Young employees in Australia are taking more than 26 million workdays off annually due to stress, according to a recent report.
Research from Macquarie University reveals that individuals aged 18 to 29, though representing the smallest segment of the workforce, are the most stressed group of workers in the nation.
The study, which surveyed 5,515 Australians, highlighted a trend among young workers frequently opting for ‘mental health mini-breaks,’ causing concern among potential employers about future hires.
Findings suggest that companies are becoming more cautious, often avoiding candidates they feel might later file expensive stress-related claims.
Career consultant Tammie Ballis expressed no surprise that Gen Z employees lead in stress-related absences.
“They perceive everything as stressful,” Ms. Ballis remarked to the Daily Mail.
‘Schools aren’t teaching them to work, they’re teaching them to study and get high marks, but they aren’t ready for the workforce, they don’t understand that you’ve got to go to work, you’ve got to have a boss.’
Ms Ballis also said the majority of Gen Zs have trouble dealing with feedback from managers.
Career consultant Tammie Ballis (pictured) said she wasn’t ‘surprised at all’ when she heard Gen Zs took the most time off work due to stress
‘When you go to work, you’re going to get feedback,’ she said.
‘If you’re late or if your performance is below expectations and you are given feedback, Gen Z take that as bullying, but it’s not really the case’.
Ms Ballis said some Gen Zs she has encountered in her professional career are hardworking and mature, but most often they lack a work ethic.
‘The parents have bubble-wrapped them, they’ve been raised on social media, maybe forget about the expensive holidays, luxury cars and $300 make-up and instead put your heads down.
‘Some are really mature, but a lot of other ones are not, and they complain that they can’t get a job.
She highlighted a case of a worker who had fifteen employers in three years.
‘You can’t keep saying it’s everyone else’s fault. There’s no self-awareness, no self-reflection, and somehow everyone else is always the problem except them.
‘They get upset when someone else does well, I honestly think it’s the whole social media which is the problem, they want to keep up with Joneses, they want everything to come so easy.’
Macquarie University researcher Kristy Burns penned the report
The report, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey data from 2020 and 2021, found that the most highly stressed workers miss more than 20 days of work a year compared to their more relaxed colleagues.
The study also found that employees aged 18 to 29 are 1.5 times more likely to be distressed than workers aged 50 to 64.
Victorian workers made up the largest number of employees to record ‘high or very high stress rates’ at 22 per cent compared to only 14 per cent of workers in Western Australia, which is the lowest in the country.
‘These findings highlighted the enduring vulnerability to psychological distress experienced by female workers and younger workers, and the resulting lost productivity,’ the report penned by lead author Kristy Burns stated.
‘Workplace programs that aim to contribute positively to mental health should be developed with and for female workers and younger workers that take their specific needs into account.
‘Such programs, if implemented successfully, could see both substantial improvements in the well-being of the workforce along with significant productivity gains.’
Ms Burns concluded the report with a recommendation to ‘continue to monitor and identify emerging priority groups with respect to worker mental health’.
She said young workers are exposed more often to psychosocial risk factors such as workplace conflict, low job control, bullying, and precarious employment arrangements.
Ms Ballis said Gen Zs are heavily influenced by social media
‘The rise of the gig economy and heightened job insecurity suggests young workers will continue to face insecure, low quality, precarious jobs, leaving them particularly vulnerable to poorer mental health outcomes,’ Ms Burns said.
The report found ‘psychological conditions’ accounted for almost 10 percent of serious injury claims and cost workplaces $17billion annually due to reduced productivity.
‘With two-thirds of Australian adults employed, and workers spending around 50 per cent of their waking hours at work, the workplace is an obvious setting for action to deliver population-level mental health benefits,’ the report states.
‘And there are growing calls for policy-makers to focus on the workplace for opportunities to deliver improved mental health.’
The study also found that clerical and administrative workers were the highest to take days off work at 25.9 per cent, while mining was the lowest at 8.5 per cent.
The Macquarie University study also found women tended to be more stressed, with 21.9 per cent experiencing distress compared to 14.8 per cent of men.
