‘Release your job, release the time!’ Two- and-a-half years later and Beyoncé’s Break My Soul still soundtracks my commute when I just cannot. Most likely a Monday morning, as I stand on the cold, wet platform, damp seeping through my trainers into my socks. But Bey’s battle cry feels more like a dream than a reality. So I flick through my Spotify in search of the punk sounds of Lambrini Girls’ Company Culture. ‘Harassed in the workplace, my cold resting bitch face,’ blasts into my ears as I squeeze between the bodies in the overflowing carriage of the (delayed) 8.05.
There was the Great Resignation of 2021, when millions quit their jobs in the space of weeks; then ‘quiet quitting’, ‘lazy girl jobs’ and even ‘bare minimum Mondays’, which encouraged us to put the least effort required into feeding the capitalist machine. The headlines say we’re in the midst of a workplace revolution but, with a wage that struggles to stretch for most of us and a cost-of-living crisis putting more pressure on our bank balances than ever, I’m not convinced.
The thing is, careers hit a little different now. While our parents may have been working at the same company as long as we’ve been alive, for most of us, the idea of a ‘job for life’ is basically a relic of the past. A survey by Open Study College found the average thirty-something has already worked as many jobs as someone in their 50s has for their entire career. The idea that our careers will nurture us – and pay us enough money to not just survive but thrive – has also been slowly disintegrating over the past decade.
In fact, wages have been stagnant since 2008 – pay today is 2.7% lower than it was that year and, as a result, we’re losing out on the equivalent of £20k per year because salaries haven’t risen in line with inflation.
For many, leaving a job to get a new one is the only way to wangle any meaningful pay rise (despite it costing companies more to go through the rigmarole of the hiring process than to simply fork out). Yup, bleak.
Flex appeal
The pandemic was life-alteringly horrendous, on all fronts. But if there was any silver lining, it was the shift in how some workplaces function. With a government mandate that those who could work from home, should, employers were forced to implement flexible working practices that had previously been seen as a perk. Yes, phrases like, ‘you’re on mute!’ joined our most-hated workplace vernacular alongside ‘put a pin in it’ and ‘circle back’, but it also allowed employees to demonstrate that hard work isn’t about being physically present or staying late. It finally felt like our generation’s desire for workplace wellbeing and a healthier work/life balance became a necessity, rather than a luxury. But this sentiment is slowly slipping away.
Ashley* has just stepped into her first job as a legal assistant for a corporate firm. She leaves the house at 6am every day and spends a hefty chunk of her salary travelling from home to her office. Working like this is not what she’d imagined. After all, she earned her entire degree over Zoom. Ashley’s job is ‘mostly admin’, so she doesn’t need to be in the office every day. In fact, hardly anyone talks to her there anyway. She’s one of many workers impacted by businesses recalling employees to the office five days a week, making people feel like they’re on a rollercoaster with no control over where it’s going.
Employers say the office is good for ‘collaboration’ and cultivating a ‘better company culture’ and yet, numerous studies show that the balance of hybrid working makes employees healthier, happier and (the thing bosses are looking for) more productive. One, published in the scientific journal Nature, found that employees who work from home two days a week are just as productive as their peers in the office for five. Another by Harvard Business School suggested one to two office days is the magic number, citing that hybrid employees created more original and high-quality work than those tied to the office.
Furthermore, research by the International Workplace Group [IWG] showed hybrid working fostered a better work-life balance, resulting in more physical exercise, healthier eating and even better sleep – which, of course, all leads to less burnout (of which 72% of the workforce experienced before the hybrid model was introduced).
So, why is the battle against hybrid working raging on?
According to recent research from the University of Pittsburgh, companies use return to office (RTO) policies as nothing more than a form of ‘power grabbing’. HR director turned academic and lecturer at Liverpool Business School, Gemma Dale, agrees. She points out that ‘if managers come at it with a view that remote work is skiving, it’s easy to blame it for problems, rather than looking at the real issues’, which are rarely about where people are working from. In her experience, RTO policies also pose problems for inclusion, being inconsiderate of disabled, chronically ill or neurodivergent workers, as well as parents.
Lauren Fabianski, head of campaigns and communications at the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, similarly believes that for mothers to thrive in the workplace, hybrid working is key. ‘Whether we like it or not, mums carry the brunt of childcare,’ she says. ‘This gets baked in from the moment dads are sent back to work after a shockingly short two weeks of paternity leave.’
