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- Gen Z: Born 1997-2012
- Millennials: Born 1981-1996
- Gen X: 1965-1980
- Boomers: 1946-1964
- Silent: 1928-1945
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Millennials are avid job hoppers, changing jobs more often than previous generations. Everyone knows that, right?
Fact: Millennials stay with their employers just as long as Gen Xers did when they were 27 to 42 years old, the same age as Millenials today.
Not only that, but college-educated Millenials stay at their jobs longer than Gen Xers did — again, considering the age factor.
Surely, though, Baby Boomers stuck with their employers way longer than Millennials.
Wrong again.
Fact: Back in the day, Baby Boomers engaged in as much job-hopping as Millennials.
Believe it or not, that’s what the data show.
We forget what we were like.
We exaggerate the differences among generations and attribute those that do exist to the wrong factors.
Take the work-life balance discussion. We either applaud the younger generations for setting boundaries protecting the life side of said balance or we fault them for a lack of work ethic.
I for one believe all generations value and seek work-life balance to the same extent, and that people largely misperceive and exaggerate behavior.
To be sure, there are contrasts among generational cohorts, but work ethic and the quest for work-life balance are not among them.
Let’s look at one factor that has changed but that we tend to overlook in the discussion: Women in the workforce.
Born in 1940, my father would be part of what’s known as the Silent Generation, one assumed not to have prioritized work-life balance.
But then, why should that balance have been a thing for my father and his peers?
Men had a wife to run the home and take care of the kids. They didn’t have to keep track of their children’s activities or fix school lunches. They didn’t come home from work to clean the house, do laundry, check homework, fix dinner, and read a bedtime story.
Back then, women worked outside the home at half the rate of men, and I bet you my left pinky that most of the jobs held by women were not as high-level managers, finance executives, lawyers, or doctors. They were jobs that paid less and offered minimal career advancement. Naturally, if Johnny was sick, Mom was always the one to take the day off.
Men had work-life balance built into their lives.
Like my father, lots of men could come home from work to shower in peace, take a nap, have a scotch, read their mail, make calls, and watch TV. They didn’t think to coordinate with their spouse when making an appointment with the barber or doctor.
Perhaps it was women who gave rise to the concept of, or at least the conversation about, work-life balance as they entered the workforce in greater numbers and higher-paying jobs.
Simply put, women forced society to notice that unpaid work is work.
The men did not exactly offer to take on any of the many household and parenting tasks women had always done, which left working women with zero work-life balance. Most of the balance they’ve achieved, they’ve had to fight for.
Ever so slowly, the balance started to shift. Home responsibilities became less unevenly split. As men had to devote more time to unpaid work, work-life balance suddenly became important. And that’s a good thing.
Most people of every living generation want balance.
But to you, balance might involve more “work” and less “life” than it does for me -or vice versa.
The default in the conversation, however, is that the imbalance always lies in too much “work” and too little “life.” That’s simplistic. Balance needs differ and change over time.
By the way, a stay-at-home parent seeks balance, even if their work is unpaid. So does the caregiver of an elderly parent, a spouse with dementia, or a developmentally disabled child.
I was a stay-at-home parent for about eight years. For much of those eight years, I confess to feeling quite off balance. I badly wanted to work, and when I finally did, there was a short-lived phase where I couldn’t get enough of work.
Then, as my children got older and there was less to do at home, I could pursue interests and activities beyond work and family. And that’s when the perfect balance for me meant less work and more life.
In short, all work-life balance is not created equal.
People experience the balance a job offers differently. Most of my teacher colleagues didn’t find the summer break to be long enough. But a couple proclaimed to be ready and glad to be back after the break because they’d run out of things to do. And both of them worked in summer school!
There are also people like my hyperactive, workaholic, single nephew who’s eager to work, work, work and gladly puts in 70 hours a week.
The number of hours worked isn’t the best measure of balance.
The United States is a country of statistics, data, and categories, where people are grouped according to many criteria and where we’re supposed to identify with specific groups.
After writing this, I won’t forget I’m a Gen Xer — although I identify more with the Millenials, lol.
At any rate, I understand that it’s useful to keep track of stuff, but it’s a bit much.
With categories and infinite statistics comes the impulse to craft ever neater stories about each group, stories that become less and less nuanced and that we twist so they fit our own biases and experiences.
The work-life balance conversation is biased.
When I look at the Millennials and Gen Zers in my life, I see them pursuing and valuing balance as much as their parents and grandparents, each in their own way and depending on what state of life they’re in, no on what generation they belong to.
If you’re interested in this topic, I found the Pew Research Center to be a great resource. Also found this Harvard Business Review article interesting.
Another reflection on work: Why Why I Side With the Quiet Quitters.