Karla Guzmán, 27, has changed jobs three times in the last year. A medical student, she quit her two previous posts after denouncing “labor exploitation”: endless shifts that left her with no energy — or mental space — to prepare for her residency exam. Today, she works from home at a medical call center, with more stable hours. “The night shifts, 12 hours or more, were exhausting. I would get home, sleep, wake up tired, and go back to the hospital. I couldn’t take it anymore,” she recounts. Guzmán represents that silent army of young people who see work as a means, not a destination.
The phenomenon has been dubbed “professional minimalism” by publications such as Fortune and Forbes. It’s a new work philosophy in which Generation Z prioritizes a clear contract: fulfilling agreements, leaving on time, preserving personal life, and — if possible — making room for a “side hustle,” that is, satellite jobs that provide extra income, making them more lucrative and fulfilling.
For this generation, success is no longer measured by corporate ladders climbed, but by stability, free time, and financial security — an inverted pyramid of priorities compared to previous generations. A recent Glassdoor survey suggests that 68% of employees aged under 29 wouldn’t seek a management position if it weren’t for the salary or title. “Leading isn’t the goal when real ambition lies beyond the office,” they state on their corporate blog. Many young people prefer horizontal advancement — jumping from opportunity to opportunity — to the vertical ladder. They call it the “lily pad model”: jumping from platform to platform, strategically chosen according to what suits them at each stage. Randstad also defines it this way in its report on the working conditions of Generation Z: the average tenure in their first jobs is barely a year and a month. It’s no longer just the CEO who has short tenures in management positions: it seems that young people starting their careers are also doing so, looking for a job that isn’t stressful or time-consuming.
Aylin Silva, 28, an audiovisual producer, experienced this firsthand. In her last two jobs in communications and marketing, she felt “easily replaceable” and that to access flexible hours or any salary increase, she had to “go the extra mile” with unpaid overtime and weekend work. Shortly after completing a year, she decided to become a freelancer. Lower income, yes, but also autonomy and control over her time. It sounds like a cliché, but many in her generation prefer their own projects and direct clients to demanding bosses and empty promises.
For recruiters like Hays Spain or the Adecco Group, this pattern of continuous turnover has several causes: a low frustration threshold, clear growth expectations, a lack of flexibility from companies, and a vision of work sold on social media that doesn’t always reflect the reality of daily life. As Alberto Gavilán, talent director at the Adecco Group, points out: “These platforms don’t show you someone who has been working for five years, but rather more appealing experiences that not all companies can deliver.”
Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are flooded with images that demonstrate a work culture that can be either very lax, or quite the opposite. Trends like the 5 a.m. routine (influencers who advocate for balancing exercise, self-care, and work schedules by waking up extremely early, a practice many have labeled self-exploitation) and people who spend hours commuting to work and then work shifts of up to 12 hours illustrate a work environment that fewer and fewer young people are seeking. This has created a very serious problem for companies: “Selecting, training, adjusting, and losing employees, with people leaving quickly, involves enormous costs,” warns Gavilán. It also adds instability to the internal climate: turnover breeds more turnover.
The solution, they agree, would be to accept that Generation Z wants to change the rules and that companies must adapt to their needs: “Companies must demonstrate transparency from the very beginning, offer leadership, recognition, active participation and psychological safety; we must foster that sense of belonging,” explains Silvia Pina, director of temporary and permanent recruitment services at Hays Spain in Madrid.
According to recent studies, 57% of Generation Z maintains at least one side project, compared to 48% of Millennials and 31% of Generation X. For many, this side hustle is a release valve: a way to regain control and purpose. As Aylin Silva says, “I realized that building a career at a company isn’t the solution; my idea is to find my own clients and work on a project basis.”
This isn’t laziness or apathy. It’s a redefinition of the contract between worker and company: more freelance, more multifaceted, more flexible. For its proponents, “professional minimalism” isn’t an act of rebellion, but a pragmatic reassessment of what it means to earn a living. Perhaps this is the most radical change: accepting that work isn’t a religion, but a tool. That success doesn’t always require climbing the ladder, but surviving with dignity. And that loyalty, if it exists, is no longer directed toward the office building, but toward oneself.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition
