The Great Burnout: Why a third of Australian Gen Z and Millenial workers want to quit their jobs
Many millennials and Gen Z workers suffer from what has been called the “big burnout,” which prompts them to quit their jobs despite struggling to pay their bills.
Young workers claim they are overworked, underpaid and feel unable to handle responsibilities outside of work.
Many complain that they are “tired of working all week and having nothing for it,” while others complain that they “can’t afford vacation let alone a house.”
This has led to criticism from Boomers and Gen-Xers who label the younger generations as ‘lazy’ and ‘entitled’.
The millennial co-hosts of the Two broken chicks podcast, Sally and Alex, argue that the younger generations aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch.
They have shared research showing that 50 per cent of ‘prime’ Australian workers, aged between 25 and 55, are ‘exhausted’.
In addition, a third are considering quitting because they are overworked.
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It has been revealed that half of Australian workers aged 25 to 55 feel ‘exhausted’ from their day jobs and a third are considering quitting because they are overworked
“Half of them don’t feel tired, not a little overworked, exhausted,” 30-year-old Sally said in the clip posted Friday.
The quick clip divided their listeners.
Many older viewers in the comments were unsympathetic and quickly took aim at young employees telling them to “toughen up.”
“Breaking news, people are getting tired,” one man joked.
That’s the norm, isn’t it? Keep going, that’s called living,” said a second viewer.
“That’s crazy, because I’m exhausted from the constant nagging!” complained a third.
On their podcast Two Broke Chicks, co-hosts Sally and Alex shared research showing that 50 percent of young workers are “exhausted,” much to the outrage of Boomer and Gen X listeners
Some were more sympathetic.
“I’m 60 and the demands are now a laughing stock as executives take the big bucks. The young people at my work are also exhausted,” someone added.
Most Millennials and Generation-Z considered the survey data “accurate,” and many agreed that their jobs leave them feeling empty.
“Companies are cutting jobs, but still expect the same results with fewer staff,” one woman replied.
“We don’t work for anything worthwhile. Work all week, can’t afford a house, vacation or anything else that makes it worth it. Just bills,’ said another.
‘We’re exhausted. Had enough. Training is useless. While the rich get tons of money while they sit back and do nothing,” a third said angrily.
The massive exhaustion in Australian workplaces has been dubbed The Great Burnout.
A 2023 study from the University of Melbourne surveyed 1,400 workers and found that in the post-lockdown era, workers were increasingly unmotivated, exhausted and unable to concentrate.
It was also revealed that senior-aged workers are twice as likely to feel they don’t have enough time to complete tasks outside their job, such as administration and housework.
Since the lockdowns forced many people to look for a new job, many workers are now increasingly willing to change jobs repeatedly until they find something suitable.
According to The conversationIn Australia, however, rather than leaving their jobs, workers wanted to continue working from home and were reluctant to take on unpaid additional responsibilities.
Families had added to the pressure juggling working from home while caring for children as schools and day care centers closed, resulting in poorer mental health.
More employees also took sick leave, putting more pressure on their colleagues.
Careers expert Sue Ellson said workers are now struggling to adapt to the faster-paced lifestyles brought about by the pandemic and figuring out how to slow down again.
“An overload of homeschooling and juggling work and family responsibilities gave people a new understanding of other ways of working, but while we were speeding up, we haven’t found a way to ‘slow down,'” she said.
“As the pace of home and work increased, the transition from unconscious competence to conscious incompetence during the pandemic took so much more energy and effort and we still haven’t gone back to unconscious competence as both employers and employees try to find a better way forward .’
Sue added that employees’ increased reliance on devices has also taken its toll.
“While some technology inclusions make life more productive, others can provide disconnection and manual effort to get started,” she said.
“For example, if you’re all in a real meeting and you have to grab something from your desk, it’s easy to apologize, but if you’re doing everything remotely, you have to consciously figure out how to get to the source. find’ the item from a device and/or give access to others.’
The LinkedIn specialist said many employees didn’t quit their jobs because they felt loyalty to their employer, especially if they received extra government pay like JobKeeper to stay afloat.
“However, many employees had little or less work to do during this time and that also gave people the opportunity to view more content online, which became a habit,” she said.
“They’ve kept up their viewing habits, but they’ve also added their work commitments — so many people binge-watch series but feel burnt out at the same time.”