Gen Z is burning out at work more than any other generation — here’s why and what can be done
December 22, 2025 – 11:28 AM
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Gen Z workers are reporting some of the highest burnout levels ever recorded, with new research suggesting they are buckling under unprecedented levels of stress.
While people of all age levels report burnout, Gen Z and millennials are reporting “peak burnout” at earlier ages. In the United States, a
poll of 2,000 adults
found that a quarter of Americans are burnt out before they’re 30 years old.
Similarly, a British study measured burnout over an 18-month period after the COVID-19 pandemic and found
Gen Z members were reporting burnout levels of 80 per cent
. Higher levels of burnout among the Gen Z cohort were also
reported by the BBC
a few years ago.
Globally, a survey covering 11 countries and more than 13,000 front-line employees and managers reported that
than other employees (75 per cent).
Another
international well-being study
found that nearly one-quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds were experiencing “unmanageable stress,” with 98 per cent reporting at least one symptom of burnout.
And in Canada, a
survey found that
51 per cent of Gen Z respondents felt burnt out
— lower than millennials at 55 per cent, but higher than boomers at 29 per cent and Gen X, at 32 per cent.
As a longstanding university educator of Gen Z students, and a father of two of this generation, the levels of Gen Z burnout in today’s workplace are astounding. Rather than dismissing young workers as distracted or too demanding of work-life balance, we might consider that they’re sounding the alarm of what’s broken at work and how we can fix it.
No one’s 20s and 30s look the same.
You might be saving for a mortgage or just struggling to pay rent. You could be swiping dating apps, or trying to understand childcare. No matter your current challenges, our
Quarter Life series
What burnout really is
Burnout can vary from person to person
and across occupations, but researchers generally agree on its core features. It occurs when there is conflict between what a worker expects from their job and what the job actually demands.
That mismatch can take many forms: ambiguous job tasks, an overload of tasks or not having enough resources or the skills needed to respond to a role’s demands.
Burnout typically progresses across three dimensions. While fatigue is often the first noticeable symptom of burnout,
the second is cynicism or depersonalization
, which leads to alienation and detachment to one’s work. This detachment leads to the third dimension of burnout: a declining sense of personal accomplishment or self-efficacy.
Why Gen Z is especially vulnerable to burnout
Several forces converge to make Gen Z particularly susceptible to burnout. First, many Gen Z entered the workforce during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was a time of profound upheaval, social isolation and changing work protocols and demands. These conditions
disrupted the informal learning that typically happens through everyday interactions
with colleagues that were hard to replicate in a remote workforce.
Second, broader economic pressures have intensified. As American economist Pavlina Tcherneva argues, the “
death of the social contract and the enshittification of jobs
” — the expectation that a university education would result in a well-paying job — have left many young people navigating a far more precarious landscape.
The intensification of economic disruption, widening inequality, increasing costs of housing and living and the rise of precarious employment have put greater financial pressures on this generation.
A third factor is the
restructuring of work that is taking place under artificial intelligence
. As workplace strategist Ann Kowal Smith wrote in a recent
Forbes
article,
Gen Z is the first generation to enter a labour market defined by
a “new architecture of work: hybrid schedules that fragment connection, automation that strips away context and leaders too busy to model judgment.”
What can be done?
One of burnout’s most overlooked antidotes is
combating the alienation and isolation it produces
. The best way to do this is by building connection and relation to others, starting with work colleagues. This could be as simple as checking in with a teammate after a meeting or setting up a weekly coffee with a colleague.
In addition, it’s important to give up on the idea that excessive work is better work. Set boundaries at work by blocking out time in your calendar and clearly signalling your availability to colleagues.
But individual coping strategies can only go so far. The more fundamental solutions must come from workplaces themselves. Employers need to offer
more flexible work arrangements
, including wellness and mental health supports. Leaders and managers should communicate job expectations clearly, and workplaces should have policies to proactively review and redistribute excessive workloads.
Kowal Smith has also suggested
building a new “architecture of learning” in the workplace that includes mentorship, provides feedback loops and rewards curiosity and agility.
Taken together, these workplace transformation efforts could humanize the workplace, lessen burnout and improve engagement, even at a time of encroaching AI. A workplace that works better for Gen Z ultimately works better for all of us.
Nitin Deckha
, Lecturer in Justice Studies, Early Childhood Studies, Community and Social Services and Electives,
University of Guelph-Humber.
The Conversation
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