GenZ are now “polyworking” because holding down just one job doesn’t pay enough or give them the flexibility they want

But as the cost of living has increased, wages stagnated and people took to working longer (making it harder for younger workers to progress into senior roles), professionals today aren’t waiting for their boss to promote them.

Instead, they’re taking matters into their own hands: After years of job hopping and, more recently, the explosion of side hustles, workers now are splitting their time across numerous employers—at once.

The phenomenon of working two or more jobs, called “Polyworking”, came about as people seized the opportunity to take on multiple full-time roles while they were working from home.

Without a tiresome commute, getting from one job to another is as easy as signing into your computer for your second shift of the day—and it’s why, according to new research, a third of workers are holding down three or more jobs.

Who is most likely to be juggling jobs? 

Paychex surveyed over 1,000 American workers to find out who is most likely to be juggling multiple jobs, and the impact it’s having on workers.

They found that while 40% of workers overall currently have multiple jobs, this number rises to almost half of Gen Zers. 

And not only are the youngest generation of workers the most likely to be holding down multiple jobs—they’re also even more likely to be splitting their time between three or more employers; a full 47% hold down three or more jobs, according to Paychex.

Meanwhile, 33% of millennials are holding down 3 or more jobs, compared to 28% of baby boomers and 23% of Gen X professionals. 

Freelance and remote workers were the most likely to report being employed at multiple firms.

Plus, some industries are more conducive to polyworking than others: Computer and technology sector workers are most likely to have multiple income streams. These workers are likely to also take on extra work in other fields, mostly within the health care industry. Meanwhile, the researchers also found an overlap with finance workers taking on extra shifts in the retail and education sectors.

What’s more, they don’t plan on giving up their second or third jobs any time soon.

Around half of the respondents said they plan to polywork indefinitely—and the older respondents were, the more likely they were to see juggling jobs…