These are the real reasons Gen Z wants a four-day workweek

""I was willing to work for free, I was willing to work any hours they needed-even on evenings and weekends," Kinjil told Fortune. "You really have to just be willing to do anything, any hours, any pay, any type of job." The online backlash to Kinjil's statement was immediate and brutal, forcing her to walk those comments back. "I shared my own college internship experiences, and my words were misrepresented as career advice for a whole generation," Kinjil later said in a statement."

""I think they have more of an attitude of work-to-live as opposed to live-to-work that many of us grew up with," said Ravin Jesuthasan, the global leader for transformation services at the consulting giant Mercer, on stage in Davos in 2024. "This is particularly true in the West. They have seen the legacy of all these broken promises. In the old days and in many parts of the West, they would promise you if you worked for 30 years, you'd have this defined benefit pension, you'd have retiree medical care, etc. None of that exists today.""

Squarespace chief marketing officer Kinjil Mathur advised Gen Z job seekers to be willing to do anything to land their first job, including unpaid work and working evenings and weekends, and then faced immediate online backlash that prompted a public walkback. The episode reflects a generational clash over workplace values, with younger workers favoring a work-to-live mindset and greater protection of well-being. Many younger workers distrust long-term employer promises such as defined-benefit pensions and retiree medical care. Historically, Western workplaces equated stress with importance, and some workers historically used complaints about stress to signal value.

Read at Fast Company