There is a new trend taking over TikTok’s ‘For You Page’: the phenomenon of Gen Z employees “loud quitting” their jobs. This trend, popularized on TikTok, involves recording the moment they inform their boss of their resignation and sharing it on social media. This appears to be an evolution of the earlier trend of “quiet quitting,” where, instead of resigning, disenchanted Gen Z workers simply chose to do the bare minimum at their jobs. While opinions on the ethics of recording such conversations vary, the underlying motives driving this wave of resignations among Gen Z (aptly referred to by some as “QuitTok”) are worth exploring.
As someone who straddles the line between the millennial and Gen Z generations, I find myself in a unique position to comment on this phenomenon, especially having recently handed in my notice (literally just earlier this week). There’s a noticeable overlap in the attitudes and behaviours of the older Gen Z and younger millennials, particularly those in their 20s to early 30s. So this trend isn’t limited to Gen Z; many millennials are also choosing to leave their jobs, highlighting a broader shift in the workforce’s approach to employment.
The reasons behind this mass exodus from traditional employment are multifaceted and, in my opinion, worth some consideration. I will take you through some of the most – in my opinion – convincing theories behind this trend.
Reason #1: Gen Z are Lazy and Entitled
This is probably the reason we hear thrown around the most, particularly by Boomers and Gen X. And, to be honest, it makes sense. Imagine for a moment – you’re a Boomer, you’re in your 60s or 70s, maybe you’ve retired or are just about to, and you’ve spent your life playing by the rules. And maybe it’s actually worked out pretty well for you. You might have got married and had kids early, scoring a comfortable 3-bed house with the mortgage that your stable, traditional 9-5 helped you to secure. Sure, back then, getting a job and buying a house might’ve been simpler, but you did what was expected to support your family – even if it meant enduring unpleasant bosses or toxic workplaces. So, it’s no wonder that seeing Gen Z throw in the towel after a cushy year or two of employment might feel like a slap in the face.
But to make matters worse, for many young people, it’s not just about ditching the 9-5. They’re questioning the whole idea of working just to live – to have access to shelter, food, healthcare. It’s as if by being born, they were handed a contract they never signed, saying they’ve got to earn their keep just to stay alive. This may sound a little grim, sure, but it’s not too hard to see from this perspective.
Reason #2: It's Just Another Social Media Trend
You’ve got to consider the power of trending hashtags and social media algorithms here. Perhaps Gen Z are simply brainwashing themselves into thinking the 9-5 life isn’t worth their time. They see people with large followings quitting their jobs because they believe they “deserve better” – ‘deserve’ is a funny word – and it sparks something. A sobering statistic shows that the majority of school kids now aspire to become influencers when they grow up; a career that didn’t even exist until about 15 years ago. It’s easy to see the appeal – effectively getting paid just to be ‘you’ on a semi-public stage. But they’re missing the bigger picture. Life is about more than money and fame; it’s about finding purpose, finding something that gives you a reason to get up in the morning. It just so happens that a career is one of the easiest ways of attaining this.
Reason #3: They're More Aware of Alternative Ways of Working
The social media effect also has another side to it – one less about entitlement, and more about being informed. Gen Z has grown up seeing that the traditional path isn’t the only way. Through social media, they have access to the stories of people who have made a comfortable living for themselves without the shackles of a 9-5, and can see that there are options for alternative ways of getting by. They’re seeing they can work for themselves instead, they can freelance, they can be self-employed – they see a pathway for higher autonomy, higher earning potential. Maybe – and this is a controversial take, I know – maybe Gen Z actually just have higher ambitions than generations before them? They know that they want more than a restrictive 9-5 lifestyle, and they want to do something about it. And isn’t that something to be celebrated? A more empowered generation? Personally, and maybe somewhat ironically, I think it’s quite hard to tell the difference between someone who’s just lazy and entitled, and someone who’s motivated by ambition. I guess only time will tell.
Reason #4: They Know Their Worth (Literally and Figuratively)
Literally speaking, they know what skills they have, and thanks to social media and platforms like Glassdoor and Reed, they know exactly what their skills are worth. They know if they could have access to a better job – better hours, better pay, better culture – and so they’re quitting to pursue that. Then, there’s ‘knowing their worth’ in a figurative sense. It’s no secret that Gen Z place a lot of value on mental health and work-life balance – more than any generation that has come before. They see a toxic workplace, and they feel like that don’t have to put up with that. And quite frankly, they don’t – why would anyone have to put up with a toxic workplace if there are alternative, non-toxic options available to them? Who are we to say someone has to put up with a bully for a boss, or an unfriendly culture, just because the generations before them did? For what, character building?
