Summary: Gen Z employees are setting boundaries in the workplace to prioritise mental wellbeing. Their openness about pressure and burnout signals a positive cultural shift, though rigid boundaries aren’t always feasible in senior roles. Other generations can learn from Gen Z’s early conversations about capacity, whilst Gen Z can benefit from understanding how to manage pressure and embrace career-stretch periods. Sustainable boundaries require both clear expectations and situational flexibility, supported by leaders who model transparency and recovery. The key is creating bidirectional learning where all generations share their strengths.

Gen Z employees are unapologetically rewriting the rules of the workplace. They’re super-strict on boundaries, especially when it comes to their time, energy and health. And rather than burning out, they’re prepared to walk away to protect their wellbeing – even if it affects their earning potential. 

Around half of employees (across all generations) say that a strong wellbeing benefit would increase their likelihood of joining or staying with a business, according to research by Benenden Health. But Gen Z workers say they would be willing to take a pay cut of a third of their salary to receive a decent healthcare package.

This shift presents a unique set of challenges for HR leaders.

From burnout to boundaries in the workplace

While Gen Z’s approach is sometimes dismissed as inflexible or idealistic, they may be onto something with their insistence on protecting their health. Leaders are struggling like never before with low employee engagement and staff retention.

What if the younger generation’s demands and expectations around boundaries are a positive step towards a more sustainable workforce?

Here are four things Gen Z can teach other generations about setting boundaries in the workplace.

1. Be open about mental wellbeing

Gen Z’s strength lies in their willingness to prioritise mental wellbeing and speak openly about pressure, anxiety and burnout. This is a positive cultural shift for organisations.

However, rigid boundaries, such as fixed switch-off times or complete availability blocks, aren’t always feasible for people in leadership or HR roles who must respond to high-pressure situations.

The learning for other generations isn’t to mimic strict hours, but to adopt Gen Z’s commitment to early and honest conversations about workload and capacity.

Leaders can model ‘micro-restorative sessions’ – short breaks, workload resets, clear prioritisation or stepping away from the desk for grounding practices. This can be as simple as having a glass of water, doing some box breathing or getting some fresh air – even when you can’t always finish at a perfect time.

In turn, Gen Z can learn from more experienced colleagues about how to manage pressure without internalising it, a resilience skill they are still developing.

2. Set up clear boundary tiers

When setting boundaries in the workplace, it’s important to recognise that these cannot become a shield from responsibility, especially in senior roles where the stakes are higher.

Instead of suggesting leaders simply log off on time, teams could explore practical tools. 

This could include boundary tiers:

• Everyday boundaries – the default expectations that protect energy and focus during normal working periods. This might include agreed response times, protected focus blocks, clear handover points or norms around out-of-hours messaging.
• Stretch periods – short, time-bound phases where flexibility increases due to business demands, deadlines or organisational change. Crucially, these periods are named in advance, understood by the team, and not treated as the norm.
• True-critical exceptions – genuine, infrequent situations where immediate availability is required due to risk, safety, or significant business impact. These should be clearly defined to avoid everything becoming ‘urgent by default’.

Alongside this, teams can agree recovery agreements after intense periods, ensuring time to reset once pressure eases, and regular capacity checkpoints that allow early conversations about workload before burnout takes place. 

These strategies acknowledge the constraints HR leaders operate under while still supporting sustainable wellbeing – moving the focus away from constant availability, and towards conscious, intentional presence.

3. Practice situational flexibility

Gen Z are also helping workplaces redefine what it means to push back against the outdated culture of being subservient to the workplace. Their comfort with saying no before burnout sets in is something many older employees wish they had done earlier in their careers.

But boundaries need to sit alongside collaboration. Total rigidity can cause friction in moments where teams need to pull together. Boundaries should be clear and consistent – but not immovable.

The most effective approach – and something which I often suggest to clients – is ‘situational flexibility’. This means knowing when a team is under pressure and stepping up temporarily, balanced with recovery time that is protected afterwards.

This reinforces the idea that a healthy workplace culture is a combination of boundaries, contribution and contextual judgement – not the absence of hard work.

4. Embrace authenticity (but keep your filter switched on)

Authenticity is another area where Gen Z have shifted expectations. Their openness about identity, wellbeing and values is helping to create healthier, more human workplaces.

However, HR leaders may see challenges when authenticity becomes oversharing, which can unintentionally cause issues for managers and colleagues. Authenticity is about being real – not unfiltered.

Other generations can learn from Gen Z’s courage in dropping outdated professional masks, while Gen Z can learn discernment: what to share, when, and with whom, to maintain psychological safety and role clarity.

Learning needs to go both ways

Ultimately, sustainable boundaries are not created by policies alone, but by leaders who model judgement, transparency and recovery.

Gen Z are great at modelling healthier norms, and that’s definitely something that HR leaders can learn – and benefit – from. But it can be easier said than done. When you have greater responsibilities, you can’t always log off on time.

The key is building a culture which encourages early and honest conversations about workload and capacity – and encouraging the learning to go both ways.

For example, Gen Z can benefit greatly by learning about the strengths of previous generations, like prioritisation under pressure, embracing ambiguity and resolving conflict face-to-face. Plus, recognising that career growth inevitably involves periods of stretch.

For HR leaders, it’s not about lowering standards. But by learning from Gen Z, and embedding their values into leadership behaviour, policy and culture, they’ll be in a better position to attract talent, reduce burnout and build workplaces that benefit everyone.

Key takeaways

Building sustainable boundaries requires learning from multiple generations. Consider these approaches:

• Create boundary tiers. Establish everyday boundaries for normal periods, stretch periods for demanding phases, and true-critical exceptions for genuine emergencies. Include recovery agreements after intense workloads.
• Practice situational flexibility. Be clear and consistent with boundaries, but recognise when temporary flexibility supports team needs. Balance this with protected recovery time.
• Model micro-restorative practices. When you cannot log off perfectly on time, build in short breaks, workload resets or grounding practices like breathing exercises or brief walks.
• Encourage bidirectional learning. Gen Z can teach openness about wellbeing, whilst experienced colleagues can share skills in prioritisation under pressure, managing ambiguity and face-to-face conflict resolution.