The Corporate Millennial Anxiety page is the place for all working Millennials to laugh or cry their computer monitor-dried eyes out. With 278k followers, it's among many popular pandemic meme projects, but it's one that is still going strong. Its creator is Alane Rebecca, a '90s nostalgia-loving Millennial by day, and corporate memer by night.
"I posted my very first meme on the Corporate Millennial Anxiety account on December 14th, 2020," Alane told Bored Panda back in 2021. "The account was born out of a text conversation with one of my favorite coworkers. We were both adapting to working from home; to cope, she and I would send each other funny work-related TikToks and memes."
"One day she jokingly texted, 'You should start a viral Instagram account,' to which I respond, 'Say less.' I created the account, began posting, and it blew up. The account grew at a shocking rate, and I had 10K followers within 2 weeks."
Alane believed that back in 2020, her Instagram page helped a lot of Millennials cope with the anxieties and worries of the pandemic. "I think we were all just stuck working from home with a lot of time and not a lot of work-life balance. I think everyone's mental health took a massive toll throughout 2020. I think my light-hearted but sarcastic humor resonated with many millennials working in corporate America."
Millennial humor and pages like these perfectly reflect the kind of generation we are, Alane thinks. "We don't take ourselves too seriously," she told us previously. "Many of us have delightfully dark and self-deprecating humor. We aren't afraid to laugh at ourselves when we do something stupid."
"I know millennials have a reputation for being too soft, but I strongly disagree with that idea," she added. "I think we are a compassionate and resilient generation that is not afraid to ask for help or make a bold decision like leaving a steady job because it's toxic."
And Alane is certainly right: Millennials are not afraid to quit their jobs if they feel their current work environment is not up to par. A recent survey shows that almost 25% of Gen Z and Gen Y workers plan to quit their current positions to become entrepreneurs.
While some might think that it's about becoming the new innovators and billionaires, the reasons are often simpler. As HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek, Millennials are realists.
"They're running away from toxic jobs and bosses, low pay, and employers who will discard them as soon as enough labor has been extracted. When work doesn't offer dignity, flexibility, or a livable wage, people find their own way. And increasingly, we're seeing that means building their own job," Driscoll explained.
When describing the average Millennial employee, many experts say that the most important thing they look for in a role is purpose. Gen Y yuppies want to make a change and feel like their work matters. That's why many Millennials are 'job hoppers' – they change jobs after an average of two years and nine months.
Gen Z moves on from one job to another even quicker, staying in one workplace for around two years and three months. Still, Millennials seem to be the trendsetters in this regard.
Work-life balance also matters to Millennials. Even in a 2016 Gallup survey, 57% of Gen Y Americans said that work-life balance and well-being in a job are "very important" to them. What exactly does "well-being" refer to? Aside from physical health, supportive relationships, financial stability, and a sense of community, it also includes purpose: "Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals."
There are other reasons Millennials are quitting. One of them is burnout. A recent survey shows that Millennials are actually the most burned-out generation. 66% of Millennials in the U.S. report high or moderate burnout, citing high expectations and a lack of support structures in the workplace as the main culprits.
