News

Actions

Deloitte study says Gen Z, Millennials are stressed with work, cost of living

Posted at 6:58 AM, May 24, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-24 12:29:25-04

(WXYZ) — Last week Deloitte released a new study saying that Millennials and Gen Z are stressed out. The data gathered from 22,000 people and 44 different countries between November and December of 2022 said that 46% of Gen Z and 39% of Millennials reported being stressed all or most of the time with poor work/life balance, cost of living, and because of workplace stressors.

7 Action News reporter Peter Maxwell took to the streets to speak with metro Detroiters of the Gen Z and Millenial generations to find out what's stressing them out.

"The economic situation of course. It's quite a mess for people," one person said. "So a lot of people devolve into the crabs in the bucket mindset where everyone is fighting each other for money, time, attention, influence, notoriety things like that."

In the 38-page study, Deloitte found that almost half of Gen Z is experiencing stress in the workplace all or most of the time. 39% of Millenials felt the same way.

The study also looked at stressors with work/life balance, cost of living, and the stigma about mental health. 1/3 of Gen Zers and roughly the same for Millenials say they're exhausted or lack energy at work and feel mentally distant from their job. Part of that problem is attributed to work and life balance. Nearly 70% of Gen Zers and Millenials say they're constantly working outside of working hours and responding to business emails and work-related messages.

"I think that more of the problem is that we all add to it ourselves," Milleial Zeve Lopez said. "We all over consume."

Shannon Bruin, a licensed therapist says from her seat she sees the same trends as the survey.

"But it's not just stress," Bruin said. "What we're finding from a clinical perspective is that it's clinical stress...It's a stress that has an impact on our overall mental health."

According to the survey, those most impacted of Gen Z and Millenials by stress at work are women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, those with disabilities, and ethnic minorities.

"Employers have to recognize, this is the generation that you're hiring," Bruin said. "These are the people you're bringing on your team and as an organization, you have to set yourself up to allow this to be sustainable."