New research from Randstad revealed that Gen Z is driving this trend as 49 per cent leave without another role lined up, which is far above the national average of 39 per cent. Kaylee deployed this dire act very early into her first full-time gig in Sydney.
"It was horrific. After just two weeks of the most awful treatment, I gave in my notice and quit without having any backup, which was a really big deal for me because I rent by myself," she told Yahoo Finance.
She landed a gig as an office coordinator at a Sydney retail business, which wasn't exactly in line with the graphic design skills she learned at university, but she thought it would be a good opportunity to experience full-time work.
But the 23-year-old said she was constantly micromanaged, asked to work longer without extra pay, asked to do jobs outside of her prescribed responsibilities, and even got into "yelling matches" with her superiors.
The Sydney resident said her working environment was also bleak, as her office was in the back of a warehouse that had "no windows, no insulation, no heating, no fridge to store food, and no microwave", which was rough in the winter.
While she knew she had to get out of the job, the Gen Z worker was terrified of not knowing where her next paycheque was coming from.
"To not have that was really scary," she told Yahoo Finance.
Young workers shirk Baby Boomer attitudes to work environment
Jo Jakobs, director of professional talent at Randstad, said Gen Z workers view work completely differently to Baby Boomers and Gen X.
"They are more likely to be looking to change careers, simply because work is not their be-all and end-all," she told Yahoo Finance.
"It's not their sole purpose. Their life and the things that are important to them are probably more balanced."
She said the Gen X cohort was brought up on the premise that "work is the most important thing that you can do in your life" because it provided "financial stability and security".
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Jakobs added that Baby Boomers would have had work-life balance very far down on their list of priorities.
"It probably wasn't even on their radar," she said.
Their attitudes were more defined by getting the job done, regardless of whether the work was difficult, or if their managers were frustrating, or if the hours were too long.
Kaylee said that might have worked for them, but that doesn't fly these days.
"Your job is meant to only be your job, and when it gets to the point where it's something you're bringing home and you're dreading every single day, I feel like decisions to leave a role without having anything lined up and not made lightly," she said.
"I think a lot of previous generations really neglected thinking about the link between their jobs and their mental health.
"My parents, for example, the extreme burnout that they faced from their roles, and they think that that's normal because that's just what their generation does.
"I think our generation is more in tune with that."
Generational shift looming as bosses put on notice
Work-life balance is now more important to workers than pay, according to data from Randstad.
Their study last year showed that for 93 per cent of respondents, their salary was the number one issue when it came to job satisfaction.
That's plummeted to 79 per cent and work-life balance has overtaken it at 83 per cent.
Jakobs believes managers will need to take this into consideration when dealing with workers, especially considering Gen Z is expected to represent a third of the Australian workforce by 2030, which would make them the most populous working generation.
"I really can't emphasise this enough: you can't just have a value proposition from an organisational perspective that says we value your work-life balance," she told Yahoo Finance, explaining that throwing money at workers to improve their outlook likely won't do the trick anymore.
"It comes back to individual choice, and for some people, that's flexibility, but for others, it might be something completely different.
"Employers who are ahead of the game will know about the ability to take a broader policy and find a way to customise it as much as possible within a corporate framework for their for their people.
"Looking at some of the generational shifts that are happening and the pressures that that is going to put on finding talent in the future is something they definitely need to have an eye on."
