On paper she was thriving: leading projects, hitting numbers, drawing praise from senior leaders. In reality she was drained. She hadn’t seen her doctor in two years. The long-distance relationship she was trying to hold together had ended. Every time she thought about further education, she pushed it off. Weekends meant for rest turned into work catch-up. She brought her laptop to weddings, answered emails at midnight, and convinced herself this was the cost of momentum. When she finally quit, the company called it burnout. She saw it differently: life that had been waiting too long.
Her story isn’t unusual. New Gallup research shows Gen Z (15%) and Millennials (13%) are far more likely than Gen X (6%) or Baby Boomers (2%) to say they’ve delayed four or more major life events because of career demands. Half of Gen Z report putting personal passions on hold, and half say they’ve delayed taking care of their own health and wellbeing — higher than any other generation, including Millennials.
What starts as manageable tradeoffs — a late night here, a missed class there — grows into bigger sacrifices: health, relationships, creative expression, even the chance to start over. The longer those pieces of life are set aside, the harder it becomes to reclaim them.
The Cost of Deferral
Business Insider reports that Gen Z is holding off on marriage, homeownership, and family formation. They’re not drifting. They’ve lived through recessions, a pandemic, and debts that don’t ease, so hesitation makes sense. MarketWatch calls it a “romance recession”: more than half of Gen Z spend nothing on dating each month, a shift that cascades into delayed marriage, children, and home buying.
That pause shows up at work too. Gallup finds employees who delay two or more major life events are over four times more likely to report burnout and more than six times more likely to say their job has harmed their mental health. For Gen Z, the strain is sharper. A Deloitte survey shows only about half rate their mental wellbeing as good, while four in ten say they feel stressed or anxious most of the time. A third name their jobs as the main driver — citing long hours, lack of recognition, and toxic cultures as the biggest culprits.
A Walton Family Foundation and Gallup study found fewer than half of younger Gen Zers feel motivated or believe their work or studies have meaning. When life is pushed off long enough, it drains the job too — less focus, less drive, weaker ties to the work.
And you can hear it in the way people explain their choices. A young project manager told me she turned down a promotion because it meant even less time to care for her father. “I know what the job would give me,” she said. “I also know what it would take away.”
Why Gen Z Feels Stuck
Older workers often assumed sacrifice would eventually pay off. Gen Z doesn’t. They’ve seen parents burn out, friends graduate into debt, navigated school during a pandemic, and companies walk back commitments. The bargain of working now to live later feels broken.
They’re also coming of age in a culture that rewards constant grind. The gig economy and side hustles promise flexibility but often deliver instability. Instead of clear career paths, many see pieced-together income streams that keep them busy but rarely secure.
Comparison makes it heavier. An Instagram feed full of peers announcing promotions, new jobs, or startups creates the sense that everyone else is moving faster. For those delaying milestones because of career or financial strain, the scrolling isn’t harmless. Delay begins to feel like falling behind.
It usually shows up in ordinary ways — another doctor’s visit skipped, a hobby left half-finished, a relationship pulled thin. Each delay makes the next one easier. After a while, what was supposed to be temporary starts to feel permanent.
And as work pushes further in, identity narrows. Someone who used to say they were a runner, a friend, an artist, begins introducing themselves only by job title. The story of who they are weakens. And when that story fades, so does their tie to where they work.
Gen Z doesn’t soften the point. They’ll say it directly: if work keeps taking over life, then work isn’t worth it.
What Leaders Need to Do
The urgency for leaders is clear: Gen Z is putting off health, family, and passions. Workplaces that support them through these moments will keep them. Others won’t.
- Let passion show up in the work. If someone cares about climate, design, or storytelling, they don’t want to park that at the door. They want it to count in their role. When leaders make space for it, employees feel recognized as more than a job title. That could mean giving a design-minded analyst the chance to shape the next town hall deck, or inviting a natural storyteller to help the CEO script a talk track that connects with new recruits. Aligning strengths with passion turns side interests into contributions that lift the organization.
- Treat leave as proof of trust. A caregiving break or sabbatical isn’t a gap. For Gen Z, it’s a test. If the company welcomes them back, they’ll remember. If it doesn’t, they’ll move on.
- Notice life unblurred. The blurred Zoom background hides more than messy rooms. Behind it are guitars, books, pets, posters of favorite artists, family photos. Gen Z pays attention to whether managers see them as more than a silhouette. Leaders who look for the unblurred parts usually keep people longer.
- Adapt roles to today’s pressures. Many in Gen Z are carrying student debt, facing housing costs that don’t add up, or piecing together income from multiple jobs. They’re not raising kids yet, but they know those challenges are ahead. What they want now is proof that work can bend — and that it will still bend when tomorrow’s responsibilities arrive.
- Trade ladders for launchpads. Gen Z isn’t chasing rungs. They see careers as a series of launches — projects, skills, and experiences that give them lift. A new title without momentum doesn’t feel like progress. If leaders keep offering only ladders, the best people will launch elsewhere — even into the uncertainty of gig work, because at least there the choice feels like theirs.
A Generation That Won’t Wait Forever
Gen Z grew up watching systems falter. They’ve lived through enough broken promises to trust their own read of reality more than company slogans. Every year that health, relationships, or passions are delayed is a reminder that “later” may never arrive.
They won’t keep deferring life. If the cost of the job rises too high, they’ll leave. If milestones keep being dismissed, they’ll stop chasing them.
And when that happens, it won’t just be another turnover statistic. It will show up in thinner leadership pipelines, in Gen Zs stretched beyond capacity, in strategies abandoned halfway because the very people who might have carried them forward are already somewhere else — building the lives they couldn’t build inside your company.