Thank you, Gen Z. Each of America’s workers.

• Gen Z, on the heels of the pandemic, is driving changes in how we work.
• Priorities range from a better work-life balance to varying hours to a four-day work week.
• Generations of workers have benefited from some of the questions Gen Z asks.

Thank you, Gen Z. The workers of America owe you.

How effing over the latest shade-throwing A 40-hour work week is soul-crushing With the great help of epidemics – you can hide how much change you bring. It’s clear you’re not done.

From the four-day work week to the idea that a job should be more than just a paycheck, younger workers are pushing older adults to make big changes. Gen Xers aren’t likely to get everything they’re asking for — at least not right away. But workplace experts told Insider that the younger segment of the workforce moving away from labor pillars that have stood for a century is a big deal.

Pradeep Philip, lead partner at Deloitte Access Economics, told Insider Developed economies have created enough wealth over the past 50 years to enable new workers to question whether the old ways still make sense.

“Now there is room for the younger generation to think about what our value is in this? What do we do with this wealth? How do we live our lives?” Philip said. This has led to questions about work-life balance and flexibility around jobs, he said.

Sometimes Superiors will continue to push backIn general, allowing people of all ages to have more autonomy is here to stay, said Nicole Kyle, co-founder of CMP Research, which examines workplace trends.

“If you’re in the game of retaining long-term employees, you have to find flexibility at some point,” he told Insider.

Many older workers are entitled to ask why we work Monday through Friday, or why employees don’t talk much during their working hours, or why they can’t log in from the beach.

It was taken from a man Tik Tok is furious On one young worker’s protest about the 40-hour work week: “Now all my blue-collar brothers are stifling a laugh, it’ll take that kid’s soul out,” he said.

Still, many workers are getting better treatment from their employers — and many are echoing some of the demands made by Gen Zers. Consider the landmark contract the United Auto Workers struck with the Detroit Three. This restores cost-of-living barriers and means there will be fewer workers Makes $42 an hour By early 2028. At UPS, a union victory over the summer means drivers for the shipping company will eventually do the same. $170,000 salary and benefits.

Not all of those gains are thanks to Gen Z, but widespread questioning of workplace norms is partly due to how quickly information now spreads, Philipp said. and younger workers who left Posts about the job went viral They help spark ideas like the four-day work week.

The idea to work fewer hours for the same pay started with tech workers and creative companies, Alex Soojung-Kim Bong, editor and program director of the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global, told Insider. But he said it was significant that the UAW proposed a four-day work week in negotiations with automakers’ leaders.

Although the union did not win the offer, “I think it will be on the agenda for unions,” he said. Pang noted that other groups that are often part of unions — from workers at high-end restaurants to nurses — are pushing for four-day weeks and other revisions to how work is done.

Questioning the fundamentals of how we’ve been working for decades can be the first step to making significant changes.

Pang said the global trial of remote work shows how developments once considered unworkable can actually work. “It really kind of opened the door,” he said, to new ways of working.

Here are some ways Gen Xers are helping to reshape work:

(page) hustle on their own terms

Younger workers wonder how they can get the job done without pulling loudly. Maybe it’s found a side hustle that inspires — or at least does Helps pay rent.

Some – including The viral mother A round of applause against the eyerolls many young workers struggled to cover their bills – for the safety of their children Boomers enjoyed financial prosperity.

read more: Gen Zer left his first office job after 8 months. He said that corporate culture is ‘soul-sucking’.

Tearing down barriers

Gen Xers, the youngest of five generations in the workplace, are talking about some things that were once whispered about. The poll also discusses whether younger workers should be paid and even OK Confronting managers about wrongdoing. It means “manages up to“Your boss knows what you need and what your ambitions are.

One young worker complained that her organizational role felt like a “Full-time acting program“He encouraged people to stay at work.

read more: I’m a Gen Z, and young workers are often asked what they want. It’s simple: to be included in conversations about our profession and the workplace.

Makes the office feel like home

Many young workers, 20-somethings, say they want IRL experiences in their jobs, as opposed to the older generation’s gripes that they are forever tethered to their screens. So they can learn. But just because they want a place to go doesn’t mean they want to show up to an office governed by the same directives that older generations adhere to.

Workplace The dress code has become more casual Thanks, in part, to an epidemic-fueled aversion to stiff pants. And even workplace jargon—code for being yourself because you know how to get around it Rewriting Gen Z.

read more: General Gers to be in office. But their bosses are at home.