Unveiling the Realities: Deloitte's Annual Gen Z and Millennial Survey 2023 (Summary - Part 1)
Unveiling the Realities: Deloitte's Annual Gen Z and Millennial Survey 2023 (Summary - Part 1)
Written by: Paula Antalffy | 8-10 minute read
INTRO
In today's dynamic workforce, the perspectives and priorities of Millennials and Gen Zs are shaping the landscape of work. Deloitte's 2023 annual Gen Z and Millennial survey reveals how the key values, priorities and motivators driving these generations have shifted over the past few years.
The survey looks into 5 key areas of feedback. These are:
Progress and expectations
Financial concerns
Work/life balance
Mental health
Workplace harassment
Climate action
Below you can learn about the first 3 of these key areas, the most significant trends in each of them and what businesses can do to align with Millennial and Gen Z workplace expectations.
Finding 1: Millennials and Gen Z see that their employers are making some positive impact on society, but the majority remain unconvinced.
Millennials and Gen Z employees recognise that their employers are making certain strides towards positive societal impact. However, a significant majority remains unimpressed with the overall impact of businesses. While less than half of them believe that businesses are contributing positively to society, there's a slightly higher percentage of Gen Z respondents (48%) who hold this belief compared to millennials (44%).
Both generations have raised their expectations for their employers and businesses as a whole.
They believe that business leaders hold a crucial role in addressing social and environmental issues.
Interestingly, Deloitte’s survey shows there has been an increase in satisfaction with employer efforts related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) since 2019. More Gen Z individuals (19%) and millennials (17%) strongly agree that larger companies are now taking substantial measures to protect the environment. What’s more, Gen Z and millennial employees are more satisfied with their work life balance than they were in 2019, with one-third of those employed in these generations report high satisfaction.
While respondents seem more content with their individual employers, they remain sceptical about the broader positive impact of businesses. Both generations persist in their belief that businesses should play a significant role in addressing societal issues such as inequality and environmental sustainability, ranking business leaders as the third-most influential group in addressing these matters.
Decision Making: Top down or bottom up?
Remarkably, a third of the respondents indicate that witnessing business leaders speak out about sustainability has influenced their personal perspectives and behaviours. They express a desire to be empowered to drive change within their organisations, with over half stating that their organisations currently seek and integrate employee input into decision-making. However, a substantial portion still feel that decisions are made from the top down, without taking employee feedback into account.
When it comes to areas of influence within their organisations, respondents feel confident in positively impacting aspects related to client products and services, DEI development and training, as well as workload management. However, they perceive fewer opportunities to influence social impact and sustainability efforts.
Rigid Values: A key driver for projects and job opportunities
Gen Z and Millennial respondents are also shown to have rigid values, which they are unwilling to compromise on. A significant proportion reported that they have turned down assignments (44% and 37%, respectively) and even rejected employers (39% and 34%, respectively) due to ethical concerns or a misalignment of values.
Finding 2: High cost of living and climate change remain key concern for Gen Z and Millennials
The high cost of living emerges as a prominent shared concern for both Gen Z and millennials, marking a key pain point in their perspectives. This year, their top worry remains the cost of living, with 35% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials highlighting the impact of high prices, marking a six-point increase for Gen Z and millennials since the previous year.
Worries about unemployment also rose by two points for Gen Z, now ranking as their second concern at 22%.
Although Gen Z individuals are more optimistic about personal financial improvement in the coming year (44% compared to millennials' 35%), over half of both generations (51% for Gen Z and 52% for millennials) report living paycheck to paycheck, indicating a five-point increase in this trend for both since 2022.
Dissatisfaction with wages continues to motivate job changes, with pay being the primary reason cited by those who left their jobs within the last two years. Despite remaining a top three concern, worries about climate change slightly diminished compared to the previous year (21% for Gen Z and 23% for millennials), possibly influenced by the heightened focus on cost of living.
These financial concerns and dissatisfaction with wages is also shown in an increase in ‘side-gigs’ for both millennials and Gen Z.