Reason #5: The World is Simply Changing
Sit down for this one. Maybe 9-5s just… aren’t the way forward anymore. Especially with the recent advancements of AI, which is threatening to completely restructure the employment landscape (and life) as we know it. The technological revolution that saw the introduction of internet through microelectronics obviously opened up a ton of new avenues of employment, and in turn more technologies and even more jobs and careers, and eventually gave way to the ‘digital nomad’ way of working. That was never possible before.
So it could be that Gen Z see that things are going to be shaken up – that we’re on the cusp of another seismic technological revolution, perhaps the biggest humanity has ever faced – and they want to take control of their own careers before it’s out of their hands. Maybe we’re all seeing another irreversible, and inevitable, change to the way of working as we know it.
Another thing that I think definitely contributed to the acceleration of this change is Covid. Obviously Covid saw workforces taking up working from home like never before, with many companies still operating on a hybrid or remote basis. I used to commute to work 5 days a week before the pandemic – that was over 10 hours of train travel per week, 40 hours of train travel per month. I would wake up at 6:30 and get back home at around 7 and just have a few hours to myself in the evening before going to bed. By Friday evening, I would be exhausted, so I didn’t even want to make plans for the weekend. Covid absolutely changed things for the better in that regard – I certainly can’t imagine having to go back to that, and I’ll sure as hell do everything in my power to avoid having to. So the idea of companies forcing their staff to return to this, just when we’ve finally gotten used to the ginormous upheaval of our weekday structure – is really a tough pill to swallow. Some people, especially Gen Z, will just refuse to.
But it’s more than just remote working that Covid was responsible for – those were weird years. 2020 and 2021 were like nothing we’d seen before. They were hard to process. They’re still hard to process. I’m not even going to start discussing what those years were like for young people, particularly those attending school at the time, because that is its own article in its own right.
With that said, a recent article in the Telegraph discussed this topic, and suggested that this massive shift in attitude towards work may have been caused by witnessing furlough. Young people had seen their families and friends being furloughed (if they weren’t the direct recipients themselves), and still getting paid by the government, which instilled the idea that you don’t necessarily have to even work to be paid. I’m not sure I’m completely on board with this theory, but it’s certainly interesting to consider.
Finally, in addition to AI and Covid, we’re seeing a lot more world conflict than before – or at least a lot more coverage of and fearmongering around it. Many young people genuinely believe that humanity is on the brink of World War Three. Maybe they’re right, or maybe Covid just made everyone a little more anxious and paranoid. But perhaps Covid and the recent international conflicts we’re seeing just reminds us all of our own mortality a little more. Maybe we’re starting to realise that we might not be around for as long as we thought, so we might as well find work that is meaningful for us in the time we have. (How’s that for fearmongering?)
So, What's the Real Reason?
Upon closer inspection, it’s clear that there’s more to this ‘QuitTok’ trend than just a simple hashtag.
Some generations might be quick to label Gen Z as entitled, shirking hard work and responsibilities, perhaps because of the ‘everyone’s a winner’ attitude many schools have adopted over the past decade which has gone on to create an overly-cushy environment; one devoid of any real challenges or hardships. But I think there’s more to it. Regardless of intergenerational perceptions and judgements, at the core of this drive is the very real desire to a job that doesn’t eat away at your soul. The world is changing. Social media’s showing everyone that the traditional 9-to-5 isn’t the only way to make a living, and maybe, just maybe, there are more suitable solutions for those who just want something else.
For me, it’s honestly a bit of all these factors. Perhaps there’s even a part of me which is using my ambition to veil my laziness – I want to work smarter, not harder. And for me, that might just mean not following a traditional 9-5. After 7 years of office jobs, this was an exciting but terrifying revelation – because as soon as that realisation hit me, I knew I couldn’t go back.
My main motivation was actually realising that I wanted to work on something that was wholly my own, where I was fully accountable for the success of my own business. The other big reason was the actual day-to-day restrictions of having a 9-5. Adopting a hybrid way of working definitely added more value to my life – let me see more of my family, my friends, gave me more time to spend on my hobbies – but after a while, it just started to feel like I was a prisoner in my own home. Sure, I might get the comforts of being able to wake up shortly before 9, dress in comfortable but unsightly loungewear, and play with my dog in between meetings, but over time that novelty largely wore of, and I felt like even though I was physically at home, I wasn’t emotionally or mentally there. I was still obliged to be at my desk or checking my emails at all hours of the day, simply because that was the schedule of my boss. I realised I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, it was making me miserable, and I knew that if there was another way – which there is – I would find it, and I’d make it work. And I think that’s what a lot of young people are starting to realise too.