- Workplace mental health expert Jeanie Y. Chang said “double binds” are especially frustrating for Gen Z.
- Bosses create a double bind when they claim to value something, but then belittle it in practice.
- An example would be stating that you value work-life balance while discouraging staff from taking vacations.
Gen Z is known for having high job demands. They want diverse employers that offer a good work-life balance, remote positions, and strong mental health policies.
Some even decide to wait and remain unemployed until they can get them all in one job.
But it could be that they value honesty above all else.
Jeanie Y. Chang, an expert on workplace mental health, told Business Insider that one of the most toxic traits a company can have is a lack of consistency in messaging.
This, he said, is what’s known as a “double bind” and it drives Zoomers crazy.
A double bind, Chang explained, is “when you’re giving two or more conflicting messages at the same time.”
“It’s actually used for clinical purposes, but it’s actually applied in the workplace,” Chang said. “So a lot of this is brand new. Now we’re starting to think: wait a second, this is concerning.”
An example would be a company that claims to want its employees not to use computers after 6pm, but the CEO is constantly sending emails outside of working hours.
Another way is when managers ask for frank feedback and then penalize the person who raises the issues.
“It’s a distressing form of communication,” Chang said. “It’s very paralyzing.”
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
Dale Wilsher, an executive life coach and personal development expert, wrote in an article for Forbes in March that Gregory Bateson, an anthropologist, coined the term “double bind” in 1956 to describe impossible situations in which you will be penalized for every available choice.
Wilsher noted that women seemed to be particularly affected by these “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenarios.
For example, a 2022 survey of 2,000 women aged 19 to 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 feeling exhausted and 64% said they never felt good enough.
In the survey, members of Generation Z were the most likely to find themselves in a difficult situation (84%).
A common double bind that masquerades as a workplace benefit is unlimited PTO, Chang said.
Gen Z will see unlimited free time as such and will book a lot of time off. They often run into problems when they are told that they can’t actually take all the vacation days they had planned.
“I see it especially now when younger people say, ‘Hey, you said we have unlimited paid time off,’ and then they’ll be the ones who really take advantage of it,” Chang said.
“So the leader was like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, you can’t take this time off.’ And the Gen Zer was like, ‘Wait a second, but you just said I have unlimited time off.'”
This type of culture may be a big reason why Gen Zers quit and change jobs, Chang said.
According to a 2023 survey by management consultancy Oliver Wyman, Zoomers will leave jobs they find unsatisfying even if they don’t have a backup plan.
Previous generations did not question it.
Chang said he doesn’t necessarily blame managers for double ties, saying it’s a feature of traditional workplaces.
Chang said that as a Gen Xer, she experienced a “survival mentality” at work.
She and her colleagues experienced burnout, she said, but didn’t have the words to describe it.
She says they felt double-duty, but they thought that was the way work was. Now, Gen Z is joining in, describing this contradictory message as they see it: “corporate manipulation.”
“People my age and older don’t talk about mental health,” Chang said, so older generations may feel a little “bewildered” when a young employee asks for a mental health day.
“They feel like they’re being taken advantage of,” Chang said. “In the end, you can’t blame those older people because they don’t know what it’s like. So it’s a learning curve, but all parties have to be open.”
Gen Z has adopted a “thriving mindset” when it comes to life and work, Chang said, which all generations can learn from.
“But again, we learn from each other,” he added. “No generation is better than the next.”