46% of Gen Z (46%) and 37% of millennials have supplemented their primary jobs with either part-time or full-time paying employment. This is an increase of 3% for Gen Z and 4% for Millennials.
Many of these secondary jobs are facilitated through technology and social media platforms. The leading side jobs include:
online product or service sales (21% Gen Z / 25% millennials)
gig work such as food delivery or ride-sharing (20% Gen Z / 19% millennials)
artistic pursuits (18% Gen Z / 15% millennials)
social media influencing (16% Gen Z / 15% millennials).
While the primary driver for taking on these additional roles is financial gain, some individuals also use side jobs to monetize their hobbies, pivot their focus, and expand their professional networks.
Financial Concerns: Looking towards the future
Amidst the challenges posed by their uncertain environment, Gen Z and Millennials face financial instability that hinders their ability to plan for the future. For those respondents who indicated a belief that their economic situation will remain unchanged or deteriorate, the following concerns are prevalent:
56% of Gen Zs and 55% of millennials anticipate increased difficulty or impossibility in seeking a raise.
Women are notably more affected by this concern, with 59% of women versus 52% of men across both generations expressing worry.
52% of Gen Zs and 51% of millennials fear it will become harder or impossible to secure a new job.
50% of Gen Zs and 49% of millennials foresee heightened challenges in obtaining a promotion.
Starting a family is expected to become harder or impossible for 50% of Gen Zs and 47% of millennials.
A substantial 61% of Gen Zs and 62% of millennials believe that the prospect of purchasing a house will become increasingly difficult or unattainable.
A Difference in Perspective: Mental Health, Sexual Harassment and Inequality
Notably, Gen Z individuals display a stronger focus on mental health, sexual harassment, and inequality compared to Millennials. Mental health is the fourth top concern for Gen Z (19%) versus the ninth for Millennials (14%), while sexual harassment ranks sixth for Gen Z (16%) and seventeenth for Millennials (8%). Additionally, 16% of Gen Z individuals express concern about inequality (ranked seventh), in contrast to 10% of Millennials (ranked fourteenth).
Finding 3: Gen Z and Millennials prioritise work/life balance but worry about how economic factors might affect this
In the lives of both Gen Z and millennials, work holds significant importance, ranking second only to family and friends in terms of identity. However, striking a balance between work and personal life is a prevailing aspiration for these generations.
A considerable portion of Gen Z (26%) and millennials (28%) value the ability to maintain a positive work/life balance as a desirable trait among their peers, even outweighing more conventional status symbols like job titles, seniority, and material possessions.
When considering the qualities they admire in their peers, they prioritise traits that emphasise personal fulfilment and adaptability, such as:
Ability to maintain a positive work/life balance
Desire to live life on their own terms, breaking societal norms
Ambition to continuously acquire new skills
Willingness to embrace change and reinvent themselves
Passion for their work
Worsening Economic Condition: The biggest threat to work/life balance
Gen Z and millennials express concerns over the potential impact of worsening economic conditions on their work/life balance. These generations consistently prioritise work/life balance when choosing employers, a trend sustained from the previous year.
Employers have demonstrated advancements in facilitating improved work/life balance and flexibility since 2019, likely influenced by a competitive labour market that briefly empowered employees during and after COVID-19.
While remote and hybrid work arrangements have gained popularity, a gap persists between the desire for such arrangements and their actual availability, particularly among millennials. Approximately 61% of Gen Z and 55% of millennials have embraced hybrid or remote work patterns, slightly less than the 65% of Gen Z and 64% of millennials who aspire for them.
While some organisations are returning to office-based work to enhance productivity, collaboration, and learning, this move poses a significant risk to talent retention. Both Gen Z and Millennial respondents have a strong preference for workplace flexibility.
In-fact, a significant portion of those currently in remote roles, 77% of Gen Z and 75% of millennials, would contemplate seeking new job opportunities if their employers required full-time on-site work. Moreover, approximately 16% of Gen Z and 15% of millennials would initiate an immediate job search if faced with this requirement.
Both Millennials and Gen Z suggest that economic uncertainty may affect this ability to strike a healthy work-life balance. Around one-third anticipating heightened difficulty and roughly 15% believing it would become impossible to maintain.
