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On the »now«: prioritizing your own well-being (symbol image)
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Only working until noon to then sip the first Aperol Spritz – true to the motto »No appointments and just sit one«: If you believe HR managers and commentators, this is how my generation imagines its future.
Generation Z, i.e. me and everyone else born since 1995, has a reputation on the job market for being concerned above all with their work-life balance.
“Pleasure first, then work” was the headline in the business magazine “Brand eins”.
In the »Welt«, the managing director of a digital agency is allowed to announce that he is no longer accepting interns from Generation Z, because, quote, »Anyone who has to go to yoga after six hours is no help for us.« One was also surprised in the SPIEGEL Columnist recently on how the younger generation thinks of paying off the debts of the present if they only want to work part-time when they start their careers.
Where these people are right: Having an Aperol at lunchtime is actually great.
Quite apart from that, younger people are actually less and less interested in traditional careers.
Studies show that free time is at least as important to the younger generation as success at work, and work-life balance is a high priority when choosing an employer.
Women in particular want to do without bosses.
Young people are reluctant to work overtime for their careers, nor do they want to work weekends – even if they were compensated accordingly.
And yes, many of us also find part-time work attractive.
But where the older ones are wrong: That means that we are at a loss or lazy.
Instead, it simply means that we prioritize our well-being before it's too late.
The fact that there is a misunderstanding between the generations is also evident in private life.
A friend's mother was horrified when my friend told her she didn't want a 40-hour week.
The mother said: "Your father and I worked so much too." My friend asked: "But why?"
Many people over 40 have worked hard to earn their positions.
From this they conclude: The newcomers to the labor market have to work at least as hard as we do so that they deserve to lead a good life at some point – when they are older.
But neither my girlfriend nor I want to lead a life in the future.
Especially since this future has been feeling extremely uncertain lately anyway.
First Corona changed our lives massively, then came Russia's war of aggression, which called into question the certainties that were still believed to be safe.
There is also the question of whether the earth will still exist when we are old.
It has been clear for a long time: We will not reach the standard of living of our parents one way or the other.
We have come to terms with that, and even more: our values have shifted compared to those of previous generations.
We don't need status symbols, fat cars and sprawling suburban mansions.
Instead, we want to work less and thus have more time for our future children - or for our aperol in the afternoon.
In other words: We want to live in the present.
I don't want to work my way into burnout for the love of the job or to save the world.
Maybe it's a privilege to even think about how much work is good for you.
This question did not arise in our grandparent generation.
The wife looked after the husband at home while he toiled away in the factory or in the office.
It was more complicated for our parents.
Some tried to break up traditional divisions of labour.
But once a child was born, most of them slipped back into it: the mother stayed at home, worked part-time at most, the father served his 40 hours.
If the older ones willingly fill in the templates of the 40-hour week with conviction or out of a lack of imagination, it is difficult for the younger ones to paint over the top.
Older people see part-time work as laziness, and showing limits as bad work ethic or even as a weakness.
Our bosses will often still be the ones for whom being the last one in the office is a sign of strength.
In fact, it is exactly the opposite: it shows strength to be able to say »no«.
You could call it a prophylactic for mental health: cooling (with Aperol, if you like) so that it doesn't even start to burn.
more on the subject
Overtime, overload, excessive demands: work until you drop
Revised at the kitchen table: »It was normal that I was expected to be available 24/7« Recorded by Florian Gontek
Always on duty: "Sometimes I don't get up for a day or two because I just can't take it anymore" Recorded by Kristin Haug
The World Health Organization has declared burnout to be one of the greatest dangers of the 21st century.
Many my age have seen from parents, friends or acquaintances how destructive this disease can be.
And yet, in 2022, young trainees and students should be drilled into precisely the work ethic that often ends in burnout: working hard to the point of self-abandonment.
This attitude is also widespread in my industry, journalism.
In fact, this job should be about putting words like fingers on sore spots in society.
By writing about mental health and also about grievances in the world of work.
But their own work ethic is lagging behind.
She still demands to put work above everything else.
Whether children, Aperol or psychotherapy - if you can't do it on the side, you have to get out of journalism.
Incidentally, this hits those who are supposed to ensure the much-cited diversity particularly hard: whether for the single mother or the young man struggling with depression – for them part-time is more than just maximizing their free time.
We boys have a head start because we know how we do
n't
want to live.
We have seen where it leads when our parents work themselves to death: burnout and longing for retirement.
That's why we'd rather be happy now.
We have to find out exactly what this means for our lives and our work - preferably together with our bosses.
If that doesn't work, I would even become a boss myself.
But part-time.