-old members of Gen Z.
Among many other interesting findings, the survey revealed that a minority of this group (38%) think that, in America, people should have to work fewer than 40 hours a week to earn middle-class wages.
This percentage was higher than the percentage of other generations who answered the same question.
For example, 35% of Millennials (age 27-42), think Americans should have to work fewer than 40 hours a week to earn middle-class wages — three points fewer than Gen Z.
This compares to 22% of Gen X (my generation, ages 43-58) and 18% of Boomers (59-77).
Only 8% of members of the hard-working Silent Generation, meanwhile (78-95), think that.
Some have suggested that survey questions like this — and the TikTok popularity of some Gen Zers who have aired frustrations about some aspects of the working world — reveal that Gen Z's attitude toward work is fundamentally different than that of prior generations, and therefore, that as Gen Z takes over the workplace, Gen Z is going to revolutionize the working world.
That may be!
But I am going to respectfully suggest another possible explanation for the generational differences:
Age.
Many people in the 18-26 year-old age group have yet to join the workforce. Many of those who have, meanwhile, are still learning about the differences between school and work — a transition that, for me, at least, was a sobering and bruising realization that the "real world" was different than I thought it was and should be. And, as I did, many members of this age group may start out more optimistic than they will eventually become about their ability to make the world adapt to them rather than adapting themselves to the world.
I don't mean to suggest that passion, effort, and creativity can't change the world for the better. It can. And it does. Every day.
I also don't mean to suggest that the world of work can't be improved upon. It should be and can be.
(This is especially true with respect to the egregious widening of income inequality in America over the past 40 years. I've been squawking about that for more than a decade).
I've had my own lessons in adapting to the working world. After reflecting on one of my bad early work experiences, I decided that my boss's observation that he was "not going to rearrange things here for you" — meaning, promote me faster and pay me more because I thought he should — was an attitude I would encounter in other workplaces, too. This and other frustrating experiences led me, finally, to conclude that I would be happier and more successful if I adapted my thinking a bit.
That was the right decision for me. It may not be the right decision for some members of Gen Z. And it may have been the right decision for me only because I'm a member of a generation in which a bigger share of us think we should have to have to work more than 40 hours a week to earn middle-class wages.
But here's the more important point:
Even in Gen Z, a substantial majority think Americans should have to work more than 40 hours a week to earn middle-class wages.
Specifically, almost two-thirds of Gen Zers — 62% — think that.
12% of Gen Zers even think you should have to work more than 60 hours a week to earn that much! (And they're doing it! After all, Gen Z is also known as the hustle generation).
So, this leads me to make three very respectful suggestions to the minority of Gen Zers who want to work fewer than 40 hours per week and still earn middle-class wages:
1) Passion, creativity, and effort can change the world for the better. So, by all means, keep fighting for positive change! And you don't have to do a soul-sucking 9-to-5 job in a horrible office if you don't want to.
2) Most people in the workforce — including most of your Gen Z peers (62%!) — do not share your hopes and expectations about work hours, so don't be surprised if employers and clients prefer to hire them instead of you.
3) Your views may change as you age. Importantly, and happily, this may not be because the real world beats your idealism out of you and you get old and jaded and bitter. It may be because you find that you want to work more hours because you love your job and profession, and you find it rewarding even beyond the money it pays you.
Can you really achieve that last part? Yes, you can. It will take work and effort and time. But you can. In fact, achieving that is what this series — "Make it happen!" — is all about. So, thank you for reading!
