gen z – Michmutters
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Australia

Loving your job is a capitalist trap, say some Gen Zs and millennials. They’re rejecting the 9-to-5, but how are they coping financially?

Wake up, eat, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat.

Living the dream, huh?

“Personally, I believe I’m not meant to work. I’m meant to do this all day,” says an audio track on TikTok that went viral for its candid message: working a 9-to-5 job is no longer the ideal lifestyle for many.

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One video that uses this audio shows a woman sitting at a cafe, enjoying a coffee and croissant. Ella’s phone camera pans around, revealing a dozen others leisurely doing the same.

It has over three million views.

The video-based app has become a hub for Gen Zs and Millennials to create apathetic and pessimistic commentary about their disillusionment towards work.

What’s fueling this? Toxic workplace culture, minimal flexibility, no work life balance and of course, the pandemic.

Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen Z & Millennial Survey revealed four in 10 Gen Zs and nearly a quarter of Millennials would like to leave their jobs in two years.

Roughly a third would do so without another job lined upthe report found.

However, if you love what you do, is it true that you’ll never work a day in your life?

Engineer-turned-career-development practitioner Naishadh Gadani said the dream job is “an overly simplistic and misused term”.

“Rather than thinking of it as a dream job, we should be questioning whether it’s a fulfilling job,” Mr Gadani told ABC News.

“Questions like: What fulfills me? What brings me happiness? What kind of workplace or organization do I like? – [these] can help us.”

Juliette had ‘golden ticket’ job but quit and now works casually in hospitality

Juliette, 22, from Victoria, landed her first white-collar job from her sister’s roommate at the time, who worked in the public service.

After hearing that she was looking for trainees who required no qualifications, Juliette applied and was offered the job.

“It was a golden ticket because I was 20, had no qualifications past a mediocre ATAR, and was now working full-time and getting paid a decent wage.

“I received a lot of praise from friends and family. It was a job that my family could gloat about,” she said.

After nine months into the job, Juliette quit. She said she felt like a failure.

A young, brown-haired woman in a black suit and white shirt with a lanyard over it stands in front of a house
Juliette on her first day of her public service job. (Supplied: Juliette Melody Grace)

“I had spent months toying with the idea of ​​whether money or my mental health was more important,” she said.

Four months after she quit, Juliette traded full-time work for a casual job in hospitality and she has never been happier.

“My job isn’t who I am. I don’t base my worth on my productivity within capitalism.”

Despite her reduced working hours, coupled with a rising cost of living, Juliette remains “optimistic” about the future.

“As bad as things are economically, it’s just a cycle. There are bigger problems than my wallet.”

Alex’s dream was to play in a band. I realized it was not as glamorous as it sounded

Alex, 32, was in his first year of university when a friend asked what he wanted to do for a career.

“She said to ignore the money and say the first thing that came to mind. I blurted out: ‘I want to play in a band.’

“That’s the moment I decided playing in a band was my ‘dream job’,” he said.

A black and white photo of Alex Carrette performing on stage with his guitar
While it’s not his “dream job”, Alex’s day job is in the aerospace industry.(Supplied: Alex Carrette)

However, as Alex became more involved in Brisbane’s music scene, he saw how the life of a band member wasn’t as glamorous as their fans might suspect.

“Playing shows to hundreds of fans sounds incredible, but this is only a small part of a touring musician’s life,” he said.

Over the years, Alex decided he wouldn’t let a job consume his identity, so he allowed himself to simply “have a job.”

His current “day job” is working in the aerospace sector. But he hasn’t given up on ditching the 9-to-5 routine.

“I’ve recently gotten into making my own YouTube videos as well as editing them for clients. So, that’s another possibility,” he explained.

Alex said his ideal situation would be to play local shows in small venues, as opposed to touring nationally or internationally.

“I don’t see that as a failure. So long as I’m enjoying playing music, that’s a success in my mind,” he said.

Owning a home is ‘unachievable’ for Ishara, but she believes this is no longer the dream for young people

During primary school, Ishara Sahama, 23, dreamed of becoming a vet.

It wasn’t until her final years of high school — when she gravitated towards the humanities and social sciences field.

After graduating university with a major in geography in 2019, Ms Sahama spent a few years volunteering and gaining work experience.

She now works part-time in the social enterprise and entrepreneurship space.

“Ever since I started working, I’ve seen people who are either in their mid-20s-30s, or in their 40-50s, resign from the public sector and move to private, or vice-versa,” Ms Sahama said.

