Although 94% of gen Z's saying they feel stressed at work is incredibly alarming. For the rest of the people, it's 84% so in my opinion: equally alarming.

I think this just calls for broader questions to be asked, just what is going on? Why are people so damn stressed at work. Is it just the pressure from the recent lay offs? I'm pretty sure everything that is said in article for gen Z's is pretty much applicable to the rest of the working force.

On a personal note, starting a remote position makes it incredibly more difficult to establish meaningful relationships at work. I've seen people saying that it's not a big deal because most people have friends and family already outside of work and remote gives them an opportunity to balance their working life and "irl" better. And I hear that, but if you don't make friends at work then work becomes incredibly more taxing for most people, working is a social experience, but I don't think most workplaces have really nailed the social aspects yet in a virtual form. And this is coming from someone that just loves chatting, I use discord and so many other chatting platforms but whereas in the office you'd feel more comfortable making jokes... in slack it just feels wrong? I think partly it has to do with the fact that records become more permanent so you have to be more cautious.

But obviously this is just only a part of it. I think in the tech world there's an obsession with metrics and data and this makes me feel quite stressed. In one of my previous jobs we were monitored to the point where just taking a 15 minute break a day had my manager asked me "where is this missing time going". After that, I simply started cheating the system so that it would appear like I was working at all times from 9 to 5; which we all know is just not realistic. The funny thing is that because I was working from home and I had "flexible hours" it was simply expected from me that if I took a 15 minute break at 10am then I should be finishing at 5.15pm instead of 5. I think this is sort of a "that's too much" situation but it did stem from them having all of this access to metrics and data which they thought was making people more productive and maybe it was, but at what cost.

Personally, what stresses me the most is the sort of "but everything is alright because the employee survey shows we have a 9.5 employee satisfaction rate" where in reality it becomes really difficult to even express discontent in the first place. My manager asks me how I'm doing and I say I'm doing fine simply because I don't want to deal with the HR nightmare that comes from saying "actually, I'm not all that satisfied". I think most people have heard or experienced a situation where expressing discontent, although very much encouraged by the "transparent and open" culture of the business, becomes just an even more stressful situation that culminates in a "maybe we're just not the right fit for you" ending. Honesty and care are not values that I would associate with the working world right now. And it really makes you wonder, how is it that things are so tough when our societies have never been richer and more productive? Then again, that might very well be the reason; we might be producing at a pace that's just too intense for what most people can reasonably give but who is really ready to have that conversation? No business will want you if you say "well, I just want to be comfortable".