Gen Z is loud at work more often than you think
Gen Z has a reputation for being stressed. Apparently they are doing something about it – and their employers have no idea.
A new survey of 1,000 American adults by Drug Rehab USA found that 35 percent of Gen Z respondents use drugs like cannabis, alcohol or prescription drugs before starting work, and 56 percent use them after work to recover from work-related stress. Almost a third use during breaks, sneaking out to their cars or workplace bathrooms. Only 21 percent said they are always drug-free at work.
Many people get through the day on something other than caffeine.
Gen Z may have a substance use problem in the workplace
But before this becomes a “kids these days” story, the data complicates this narrative rather quickly. Millennials actually edged out Gen Z in several categories: 37 percent reported using drugs before work compared to 35 percent of Gen Z, and 62 percent of Millennials use alcohol to deal with stress, versus 61 percent of Gen Z. The youngest generation gets the headlines, but the middle-aged are right up there with them.
Across all four generations studied, alcohol was the most frequently reported substance at 57 percent, followed by cannabis at 54 percent and nicotine at 48 percent. Smaller numbers reported using prescription anxiety or sleep medications (26 percent), stimulants such as Adderall (9 percent), pain relievers or opioids (9 percent), and illegal drugs (7 percent).
The reasons are not exactly a mystery. Eighty-four percent of respondents said financial stress affects their drug use, driven most by rising grocery and living costs (61 percent), utilities (43 percent) and housing or rent (41 percent). For a generation that came of age during a pandemic, entered a brutal job market, and has never known a news cycle that wasn’t actively horrific, the coping mechanisms are sadly understandable.
Andrew McKenna, deputy director of the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence/Westchester, Inc., and author of the study, said, “It’s not that Gen Z can’t handle stress, but they’re dealing with a version of life that feels like it’s always on, and it’s hard to take a step back,” he said. New York Post. “What we’re seeing is how coping has changed from actually dealing with stress to just getting through it and surviving.”
Part of the problem is that the more functional alternatives are increasingly out of reach. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said drugs feel more available, affordable or effective than therapy, with 37 percent citing the cost of mental health care and 25 percent pointing to inadequate insurance coverage. When the waiting list for a therapist stretches three months and a vape pen takes three minutes, the math is not difficult.
It also adds up financially. Over a third of respondents spend $50 or more on drugs each week, while 15 percent spend over $100. So not only are people self-medicating instead of accessing real care, they are paying a significant amount to do so.
67 percent of Gen Z respondents said they would consider leaving the U.S. solely because of stress and the cost of living. Regardless of whether they follow along or not, that number says something about how sustainable everyday life feels right now for the country’s youngest workers. Not great, apparently.
