Welch said this insight emerged from a conversation she had with a 25-year-old freelance worker who asked Welch to create more content about worker fatigue among young people because her friends were “just so burnt out.” When Welch told this worker she used to work “seven days a week” at that age and loved the work—and would’ve done more of it if she could—the young woman offered a striking rebuttal: “But you had hope.”
“And I did have hope. We all did have hope,” Welch told Masters of Scale host Jeff Berman. “We believed that if if you worked hard you were rewarded for it. And so this is the disconnect.”
Unlike previous generations who could reasonably expect homeownership and financial security through steady employment, younger workers face structural barriers that have fundamentally altered career prospects.
“Gen Z thinks, ‘Yeah, I watched what happened to my parents’ career and I watched what happened to my older sister’s career and they worked very hard and they still got laid off,’” Welch said on the podcast.
You can watch the full Masters of Scale episode featuring Welch below:
