I Spent Decades Believing Exhaustion Was Part of Success—Gen Z May Prove Me Wrong

After 7 decades of life, I accepted something as normal that younger generations are now questioning.

The higher you climb in business, especially in offsite construction, the more of your personal life you’re expected to surrender.

A full-time employee in America usually works around 40 hours a week. Part-time workers might put in 24 to 32 hours. Upper management? That number quickly jumps to 50 or 60 hours, especially when projects start slipping behind schedule. And once someone reaches the C-suite level, 60 to 80 hours a week often becomes the expectation, not the exception.

In offsite construction, those hours don’t just happen inside an office.

They happen during airport layovers, convention weekends, factory visits, client dinners, long road trips, training classes, and endless phone calls that somehow always seem to arrive after dinner. I’ve watched executives spend years practically living inside their businesses. Some wore it like a badge of honor.

But I’m starting to wonder if Gen Z is about to change all of that.

A Different View of Success

Many Gen Z workers grew up watching older generations sacrifice nearly everything for their careers. They saw parents miss vacations, family events, and sometimes their health, all in pursuit of stability and success that didn’t always work out as they'd hoped.

Now they’re entering the workforce with a completely different mindset. They still want success, but many of them don’t believe success should automatically require exhaustion.

To older generations in construction, that can sound lazy. But I’m not sure that’s what it really is.

I think many younger workers are simply questioning whether endless hours are actually proof of commitment or proof that the systems themselves are broken.

The Offsite Industry Has Always Rewarded Firefighters

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that offsite construction often rewards people who solve crises instead of preventing them.

Factories become dependent on a few exhausted people who know how to “save the day.” Production schedules get rearranged at the last minute. Service problems repeat themselves. Communication breakdowns between departments become routine. Managers stay late because they have to, not because they want to.

For decades, much of the industry accepted this chaos as simply part of the business.

I’m not convinced Gen Z will accept it quite so easily. I think they’re far more likely to ask uncomfortable questions like:

“Why are we still doing it this way?”

That single question could either frustrate older leadership or completely transform the industry.

Technology May Become Their Weapon Against Burnout

What I find interesting is that Gen Z doesn’t necessarily avoid hard work. What they seem to dislike is unnecessary work. That difference matters.

I believe younger leaders will aggressively push technology not because they love gadgets, but because they hate wasted time. AI scheduling systems, automation, predictive maintenance, robotics, real-time project tracking, cloud collaboration, and digital management systems may become non-negotiable under younger leadership.

Many current executives still see those things as optional upgrades. Gen Z may see them as survival tools.

And honestly, the offsite industry probably needs that push.

But There’s a Risk Too

At the same time, I don’t think offsite construction can become completely detached from personal relationships and hands-on leadership.

This industry still depends heavily on trust, responsiveness, and people being willing to step up when projects go sideways. Builders, developers, and factory teams want to know someone is there when problems happen.

A modular factory isn’t a software company. When a crane doesn’t show up, a module gets damaged, or a project suddenly changes scope, somebody still has to deal with it immediately.

If future leadership becomes too distant, too remote, or too rigid about work-life boundaries, that could create a completely different set of problems.

Sweden Might Be Teaching Us Something

I often hear people talk about Sweden, where executives generally work fewer hours, take longer vacations, and place far more value on personal balance than many American executives do.

Yet Sweden also has one of the most advanced offsite construction industries in the world.

That tells me something important. Maybe success doesn’t have to come from sheer exhaustion. Maybe the real secret is building systems so efficient that companies no longer depend on a handful of burned-out people holding everything together.

That’s a lesson America’s offsite industry may eventually need to learn.

Modcoach Observation

I’ve known factory owners and executives who devoted almost every waking hour of their lives to this industry. Some built incredible companies. Some built incredible stress. Most built both.

I don’t think Gen Z is trying to destroy hard work. I think they’re trying to redefine what intelligent work looks like.

And if they can combine strong leadership, modern technology, and healthier expectations without losing the urgency and accountability this industry still requires, they may actually improve offsite construction in ways older generations never expected.