“They have proven the model that you don’t need to be in the office 9 to 5 to be effective,” said Ana Recio, the executive vice president of global recruiting at Salesforce, the tech company. “This generation is single-handedly paving the way for the entire work force to do their jobs remotely and flexibly.”

—The New York Times, Sept. 17, 2019

Who are “they”? Millennials and Gen Z, defined as individuals born after 1980, are often unfairly stereotyped in the media as self-entitled and unmotivated. These younger generations of workers—the oldest of whom are nearing forty—are currently benefiting from a historically low unemployment rate of 3.7 percent.

On the other hand, many of them entered the workforce in 2008 during one of the worst economic setbacks since the Great Depression. They have struggled and adapted to the considerable tumultuous shifts in the employment landscape, characterized by a rapidly changing global marketplace where previously reliable concepts like pensions, retirement, and job security have become more and more fraught with uncertainty.

What the recent New York Times article quoted above pinpoints, however, is a canny ability among white-collar millennials to negotiate for better work-life balance. Using today’s low unemployment and a shrinking job candidate pool as leverage, they’ve requested unorthodox schedules that accommodate their lives outside of work. Rather than equating success solely with higher and higher compensation, they now prioritize discretionary time—time that can be spent with their partners and children, or in pursuit of personal health and recreation.

What does this culture shift mean for business? For a leader, if you value the talent in your workforce, such balance can lead to greater longevity and stamina in the workplace—including decreased burnout and more flexibility in the face of change. If given the space to attend to their lives outside of work, your best employees can grow with the company, weather the inevitable stresses and pivots, and evolve into seasoned assets fully invested in the organizational mission.

When organizations implement flexibility in a thoughtful, collaborative, and accountable way, the resulting measurable, long-term benefits will, I hope, eventually end the “flexibility stigma.” This stigma describes the unfair bias against, for example, new mothers in the workplace who require maternity leave and other accommodations that, when given, support them in providing ongoing value to their companies. As younger men and women alike seek flexible work arrangements, employers discover that, far from being a liability within the organization, flexibility can create resources of health, loyalty, and morale.

With their realigned priorities, millennials and post-millennials have given us the gift of a healthy workforce, one that naturally expects employers to acknowledge life outside of work, as demonstrated by the following study cited in the Times article: “In a survey of 11,000 workers and 6,500 business leaders by Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group, the vast majority said that among the new developments most urgently affecting their businesses were employees’ expectations for flexible, autonomous work; better work-life balance; and remote working.”

Remote work and discretionary time are not frivolous signs of squandered productivity; implemented responsibly, they can maintain high-performing employees’ relish for succeeding within your organization. So the next time you read a cynical comment disparaging the hedonism of avocado toast on a Wednesday lunch break at home, remember that the time taken to enjoy simple pleasures will go far toward restoring and sustaining a competitive work ethic.