These are the real reasons Gen Z wants a four-day workweek

In the summer of 2024, Squarespace’s chief marketing officer, Kinjil Mathur, attracted criticism when she told Gen Z job seekers that they, like her, should be “willing to do anything” to land their first job.

“I was willing to work for free, I was willing to work any hours they needed—even on evenings and weekends,” Kinjil told Fortune. “You really have to just be willing to do anything, any hours, any pay, any type of job.” The online backlash to Kinjil’s statement was immediate and brutal, forcing her to walk those comments back. “I shared my own college internship experiences, and my words were misrepresented as career advice for a whole generation,” Kinjil later said in a statement.

The episode demonstrates a growing clash of values between the various generations in today’s workplace. While some still take pride in sacrificing their well-being to demonstrate their commitment, others—primarily younger workers—see things differently. “I think they have more of an attitude of work-to-live as opposed to live-to-work that many of us grew up with,” said Ravin Jesuthasan, the global leader for transformation services at the consulting giant Mercer, on stage in Davos in 2024. “This is particularly true in the West. They have seen the legacy of all these broken promises. In the old days and in many parts of the West, they would promise you if you worked for 30 years, you’d have this defined benefit pension, you’d have retiree medical care, etc. None of that exists today.”

One of the many points of differentiation between today’s young people and older workers is their perception of stress. Historically, Western workplace cultures equated stress with importance. If you were stressed, it often meant your job was more demanding and thus more important, encouraging some to complain about stress as a way to subtly communicate their value. Rather than seeing stress bragging—or talking about being overworked with a sense of pride—as a badge of honor, however, young people are more likely to interpret it as indicative of poor time management at best and an unhealthy relationship with work at worst. 

According to a 2024 study by researchers at the University of Georgia, those who brag the most about being stressed are now perceived more negatively by their peers. In fact, the research suggests those who stress brag are perceived as less capable, not more. After generations of equating time with effectiveness and busyness with importance, Gen Z has come to view the value of their time through a different lens. 

It’s not just that Gen Z grew up in an era when many of the traditional promises of work and loyalty had long since been broken, when individual time commitments had been largely divorced from actual results. Those born in the late 1990s through the early 2010s have also already lived through a once-in-a-century economic crisis, endured a once-in-a-century pandemic, and are regularly bombarded by what were formerly considered once-in-a-century extreme weather events. This generation, which is just entering the workforce, spent their childhoods hearing their parents panic over financial challenges during the 2008 economic crisis, had their brains shaped by an unregulated social media machine that has proven detrimental to their mental health, lost some of their formative years to pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, and continues to face a barrage of new challenges almost daily. 

More so than any generation before them, this group of young people has developed an appreciation for proper time management, mental health, and well-being. Their well-documented emphasis on meaning and joy has come to replace past generations’ keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, competitive pursuit of material wealth. People used to say that money can’t buy happiness, but the most anxious and depressed generation in modern history has internalized that sentiment.

Countless studies show that when it comes to their priorities in life—and at work—Gen Zers seek a greater balance between economic and emotional stability, prizing quality time over financial excess. According to a 2023 survey by Intuit, three-quarters of Gen Zers say they would rather have a better quality of life than more money in the bank, and 66% say they are only interested in earning money as a way to support their personal interests.

Part of the motivation, the study suggests, is that social comparison has evolved from homes, cars, and other material markers of wealth to social media posts. In fact, 33% Gen Z members said they compare themselves to people they see on social media, versus 14% of the general population, and 70% say they feel as if they’re falling behind those they see online, compared with 50% of other generations. In Deloitte’s 2024 survey of millennials and Gen Zers, the respondents ranked work-life balance as their top priority when choosing an employer, followed by flexible hours and reduced workweeks—all of which outranked salary.

In short, this is the perfect generation to champion a shorter workweek. Not only does the reduced schedule offer more leisure time, which this generation prizes over compensation, but it has also been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, burnout, and depression. Furthermore, the four-day workweek represents an opportunity to address some of their greatest collective challenges, like improving family and community ties in the digital age, improving gender equity, and addressing climate change. Finally, the four-day workweek offers this generation more time to engage in causes that are meaningful to them, a primary motivator for this generation, according to research.

Gen Z is the most enthusiastic generation about the concept of a four-day workweek and the most convinced of not just its feasibility but also its inevitability. 

In a 2024 survey of Gen Z students and professionals in the United States age 18 to 27, 80% said the four-day week should be standard, up from 76% the previous year. The same study also found that most young people were already utilizing new AI technologies to get more done in less time, with 72% saying they felt comfortable using generative AI regularly. In fact, 72% of Gen Z AI users said they save between 1 and 10 hours of schoolwork per week by leveraging the technology, and 14% have reduced their work time by more than 10 hours. 

Young people are so keen on a shorter workweek that they’re even willing to forgo other traditional workplace perks. In a 2023 survey by Bankrate, 92% of Gen Z and millennial respondents said they would sacrifice other common benefits in exchange for a four-day workweek, compared with 89% of Gen Xers and 80% of baby boomers.The most common workplace perks and norms that respondents of all generations would sacrifice for one less workday is the eight-hour day, with 54% saying they would work longer hours during the remaining four days. The second-most-popular trade-off was changing industries, jobs, or companies, with 37% saying they would leave their current role for a shorter schedule. 

According to a 2023 survey of 12,000 workers in the United Kingdom by Hays, 62% would prefer to work a four-day workweek in the office rather than a traditional five-day hybrid schedule. In its 2025 annual review, global HR firm Randstad, which has been asking thousands of workers around the world about work preferences since 2004, found that they ranked work-life balance ahead of pay for the first time. In the company’s global survey of 26,000 workers, 83% put it at the very top of their priority list, and this preference was even stronger among Gen Z workers.

Even if other generations are slow to take up the cause, there is good reason to believe the four-day workweek is inevitable—because it will be so highly valued by a generation of future leaders. 

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Adapted from Do More in Four: Why It’s Time for a Shorter Workweek by Joe O’Connor and Jared Lindzon. Copyright 2026 Joe O’Connor and Jared Lindzon. All rights reserved.

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