However, a notable majority (72% of Gen Z and 68% of millennials) believe that maintaining some level of flexibility will remain feasible, even if other aspects like asking for raises or promotions might be affected.
Hybrid Working: A consensus in preference
Gen Z and millennials universally prefer hybrid work arrangements, valuing the flexibility it offers. Their top choice is having full autonomy in work location, either working remotely most of the time or occasionally visiting a shared workplace. Some are also open to employer-set on-site requirements to establish structure and coordinated in-person interactions.
A minority favour fully remote patterns, signalling the significance of some in-person collaboration on their own terms.
When asked about the benefits of hybrid or remote working Gen Z and Millennial respondents shared the following:
improved work/life balance (20% Gen Z / 28% millennials)
cost savings (22% Gen Z / 27% millennials)
enhanced productivity (18% Gen Z / 23% millennials)
positive mental health effects (54% Gen Z / 59% millennials)
However, the effects of remote and hybrid working reported by the respondents wasn’t always positive. Negative impact cited by the individuals include:
Concerns about its potential negative impact on mental health ( 22% Gen Z/15% of Millennials)
proximity bias (18% Gen Z / 15% millennials)
limited career growth
connection difficulties (14%)
reduced mentorship opportunities (13% Gen Z / 12% millennials),
feelings of isolation (10%)
‘Always-on’ culture is taking its toll
Despite advancements in promoting work/life balance, Gen Z and millennials continue to grapple with heavy workloads and the challenge of separating work from personal life. Roughly three-quarters of individuals in these generations attribute their stress to work demands and inadequate work/life balance.
The freedom to work from any location has led to pervasive "always-on" workplaces, causing difficulties in disconnection. A significant majority, comprising seven in 10 Gen Zs and millennials, find themselves engaged in work-related emails or messages beyond regular working hours on a weekly basis.
So what does all of this mean for business owners?
As CEOs and managers welcome increasing amounts of Millennial and Gen Z team members into their workforce, understanding the motivations and values of these generations is crucial. As the first ‘digital native’ generations, both millennial and Gen Z employees can bring a new edge to businesses, which can prove to be an amazing asset.
From Deloitte's survey it is clear that the pursuit of attracting and retaining these individuals will have to come with a significant shift in general company ethos and values. In the long term, these shifts can not only help with employee satisfaction, but also help create a better image for your business, and create a happier workplace overall.
Today, CEOs and business owners are expected to be more responsible, conscious and value driven than ever before. As shown in Deloitte’s survey, their approaches to DEI, environmental impact, mental health support and much more, can and will have a significant impact on both employees, clients and in the long term, profit. This is why, businesses who want to stay ahead of the curve, must begin thinking about employee wellbeing, as well as environmental and societal impact more holistically.
So how does a business begin doing this?
“I completely understand why businesses today are struggling to create an effective plan for scaling the goliath challenge that is transforming their strategy to put environmental impact, societal change and employee wellbeing first.” shares James Parkes, founder of workplace wellness app, myday.
“Businesses are facing a huge amount of pressure both internally, from their employees, and externally from clients, to move fast and change the very core of their business. However, this is much easier said than done. I believe that businesses need help in heading down the right path, and that is where a modern solution such as the myday app comes into the picture.”
Say hello to myday!
myday’s workplace wellness app is an all in one solution, for businesses looking to put employee wellbeing first and make a positive impact on the planet. The app’s unique offering allows team members to complete daily wellness challenges, which are then converted into high integrity carbon credits. This is a great way to engage millennial and Gen Z employees for whom work-life balance is key.
The app also offers employees an ability to create peer support groups around a variety of common struggles or life events, such as being women within the tech space, experiences as first time parents or grieving the loss of a loved one. These support groups also scale beyond an individual organisation, allowing people to connect with others outside their own company.
For businesses prioritising employee well-being and seeking accountable solutions to achieve their goals around environmental and societal impact, the myday app offers an ideal ready-to-use solution.
If you would like to learn more about myday and how our platform can support the health and wellbeing of your workforce, reach out to schedule time for a call.
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