You’ve heard the stereotypes about millennials and Gen Z in the workforce. There’s the old troupe that they spend too much money on avocado toast or the newer one that they waste too much time on TikTok, and of course the underlying assumption that the youngest employees are supposedly lazy or not hard-working. But these beliefs couldn’t be further from the truth. They just might seem checked out of their job because they are struggling to make ends meet and working another job after hours that their boss doesn’t know about. After all, 22,000 workers from around the world is a pretty big sample size.
Deloitte, one of the “Big 4” consulting firms and an authority on workplace research, conducted a massive global survey of Gen Z and millennials last November and December, and found that half of them reported that they live from paycheck to paycheck. Finding the bills increasingly difficult to pay with just one source of income, 46% of Gen Zers and 37% of millennials have added another part or full-time gig in addition to their primary job. These young generations aren’t just working hard for the money, they’re going overtime to make ends meet and address the financial concerns. That’s a far cry from “quiet quitting.”
