The reasons behind millennial burnout

Millennials earned the nickname “The Burnout Generation,” after a study in 2021 found that 42% of millennials in the workforce say that they are burnt out . Older workers have a lot to say about this matter. According to some, the 90’s born professionals have not yet had a chance to build the resilience to cope with the stressful scenario of today’s offices. But others argue that the millennials were simply born into a turbulent societal storm, giving them the worst timing to be in the workplace.

Who are millennials and what is millennial burnout?

Although the term “Millennials” is thrown around today to describe young people in general, they are the people who were born specifically between 1981 and 1996. These are the workers who are between the ages of 26 and 41 in 2022.

Burnout is an officially recognized work-related syndrome according to the WHO, defined as, “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress.” Burnout can affect you even beyond the scope of work. Some commonly known mental health symptoms of burnout are lack of energy and exhaustion, a sense of failure and self-doubt, feeling alone in the world, loss of motivation, and decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Burnout also may have physical health symptoms such as insomnia, metabolic changes, lowered immune system, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

How do millennials contribute to the workforce?

Although many older workers describe millennials as lazy workers, that is not the case in reality. They are often overworked . Did you know that 73% of millennials work over 40 hours a week, and sometimes even up to 50 hours? Gallup says that millennials and Gen Z comprises almost half of the US full-time workforce.

What do millennials expect out of a job?

There are certain things that millennials are willing to work extra hard for. Most millennials are passionate about doing meaningful work and being treated fairly in the workplace. 87% of millennials believe that their jobs will be more fulfilling with higher pay. Millennials are at the age where they are just starting families. This is why a large number of millennials are looking for flexible work hours and the possibility of remote work, to achieve a better work-life balance. Millennials are also looking for opportunities to be given authority by their managers, rather than just work every day as subordinates. A large number of millennials believe that ethical leadership can make a huge difference in the job market. Last but not least, millennials also want better benefits from their jobs which include health insurance, dental, and pet insurance.

What are the reasons behind millennial burnout?

A 2020 Deloitte survey revealed that 44% of millennials believe that they are stressed all or most of the time. Some reasons revealed in the survey as contributing to the work-related stress of millennials are:

?????????????????????Welfare of their family - 41%

?????????????????????Long-term financial future - 41%

?????????????????????Career prospects/job precarity - 40%

?????????????????????Day-to-day finances - 34%

?????????????????????Climate change - 23%

?????????????????????Social/political climate - 25%

?????????????????????Personal safety - 24%

Millennial managers have their own set of struggles

42% of millennial managers have stated that their workplace tiredness and stress are significantly large because of the great resignation during the Covid-19 pandemic. As workers quit jobs left and right, millennials who were left had to foot the bill. This has many millennial workers overworked and struggling to fill open positions. The unclear communication from leadership, lack of support, and too-high workload have contributed to increasing the work-related stress of millennial managers.