Gen Z worker reveals why she quit her ‘forever job’ after six years
A young Aussie worker has revealed the tough realisation that saw her quit her “forever” job, despite not having a solid back up plan.
A young Aussie has revealed why she quit what she thought would be her “forever” job after six years of building up her career.
Kiarah Bagnato started in the real estate industry in Melbourne six years ago and immediately fell in love with the job.
She loved the sales aspect of the role, as well as getting the opportunity to constantly meet new people.
“I thought it would be my forever career because I put so many years into it building a name and brand for myself,” the 24-year-old told news.com.au.
But recently, Ms Bagnato realised her feelings towards her real estate career had changed.
The fast-paced, competitive aspects of the industry that had once energised her, but she realised those pressures had become stressful and she was suffering from burnout.
“I realised I was no longer doing it for myself and, instead, it was for the business, and that’s when I realised my chapter was over,” she said.
MORE: 7 ways to manage burnout
So, she decided to quit, even though she didn’t have a solid plan for what she wanted to do next.
Ms Bagnato has been sharing her career journey online, posting a video to TikTok in September in which she revealed she had quit her 9-5 job.
“I didn’t leave because I had everything figured out, I left because I didn’t recognise myself anymore,” she said.
“Now, my mornings are slower, more intentional. I can breathe deeper and finally feel like myself again.”
In a caption on the video, she said she has “no idea what is next”, and has “never felt more alive”.
“I no longer have a wage, but I no longer sleep riddled with anxiety,” she wrote.
Ms Bagnato isn’t alone in her experience.
MORE: How to improve work-life balance
In fact, new research from News Corp’s Growth Distillery with Medibank has found that work pressures are one of the key stressors facing young people in Australia.
The State of Mind: Australia’s Mental Health Conversation report findings, which are based of a survey of 2565 Australians, found that for Gen Z, academic and early career pressures have a considerable impact on their mental wellbeing.
This stress is amplified by social media and high societal expectations and can often lead to people in this generation feeling lost, directionless, or lacking purpose.
Similarly, one in four Millennials said they feel overburdened daily, citing a lack of downtime.
“Millennials are significantly affected by the challenge of managing work-life balance, with many feeling constantly overburdened due to career demands, family responsibilities, and social expectations,” the report found.
The survey also found that work deadlines and intense workloads are also major sources of stress for the one in five that experience it, happening frequently to 58 per cent of respondents and significantly impacting over 53 per cent.
“This highlights the intense pressure in workplace settings and its toll on mental health,” the report states.
The report also found a correlation between income level and the pressure felt when it comes to work stressors.
Of those surveyed, 28 per cent of higher income earner said they experience a lack of downtime and feel overburdened, compared to 12 per cent of lower income earners.
Two months on from quitting her job in real estate and Ms Bagnato’s day-to-day now looks completely different.
She now teaches pilates classes and has another job working for a fitness brand creating content and managing its social media platforms.
“I have always been an early riser so I’m loving the early wake ups, having all day off to relax, enjoy the sun & then either teaching in the evening or working on social media and pouring into that job,” she said.
“I feel so much less stressed and have more engage and I feel like I can really connect and find peace again.”
Ms Bagnato said that, even though it might sound “cliche”, she feels like she has truly found herself.
“I have had so many messages and people reaching out for advice and feeling the same so I just hope I can leverage this and help others,” she said.
When it comes to workplace stress and burnout, particularly for young Aussies, Medibank psychologist Alison Sutton pointed out that Gen Z entered the workforce in the “middle of global chaos”.
“A pandemic, social media noise - and living in this new world of comparison we often see higher levels of self-doubt - and the rising cost of living,” she told news.com.au.
On top of this, the youngest working generation also tend to be more emotionally aware, leading to them being less willing to just “push through” like the older generations did.
“They are not as willing to pretend that burnout is normal,” Ms Sutton said.
“They tend to value flexibility and purpose in their work as well as psychological safety – and when workplaces don’t provide these their stress levels rise and in this situation, they are more likely to choose to protect their mental health than the older generations.”
Prolonged stress and burnout can have a significant impact on a person’s wellbeing, with Ms Sutton noting that your body is essentially functioning in constant survival mode.
This means, your nervous system never gets the signal it can rest, which will then start to impact things like concentration, motivation and emotional regulation.
“The irony is that through this prolonged stress, people can start to lose their joy, creativity, empathy, focus and decision-making skills which are often the very things that made them good at their job in the first place,” she said.
“Over time this may lead to disengagement at work, absenteeism, resignation and in the more severe cases exiting the workforce altogether.”
When it comes to discussing mental wellbeing, the research has found that there is a perceived hierarchy of struggles, with more tangible issues such as physical health problems or external stressors like work, seen as more socially acceptable and are, therefore, more routinely discussed.
This is because these topics are more “universal” and are less likely to be interpreted as personal failings.
According to the findings, global events (76 per cent) and work-related stress (73 per cent) are the most comfortably discussed topics, “reflecting a societal openness to sharing concerns about external pressures and professional challenges”.
In contrast, significantly less people feel comfortable openly discussing feelings of loneliness, being overwhelmed or other insecurities.
Just 40 per cent of respondents said they felt comfortable talking about loneliness, 43 per cent felt comfortable discussing a fear of failure and just less than half (48 per cent) felt like they could discuss feeling overwhelmed or that they were struggling to cope.
Ms Sutton believes it is important to normalise conversations about workplace stress and mental health.
She noted that we are now starting to see more organisations investing in flexible working, psychological safety and the wellbeing of employees.
When work, or any stressor, starts to severely impact you, Ms Sutton said the first step is recognising what is happening.
“Burnout is your body trying to tell you that ‘something has to change’ – and this is not simple via a weekend off or a holiday – it’s about creating healthy boundaries that let you recover every single day, not a couple of times a year,” she said.
After you “get honest with yourself” about what is happening, the next step is to talk to someone you trust, whether that is a GP, a psychologist or another mental health professional.
Ms Sutton noted it is also important to talk to someone in your workplace, ideally your manager or someone in HR.
“Setting boundaries, assessing workload and/or exploring flexible arrangements can help - sometimes just naming what’s not sustainable can help you start to reclaim a sense of control,” she said.
However, if the environment remains harmful to your wellbeing, then that is a sign that, in this instance, you role or career change to protect your long-term health and wellbeing.
Originally published as Gen Z worker reveals why she quit her ‘forever job’ after six years