A photo of Ishara Sahama smiling
Ishara Sahama says “the Australian dream” is a luxury that doesn’t reflect the realities of young people. (Supplied: Ishara Sahama)

“Pushing young people to pick a dream job — or will it into existence — can be detrimental to their personal growth.”

“The past two years have changed the way work is conducted. A 9-to-5 job, five days a week can be condensed to four days,” she said.

“And, yet, people who do or don’t have this work structure may still struggle to keep up with Australia’s rising cost of living.”

Ms Sahama saves on certain costs by living with her family, paying for petrol and groceries, costs that have only increased over time.

While these costs are manageable for her, Ishara feels indifferent when it comes to buying a home.

“The idea of ​​owning, or leasing, a property in the future is now unachievable for me, considering current economic circumstances,” she said.

“The ‘Australian Dream’ is a luxury and a privilege. It doesn’t reflect everyday realities of young people who must change and adapt to the workforce in a post-COVID world.”

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Categories
Australia

Young adult researchers with Down syndrome hoping to change the narrative

A new study of young adults with Down syndrome has found they often have high aspirations, usually grounded with a sense of realism.

“One of the things I loved seeing was this zest [for] life, the joy and enthusiasm in so many things,” University of Queensland Associate Professor Rhonda Faragher said.

“And a really important finding is that they don’t like to be treated differently. They don’t want to be singled out. They don’t want to be, perhaps, patronized.

“We know a good quality of life is not only possible. It’s common.”

The study ‘Stepping out in the world: the new adulthood for Gen Zs with Down syndrome’ involved interviews with 27 people around Australia as part of a National Disability Research Partnership grant.

“When I was growing up, there weren’t people with Down syndrome around — they were usually taken at birth to live in institutions, often with a short life span,” Dr Faragher explained.

“And we became intrigued by the idea that these young people who had left school were leading very different lives to what people had in the past.”

‘I feel proud’

Six women and two men stand together in a group.
Members of the research team Mia Johnston, Dr Rhonda Faragher, Alana Pettigrew, Bobby Pate, Ruth Faragher, Dr Jan Lloyd, Rebecca Flanagan and Michael Cox.(Supplied: University of Queensland)

The project employed four people with Down syndrome as research assistants who helped with the interviews and took part in the focus groups.

“We don’t do work on people with Down syndrome, we do it with and by,” Dr Faragher said.

Two adults with Down syndrome served on the project’s steering committee, Bobby Pate and Dr Faragher’s daughter, Ruth.

“I got involved in the research with my mum, basically because I’ve got Down syndrome, so I am really good at things,” Ruth Faragher explained.

Research assistant Mia Johnston says she feels like she’s achieved something.

“My family is proud and I feel proud for myself,” she said.

Study participant Catherine Mullany from Brisbane said she told the researchers she has a good life.

“I am 23 years old. I have a job at coffee roasters — and get paid,” she said.

“My dream is to keep my job, get gold medals for swimming, things like that… I love my dreams.”

‘We are people just like everyone else’

A man speaks on stage as four women and one man stand behind him.
Michael Cox and members of the research team present the findings at the University of Queensland.(Supplied: University of Queensland)

The project was carried out by the University of Queensland’s Down Syndrome Research Program, which began in the late 1970s and is believed to be the world’s oldest and longest study of people with the genetic condition.

Dr Faragher first made contact with the program after Ruth was born in 1996.

“I knew a little about Down syndrome, but not much,” she said.

One of the directors of the center at the time was Dr Anne Jobling.

“When I first met Rhonda, she was an anxious mother, and we had much data we could share about developmental progress that was contrary to the literature at that time,” Dr Jobling said.

Dr Faragher was a mathematics teacher when Ruth was born, but she later became an academic and eventually director of the Down Syndrome Research Project.

“What a lovely turn of the circle,” she said.

“Going from when I was receiving the information as a new mother, that came out of the research studies, to now being able to contribute to that work.”

Dr Jobling says stepping out into the adult world is still an enormous challenge for people with Down syndrome, but she’s seen a remarkable change in her lifetime.

“It is absolutely amazing to me that we have been able to come so far,” Dr Jobling said.

Speaking at the release of the Gen Z report at UQ, research assistant Michael Cox said it was a wonderful opportunity to spread an important message.

“We may have disability. We may have Down syndrome but people do forget that we are people just like everyone else,” he said.

Watch this story on 7.30 on ABC TV and ABC iview.

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