Recently, a Punjab-based woman, Babina, was fired from her job for protesting her company’s decision that anyone who took leave on Raksha Bandhan (August 19) would lose seven days’ worth of pay. Babina felt this was not “fair practice under the law or fundamental rights”. When she posted on LinkedIn about her unceremonious dismissal from work, she was flooded with messages of support. “Is corporate bringing slavery back?” wrote one user. “These company owners should be behind bars ASAP,” wrote another. The company’s efforts to justify its decision – explaining that Babina was a frequent offender and troublemaker – was too little, too late.
The incident underscores an important generational change we are witnessing now. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z are not willing to slog for fatter bank accounts. They would rather enjoy life now instead of bulking their savings for a lavish retirement later. In short, they are not willing to compromise on their work-life balance.
In South Korea, for example, there is a push-back against working longer hours among young people, reported Jin Yu Young for The New York Times. The country is known for its cut-throat working hours. “Companies say they’re only making managers come in on the weekend, but if you see your boss working on a Saturday, you’re going to feel nunchi (a South Korean term for facing a kind of ‘implicit pressure’),” said a younger worker.
In India, too, people raised a hue and cry last year when Infosys co-founded Narayana Murthy advocated a 70-hour work week to boost the country’s work productivity. The comment went viral, evoking all sorts of responses from netizens. People started vehemently discussing toxic work cultures and the mental and physical well-being of employees. But despite his expertise, many studies seem to contradict Murthy’s view.
“There is a substantial amount of evidence that work–life balance policies provide significant benefits to enterprises, supporting the argument that such policies are a “win-win” for both employers and employees,” concluded a 2022 global report by the ILO.
Youngsters have also come up with new-gen terminology – such as ‘lazy girl jobs’ and ‘quiet quitting’ – to label their need for more work-life balance. According to Gen-Z TikToker Gabrielle Judge who coined the term, a ‘lazy girl job’ is one that allows you to work remotely, is flexible and pays decently. Those with lazy girl jobs make a clear demarcation between work and fun, and do not depend on their jobs to find meaning in life. Quiet quitters, similarly, are those who do their work without going that extra mile. ‘Ambition’ does not assume prime of place in their vocabulary.
In this scenario, companies, too, are taking note of this change in their employees’ attitudes. Those who have not would do well to follow the example of Shubham Singhal, co-founder and CEO – Dot Media. On the occasion of World Sick Leave Day (August 16), he announced that all requests for sick leave were being rejected. Instead, he closed the office and gave all his employees a holiday.
“The day corporates start valuing what their employees need, nothing can stop them from putting forth their best,” he posted on LinkedIn. The post was deluged by comments from users asking how to get a job at Dot Media. As Singham would have discovered, a paid leave always pays off in the end.