11 Reasons Gen X Doesn't Want To Work Anymore
They not only feeling burnt out, but still forgotten.
SeventyFour | Shutterstock.com While popular culture and social media outlets love to highlight the challenges Gen Zers and young millennials are facing in the workplace, Gen Xers are largely shifting towards an “anti-work” attitude that’s equally fascinating and unsettling to unpack. Amid cycles of burnout, changing financial expectations, and a culture that’s largely dismissed Gen X opinions and goals for as long as they can remember, there’s a host of reasons Gen X doesn’t want to work anymore.
Despite being tired and ready to stop working, or at the very least, stop moving up the corporate ladder, many Gen Xers see little hope but to remain hard at work — fighting for financial stability, opportunity, and respect that many other age groups and demographics are experiencing in uniquely different ways.
Here are 11 reasons Gen X doesn’t want to work anymore
1. They’re burnt out
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While many other generations of workers are experiencing the consequences of burnout — like isolation, loneliness, depression, and fatigue — Gen Xers seem to be struggling at a heightened rate. Often balancing dual roles of leader and employee at their jobs, they ironically struggle to both bond and be taken seriously by their peers, contributing to added stress and resentment.
In fact, a report from Medscape states that Gen X workers, especially in the healthcare industry and adjacent sectors, are more likely to experience burnout than people in other age groups in similar roles. With larger pressure to juggle family responsibilities, long hours, and a diversification of workplace roles, Gen Xers often have more on their plates than everyone else when it comes to finding the perfect work life balance.
2. They want to prioritize their personal time
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Although Gen X largely grew up in the corporate world, fueled by long hours, the grind, and an overbearing sense of loyalty, they also watched the consequences of burnout take a toll on their parents and families. This crafted a need for work-life balance and a prioritization of personal time early in their careers — something many are still battling to achieve today.
This is especially for Gen X women, according to Maddy Dychtwald, the author of “Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World For The Better,” who says that many workers are yearning for a more balanced working environment and team that not only respects their need for work life balance, but provides flexibility for changing family dynamics and responsibilities.
3. They’re financially discouraged by traditional retirement goals
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According to a recent Wealth Watch survey, nearly 70% of Gen Xers believe that they’ll retire “later than expected,” largely due to unexpected financial burdens and new-age barriers. Despite reaping the fruits of the promises they were told — that hard work, loyalty, and long hours would usher them into financial success later in life — many Gen Xers are still facing unfortunate barriers.
From lay-offs to a dire need for diversification and personal financial struggles, it’s harder than ever to plan for retirement, let alone pour into a typical savings account or emergency fund. Without a tangible goal like retirement at 62, many feel collectively unmotivated to continue working and climbing the corporate ladder.
4. They’re battling age bias
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A survey from the Chartered Management Institute (“CMI”) suggests that many corporate firms and companies are much more likely to hire younger workers than older ones, putting Gen Xers at a disadvantage for promotions and new jobs in the event of a layoff. Of course, specialization is largely the reasoning behind these unsettling statistics, especially for companies that don’t have the staff, money, or resources to train new employees.
Particularly in industries revolving around new technology, skills, and corporate frameworks, it’s much easier for companies to bring in younger Gen Z and millennial employees who’ve already learned and practiced them than older ones they’d need to train (or even help unlearn old practices).
5. They're feeling forced into learning new skills and specializations
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As the job market grows more competitive and specialized across industries, many mid-career Gen X workers are being forced to unlearn and re-commit themselves to entirely new sets of skills. On top of their already prevalent rates of burnout and personal responsibilities, this pressure can be detrimental to their productivity, job satisfaction, and general well-being at work.
Sparking resentment with younger workers and their companies as a whole, Gen X workers are far less motivated and enthusiastic to continue working in an environment that’s always expecting them to evolve, change, and be different to be better.
6. They’re struggling with being caretakers
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As the new “sandwich generation,” they’re more likely than other age groups to simultaneously be the caretakers for their older parents and teen or young adult children. As more young people struggle financially, Gen X’s parents are living longer. And while care facilities and “extra help” have become financially inaccessible, the burden of care and support falls primarily on Gen X's shoulders.
According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 55% of Gen Xers in their 40s currently have an aging parent and an adult child over 18-years-old who they've helped financially in the past year. Unsurprisingly, these same adults, sandwiched between their kids and parents, are more likely to say they’re unsatisfied and unhappy with family life given the added pressures, stress, and uncertainty their dealing with on top of managing their own personal, romantic and professional lives.
7. They’re tired of battling debt and money stress
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Theoretically, our bills fuel us to work, but in a culture and economy that’s growing more financially unstable and inequitable, it’s not surprising that many Gen Xers are generally unmotivated by going to work on the basis of achieving a realistic financial goal. According to a FINRA investigation on Gen X’s financial wellbeing, this generation of workers has been burdened with the most money stress and financial guilt.
More than 56% of Gen Xers are worried that they won’t be able to pay back their student loans completely in their lifetime, adding pressure to their other financial goals like retirement or helping support their children. With the consistency of their bills, largely without any kind of practical benefits — like a raise in credit score or material outcome — it can be difficult to muster the motivation to continue working.
8. They’re having to work multiple jobs
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Instead of finding comfort and financial peace in the promise of one career-long corporate job — as many were promised in their adolescence and even thought they'd found in early adulthood — many Gen Xers are forced to manipulate their spending habits and get second and third jobs just to get by. More than a third of Gen Xers have a second job, motivated by inflationary pricing, rising costs of rent, and lack of retirement savings.
9. They’re struggling to keep up with technological changes
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Alongside general specialization of skills in the workplace, many Gen Xers feel exhausted by the continual need to learn and relearn new technological skills and practices in their positions. Especially in industries like healthcare and tech, the ever-evolving landscape of new technology is impossible to escape.
Many even feel pressured to learn new technologies, no matter how comfortable they are in their current roles, simply to maintain an edge of competitiveness amongst a troubling job market.
10. Healthcare is too expensive
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Even with employer or company sponsored healthcare plans, many Gen Xers are still struggling with the affordability of healthcare — from preventative care like medications, rehabilitation, and therapy to reactionary surgeries and treatments. According to the West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index, only 55% of Americans are currently able to afford prescriptions and quality healthcare — a new nationwide low, especially for aging demographics.
Without the resources and affordable avenues to take care of their health, many are struggling with the feasibility of returning to an office everyday. For those who are able to secure remote jobs that give them some flexibility to better protect their health, they’re also forced to maintain a level of cognitive ability and technological knowledge to excel in their roles.
Intertwined with job security, financial burden, and general rates of burnout and stress, Gen X’s access to healthcare and general well-being is incredibly influential on their ability to work.
11. They feel ignored and unvalued
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From their personal lives to their corporate environments, many Gen Xers admit they still feel silenced and forgotten amid the struggles and voices of other generations. On top of their family, caregiving, work, and personal responsibilities, they’re also required to advocate for thought space, which is increasingly difficult in our inherently agist and inequitable culture.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.