Study: Gen Zs hate 8-5 jobs, want flexible work hours
Siasa Place Executive Director Nerima Wako speaks during a past event. The organisation has released the results of a study on Gen Z workers.
What you need to know:
- According to the study, Gen Zs are living in anxiety because digital jobs are not permanent.
- In Mombasa, the youths argued that the pandemic changed the work culture and there is a need to adjust.
Generation Z, or Gen Zs as they are more commonly referred, hate the 8am to 5pm work routine and would prefer working from home or in shifts.
They also prefer working short hours to protect their mental health while earning a living.
This is why most of them have adapted quickly to the digital world where they have the freedom.
This is according to a study conducted by Siasa Place, which further revealed that most youths in urban areas including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru where the research was focused, no longer found it meaningful to work regular hours.
“It’s 2024, we can’t be working 9-5,” Millicent, a 26-year-old based in Kisumu told the youth-focused civic tech organisation.
Twenty-five-year-old *Yassin, who works for a non-governmental organisation says he does not like the idea of going to the office every day. He also feels he is “not being taken seriously and unheard” as his opinions are often sidelined because he is young and less experienced.
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Yassin believes flexi-time should be incorporated in today’s workplace to allow people like him to work from home and boost productivity and mental health.
Siasa Place executive director Nerima Wako says Gen Zs loathe the 8am to 5pm routine because of the gatekeepers in the office who are above 45 and are used to a traditional or formal way of working. She adds that Gen Zs question a lot.
“They feel after the Covid-19 pandemic, many things changed; we realised you can work from home. So if I can perform or do my job not necessarily in the office, why are you forcing me to come to the office to work from 8am to 5pm?” she said.
Ms Wako explains that Gen Zs want to work in shifts because some feel that they are more productive in the morning while others believe they would work efficiently for five hours and use the rest of their time on social media or hanging out with friends.
“They are seeing previous generations staying in the office not necessarily working but just to pass the time. They want freedom,” she says.
Similar research was conducted by a firm in India and results, Ms Wako says, are almost similar to those of the Siasa Place study. It showed that Gen Zs prefer working at home and shorter work hours, are strict on their free time, don’t believe in overworking themselves, and working over weekends causes poor mental health.
Ms Wako urges employers to be patient with Gen Zs, saying all businesses have to adapt.
“We are churning out young people that have been so used to access to vast information and things moving so fast that when you come to an office setting and there is bureaucracy and processes are slow it’s hard for them to understand,” says Ms Wako.
Another key character trait of Gen Z, Ms Wako says, is open and direct expression, which previous generations are not used to. For instance, a Gen Z will be asked to do something and instead of obeying, will ask questions and offer alternatives. This, she says, brings a lot of tension in companies that are unable to adapt.
In Mombasa, the youths argued that the pandemic changed the work culture and there is a need to adjust.
Francis, 27, complained that the workplace can be toxic, and he would like to have some personal space to work.
“I should work at least three out of five days a week. This would optimise my performance at work because my mental health would be boosted. These are issues they (older generations) would not understand,” said Francis.
Kelvin, 33, from Nakuru, said embracing the changing nature of work means embracing irregularity of both income and routine.
Mohammed, 31, and Khadija, 27, said gatekeepers in digital spaces may present barriers to entry and success for youth.
Ms Wako says Siasa Place decided to undertake the study because of this year’s Labour Day theme focused on social justice and decent work for all.
“We wanted to get a feeling of what young people feel or think work is. We’ve seen that for many of them, the nature of work is changing,” says Ms Wako. She adds that the study revealed that many digital workers who are Gen Zs don’t have benefits such as pension and health insurance.
“What we are seeing is young workers are losing out on social protections which is a concern,” she says.
According to the study, Gen Zs are living in anxiety because digital jobs are not permanent.
