Mental Health: Gen Z & Burnout

In an ever-changing and dynamic society, the stigma of mental health has slowly been upheaved. Awareness of mental health issues and information has created a sea of change and has disrupted the status-quo. During this imperative transformation, laws, traditional norms, ethics, functions and opinions within societies have been both directly and indirectly affected. Hence, such change has created a space for a variety of differing opinions.

Solely considering the aspect of mental health, opinions are differ considerably between generations – this helped in the classification of generation gaps based on thoughts, beliefs, and ideologies that separate one generation from the next. It would be vexatious to portray the notion that one generation is better than the other, however, in my humble opinion, Gen-z have the ability to significantly ‘feel’ more than what the other generations traditionally consider uninviting. Being a millennial myself, I find interacting with Gen z’s a learning experience. In general, I find my next socially classified generation to be adept in handling this age of technology and social media. I also rejoice in my presupposition that Gen z’s actively strive for a better mental space comfortable for them instead of acceding and adjusting to present circumstances or situations. It would be unfair on my part to generalise such a notion, it is very subjective, however, it is not at all perfidious.

In the aftermath of the fateful Covid pandemic, we are presently undergoing the so-called ‘The Great Resignation’. Contingent to surveys 1 conducted by numerous organisations worldwide, a majority of employees especially Gen z’s are resigning due to burnout. The symptom of burnout includes trouble sleeping, exhaustion and negative thoughts and feelings. Most of these symptoms were attributable due to increased working hours, a shortage of employees, and a lack of reward and recognition. Moreover, a hybrid system of work has isolated this nascent generation causing an escalation in stress and anxiety. It is most certainly not that other generations are not affected by similar mental health issues, but it is an anointed fact that Gen z’s are the worst affected. Hustle culture in my opinion is being used in synonymity with ambition and is a prevalent aspect in draining individuals both mentally and physically.

An interesting factor depicted in the Deloitte conducted survey is that Gen z’s concern for their own mental health is itself a driver of their stress and anxiety. The efficacy of these facts is based on the deep uncertainty caused by financial instability and the recency in the employment of Gen z’s makes it extremely difficult to set boundaries in a workplace which radically means that they cannot refuse tasks.

In consilience to UN principles accepting the fact, that people with mental and psychosocial issues have a major proportion of the world’s population, due to the sudden changes in societies and the daily immediate traumas, awareness is the only solution. The UN Model for ‘A Healthy Workforce 2 ’ could serve as a convoy for creating awareness and inculcating meaningful change. However, the targeted audience should encompass employers and help create a modification in internal policy to suit the mental health of employees.

References

1 De-la-Calle-Durán, M.-C.; Rodríguez-Sánchez, J.-L. Employee Engagement and Wellbeing in Times of COVID-19: A Proposal

of the 5Cs Model. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 5470. (Accessed on 17/08/22)

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105470

Deloitte: The mental health of Gen Zs and millennials in the new world of work Global Talent | May 2022, (Accessed on

17/08/22) https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/deloitte-2022-genz-millennial-mh-

whitepaper.pdf

2 A healthy workforce for a better world United Nations system mental health and well-being strategy,

https://www.un.org/en/healthy-workforce/files/Strategy%20-%20full.pdf

(Accessed on 17/08/22)