Downward angle icon Downward angle icon. Gen Z hates receiving conflicting messages at work (stock photo). FG Trade/Getty Images Workplace mental health expert Jeanie Y. Chang said “double binds” are very stressful for Gen Z. A double bind occurs when a manager claims to value one thing but actually undermines it. One example is claiming to value work-life balance but not encouraging employees to take time off.
Gen Z is known for being very demanding in the workplace: They are looking for diverse employers that offer work-life balance, remote working, and robust mental health policies.
Some people choose to postpone finding a job and remain unemployed until they can do it all in one job.
But maybe they value honesty above all else.
Jeannie Y. Chang, a workplace mental health expert, told Business Insider that one of the most damaging traits a company can have is inconsistent messaging.
This is what’s known as a “double bind,” and she says it’s what’s driving Zoomers crazy.
A double bind, Chan explained, is “communicating two or more contradictory messages at the same time.”
“This is actually being used for clinical purposes, but it does have applications in the workplace,” Chan said, “so a lot of it is brand new. We’re now starting to think, wait a minute, this is worrying.”
One example is a company that asks employees not to use the computer after 6pm, yet whose CEO frequently sends emails outside of working hours.
The other is when managers ask for honest feedback and punish those who raise issues.
“It’s a painful form of communication,” Chan says. “It’s very paralyzing.”
The more you do it, the more hellish it becomes even if you don’t.
Dale Wiltshire, an executive life coach and personal development expert, wrote in a March article for Forbes magazine that anthropologist Gregory Bateson coined the term “double bind” in 1956 to describe an impossible situation in which you are punished for every choice you make.
Wiltshire noted that women seem to be particularly affected by this “more you do it, worse you do it, less you do it” dynamic.
For example, a 2022 survey of 2,000 women between the ages of 19 and 65, commissioned by beauty company TRESemmé and The Representation Project, found that 68% of respondents reported experiencing a double bind. Of those who felt this way, 80% reported feelings of exhaustion, and 64% said they felt like they were never enough.
The survey found that Gen Z was the cohort most likely to be caught in a double bind (84%).
A common double bind disguised as a workplace perk is unlimited PTO, says Chan.
Gen Z sees unlimited vacation as just that, and they book lots of vacation. They often run into problems when they are told they can’t take all the vacation days they had planned.
“Especially now, we see younger people saying, ‘Hey, I told you we have unlimited paid vacation,’ and they’re the ones that are really going to take advantage of it,” Chan said.
“And leaders say, ‘No, no, you can’t take this time off.’ And Gen Zers say, ‘Hold on, but I told you I have unlimited paid time off.'”
This culture can be a big reason why people from Gen Z quit or change jobs, Chan said.
A 2023 study by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman found that Zoomers will leave jobs they find unfulfilling even if they don’t have an alternative.
Previous generations didn’t question it.
Chan said double binds are a feature of traditional workplaces and that he doesn’t necessarily blame managers.
As a Gen Xer, Chan said she experienced a “survival mentality” in the workplace.
She said she and her colleagues experienced burnout but didn’t have the words to describe it.
They were subjected to a double bind, but they thought that was just part of the job, she said. Gen Z is now describing the conflicting messages as “corporate gaslighting.”
“People my age and older didn’t talk about mental health,” she said, adding that this was why older generations were a bit “averse” when younger employees requested mental health leave.
“They feel like they’re being taken advantage of,” Chan said. “At the end of the day, you can’t blame the older people because they don’t know what it is. So it’s a learning curve, but both sides have to be open.”
Chan said Gen Z has adopted a “prosperity mentality” when it comes to life and work, which is something all generations should learn from.
“But we learn from each other,” she added. “No generation is better than the next.”
