Micro Joys and Marijuana: How Gen Z Is Rewriting the Workday Reset

Nick: Welcome to the Wellable Weekly Podcast, where we talk about key topics and trends at the intersection of wellbeing, technology, and HR. I’m Nick, along with my good friend Geoff. Geoff, nice little background you got there. 

Geoff: I always say the same thing about you. Nice to have my own greenery here at the Wellable HQ. 

Nick: As Geoff alluded to, we normally record from different locations, but Geoff is in Boston right now. We’re both in the same office, but our podcast studio setup isn’t really conducive for us to literally be in the same room, which is a shame and something we need to change. Speaking of perks — and the plant game at our office is definitely one of them — there’s an interesting survey about Gen Z workers. They asked about things that sustain them throughout the day or preferences they want in their workplace. This term micro joys came up. The article defines micro joys as small moments that make the workday more enjoyable, productive, and sustainable. The main takeaway from the survey is that Gen Z operates through a kind of microjoy, or what I would call a break culture. 

Geoff: It’s a refreshing headline. So much of what we talk about and what’s on the minds of the average worker right now is productivity and efficiency and using AI to support those goals, which are inherently worthwhile. But naturally, at the expense of that kind of tunnel vision approach, you probably forget about some of the classic tried-and-true methods for sustainable working. Taking breaks is absolutely part of that. There’s so much evidence supporting the power of breaks and the need for everyone to refresh and reset. Leave it to Gen Z to remind us of that. 

Nick: Gen Z is always described as redefining the workplace, and they’re becoming an increasingly larger percentage of the total workforce. This is a good way they’re being genuinely additive. The reality is every generation should have a break culture. This is a good thing across the board. Gen Z seems to have adopted it, and hopefully they can influence older generations. Some numbers from the survey: 79% said taking short breaks makes their workday more enjoyable. 75% said breaks help them perform better. 82% of respondents said they are most likely to have their best ideas when they are not at their desk. And if you’re an employer thinking, well, of course Gen Z wants to be away from their desk, what’s in it for me — the argument is that a refreshed employee is a better employee. These are short, restorative breaks, not two-hour disappearing acts. They often lead to more work. You get your best idea during a break and away from your desk. It’s kind of like working. 

Geoff: Hard work and productivity can coexist with work joy and taking time to reset — personally, but also with colleagues. You don’t have the classic water cooler or coffee machine interactions like you once did, but there are certainly new ways to wind down and reset together. This whole concept of breaks is entering a new era, and some of that is being driven by generational workforces leaning into it. Even in our own product — we have a feature called Breaks, from a company called Bright Breaks that we acquired late last year — it has been so popular, both with our own employees and with our clients. It really is that consistent positive, healthy reminder of the importance of breaks. Something that only takes a couple of minutes out of your day but can make a big difference in your overall mental health and productivity when you pick that project back up or go into that meeting in a more focused and positive way. 

Nick: I remember talking to David, the CEO and founder of Bright Breaks. When you ask any founder what their product does, there’s the technical answer and then there’s the bigger picture. He said something off the cuff that always stuck with me: the product gives people permission to take a break. We provide resources for people who are unsure what a good break looks like, but just by offering Bright Breaks, a company is telling employees this is permission to recharge yourself, to restore yourself, to come back better than you were before the break. That’s a really important dynamic. The product itself is the permission people need. In a culture where Gen Z is latching onto micro joys and senior management may be from a generation that doesn’t necessarily appreciate that, it goes a long way to give that permission — not just to Gen Z, but to the entire employee base — by saying we value these things, we’re giving you resources to do it. 

Geoff: Permission is the key word. There’s a connotation with taking a break where some employees, especially in a tight labor market with ongoing reductions in force, may feel concerned about how they’d be perceived. To have an employer-sponsored or employer-encouraged version of a break just frees everyone up to do something that comes naturally when they need a reset, and gives them that nudge. In a very calendar-driven way of working, if it’s not scheduled it may not get done. Having a daily reminder to take that five or seven minute break — even if you don’t take it every day — works like the Apple Watch reminder to stand or move. A reminder to reset and give yourself a mental break. 

Nick: And if you need another reason beyond Jeff and Nick endorsing the break concept: the survey found that 77% of Gen Z employees are already intentionally building small moments of enjoyment into their workday. They’re doing it anyway. You may as well just support it. The survey also covered perks, and the two top perks for Gen Z are healthy snacks and beverages, and more time outdoors — both at 43%. For context, PTO only ranked as a top perk for 24% of respondents. That’s a big indication that what Gen Z values is very different from previous generations. 

