How Gen Z really feels about hustle culture

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at the pros and cons of hustle culture and the gig economy.

If you’ve never fallen down an algorithm-powered rabbit hole of online hustle culture, here’s a primer: self-help influencers tell viewers to break free from the shackles of the 9-to-5 job, insisting that the most liberating—and lucrative—path to financial freedom doesn’t even require you to get out of bed in the morning. So long as you have a laptop or smartphone, you can start drop-shipping or affiliate marketing, sell digital products or transcription services, or offer virtual assisting and influencing, all of which promise riches that flirt with six figures a month. (The multilevel marketers of yore walked so that digital courses could run.)

It’s no coincidence, then, that side-hustle videos—hashtags for which have reached 12.8 billion views and counting on TikTok, according to the platform’s own data—perform so well; Google Trends searches for the term “side hustle” have steadily increased over the past five years, peaking at the beginning of January.

Much of that interest comes from Gen Z. A little more than half of Gen Zers are likely to be gig or independent workers, compared with 36 percent of the American workforce overall. Gen Z accounts for a greater share of this cohort, because independent work offers a way into the labor force while also providing more flexibility, something its members value greatly. Gen Z, which entered the workforce just as the pandemic and an economic downturn began, has also had more difficulty landing traditional jobs.

But the popularity of online hustle culture may be less about wanting to strike it rich and more of a reflection of the anxiety that Gen Zers feel about their own financial well-being. Sure, some independent work seems glamorous—like that of the travel influencers who denounce their desk jobs in favor of shooting #content from far-flung locales like an island villa in Southeast Asia that costs oodles less than their urban rentals. But will it really help you own a home or retire one day? 

Despite the lure of the travel influencer lifestyle, most Gen Z independent workers say that they would prefer to work as a permanent or noncontract employee, compared with 28 percent who say that they take on independent work because they enjoy it and 24 percent who say that they do so because they prefer the autonomy and flexibility of it, McKinsey senior partners André Dua and Kweilin Ellingrud find. 

For all the appeal that independent work may hold for some, Gen Zers entering the workforce are also weighing the costs of things like employer-sponsored healthcare, particularly as they report more mental- and even physical-health concerns compared with millennials. For Gen Zers (or anyone) considering a side hustle in addition to their day job, check your employment contract or company’s policies, which may prohibit outside work. 

Finally, while employers are offering more flexibility to help retain and attract Gen Z talent, they must also make peace with the fact that their Gen Z employees might be spending part of their time earning extra income—or, at the very least, watching TikToks about it.