With the so-called motherhood penalty seeing mothers earn just 72% of what fathers do – worse today than it was 50 years ago – hybrid working is far from a ‘perk’ or a luxury, says Fabianski. Indeed, research by McKinsey shows that 38% of mothers with young children would have to quit their jobs if they didn’t have flexibility. Fabianski argues that supporting parents to work and afford childcare is ‘essential for the economy. If we don’t invest in families now, we’ll all feel the fallout later’.
Of course, there’s also the fact that this only applies to office workers. For the likes of teachers, carers, doctors, nurses, retail and hospitality staff, flexi working – or quitting for better pay – is often even less of an option. It’s perhaps unsurprising then that we’ve seen an increasing volume of industrial action in the UK of late, with over 2.6m working days lost to strikes in 2023 alone, according to the government.
New ways of being
The divide in approaches to work stretch far beyond hybrid working. For the first time in history, five generations of people are being thrown together in many workplaces – and each person’s ‘normal’ is something entirely different. For fashion content assistant Hannah Akande, 25, these divides manifest in approaches to overtime. ‘It feels like older colleagues hold on to outdated processes because that’s how they’ve always done it,’ she says. ‘But I’m using the flexibility I’m given.’ If Hannah spends one week working from 6am until 11pm on a photo shoot, or has had a particularly manic few days at the office, missing lunch and leaving late, why wouldn’t she take a few days to catch her breath afterwards?
Watching millennials burn out is part of the reason 27-year-old Gabrielle Judge founded the @antiworkgirlboss movement. It’s also why she believes trends such as ‘lazy girl jobs’ spread – ‘they resonate with an entire generation disillusioned by the grind of previous decades,’ she says. ‘Young people don’t want to play the game that older generations did,’ agrees Dale, citing research that half of all grads rule out non-hybrid jobs immediately and 56% of millennials and Gen Zers reject a project that doesn’t align with their beliefs.
As a Gen Xer, Jayne Busby, HR director at global logistics company TGW Limited, which has more than 4,000 employees globally, believes it’s time we all accept the world has changed. ‘I manage young people and have an 18-year-old daughter, and they have an entirely different approach to work. They’re far choosier about what they do and when, their expectations around flexibility are greater, their job must fit around their lives and they will only work the hours they are paid for,’ Busby explains. ‘Gen Z are less open to being interrupted and will respond when they are ready. I quite like this!’
But recent data from an Intelligent.com survey of 1,000 business leaders revealed that not all bosses are like Busby, with many firing Gen Z employees within months of hiring them, citing a perceived poor work ethic and a lack of readiness to do the job. So, how do you look out for yourself and get ahead at a time when there is more unemployment than ever? Is exerting boundaries likely to gain you frowns from the old guard, or is it a survival necessity?
Dale believes the battle between what employers and employees want will continue to rage until more of Gen Z reach positions of seniority. But until then, Busby stresses the importance of hard work that doesn’t have to encroach on your personal life. ‘Work is changing and we’re all learning,’ she says. But if you feel you’re being taken advantage of and quitting isn’t an option, she says you should get a copy of your company’s policies. ‘Read them and keep in your mind what the business you work for is all about.’ That way, if and when the opportunity arises, you can outline your concerns and how you feel those policies are impacting your wellbeing.
‘Choose the right time, make an appointment and be respectful,’ says Busby. Be prepared to give anything a trial period – ‘for both parties’. Most importantly, ‘be open to further conversations and listen to what your manager thinks. Usually a compromise can be found,’ she says. The government is also taking note. Within his first 100 days, Keir Starmer announced sweeping workplace changes as part of Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill, from maternity rights to new protections against unfair dismissal. Flexible working will also become the norm and statutory sick pay will be improved, if the bill is properly implemented.
Hannah welcomes the proposals, saying, ‘We’re not willing to work the same way previous generations did.’ And what’s wrong with that? Hannah says she goes ‘above and beyond’ at work, but simply doesn’t want her entire identity to be bound up in her job. ‘I can see that older workers have experience, knowledge and a super strong work ethic – and that’s really inspiring,’ she says. ‘We’re redefining what success looks like. For me, it’s about freedom, balance and purpose. I want a life outside of my job, too.’ And isn’t that what we are all looking for anyway?