Geoff: It’s a progressive mindset of work-life integration. Gen Z realizes they have a lifetime of work ahead of them. Being able to go to a place where they feel comfortable, have access to things that make them feel good, and not be stuck inside for an entire workday — whether that’s access to a park, a trail system, or even just a very walkable city — can deliver real boosts of joy and energy. Which is a transition to the other article: we just talked about positive, commonly accepted activities to lean into. The next topic is a bit more controversial: marijuana use. America has hit a major milestone — daily marijuana use has surpassed daily drinking for the first time. This has been a trend building for several years, really gaining momentum in the early 2020s, and now we have more people using marijuana daily than alcohol. And there’s an interesting workplace dimension here: more than 51% of Gen Z specifically reported using THC during the workday. 

Nick: This is a Gen Z story, but it’s not only a Gen Z story. Gen Z is the only generation where marijuana use exceeds alcohol use. But as a general trend, liquor and beer company stocks are all down — partly because of GLP-1s and reduced alcohol consumption more broadly, and partly because Gen Z is just choosing to drink less. When they do engage with mind-altering substances, it tends to be marijuana. And that will only grow as that generation becomes a bigger share of the workforce. There’s a connection to something we talked about several episodes ago: the study on how people cope with mental health challenges differently, where THC and marijuana was the most common alternative coping mechanism, especially in the Gen Z cohort, but increasingly across every generation. There’s also a Modern Health study referenced in the article: 63% of the workforce engages in at least one form of self-medication after work, and 52% have self-medicated during the workday. That goes beyond just marijuana, but it’s primarily THC. These numbers are high enough that it would be truly extraordinary for any employer to believe this isn’t happening in their organization at some material level. And most employer policies haven’t been updated to reflect the rise of marijuana legalization and use. Can someone consume marijuana before or during a company event where alcohol is being served? Is that okay? Most companies do not have a clear answer. 

Geoff: So much has to be updated to account for things like this. Even union agreements where workers can have a certain number of drinks on a work break — would that ever extend to marijuana? The question is also how much of an issue this actually is, depending on who you ask. Senior medical analysts in the article describe it as a very disturbing trend. But because of the normalization of marijuana use, maybe more in certain parts of the US or in certain generations, there’s potentially less attention going into how a substance like this, just like alcohol, can impact mental performance, judgment, and memory. It would be hard to make the case that advocating for marijuana use during the workday wouldn’t have potential negative effects on someone’s ability to do their job. But it’s happening in the shadows, and employers probably don’t have a real understanding of what impact it’s having. 

Nick: The shadow piece is important. Tobacco use has gone down substantially, but vaping has gone up substantially. Vaping allows people to have that experience in the shadows — at their desk at home, between meetings, without going outside to smoke a cigarette. You talk to HR folks about tobacco cessation and they say we don’t really have many smokers. That may be true in the traditional sense, but statistically vaping is probably more common than they realize. The same thing happens with marijuana. Edibles and other discreet consumption methods make it genuinely hard to detect in the way that alcohol, with its smell and other physical signs, is harder to conceal. Short of obvious impairment, someone could be using small doses of edibles throughout the day. And there’s a nuance here that doesn’t exist with alcohol: marijuana entered legalization as a medication, not just a recreational drug. There are people for whom micro-dosing to reduce anxiety is a genuinely endorsed use case. The debate that doesn’t happen with alcohol — whether a substance can legitimately support performance or wellbeing in certain doses — is at least theoretically a debate worth having with marijuana. But that conversation is not happening in HR circles or in leadership teams. I’ve talked to a lot of HR professionals and benefits brokers, and this topic almost never comes up. These numbers suggest it needs to start. 

Geoff: I don’t think organizations want to tackle it. Maybe they’re content to let it happen in the shadows because it’s a really difficult problem to establish policy around with so many nuances. And they may not be noticing many direct repercussions from letting it go without a structured policy. But it’s obviously a real and significant part of the workday for a meaningful portion of employees. 

Nick: Agreed. 

Geoff: Well, maybe that’s a good place to wrap up for today. Thanks as always for those who tune in. You can get the Wellable Weekly Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to subscribe to the Wellable Weekly newsletter for all the latest insights. Thank you.