Key takeaways
- Three-quarters of Gen Zs (74%) and millennials (77%) believe GenAI will impact the way they work within the next year.
- Gen Zs and millennials are focused on growth and learning, but they believe their managers are missing the mark on key areas of their development.
- Only 6% of Gen Zs say their primary career goal is to reach a senior leadership position.
- When asked about the factors driving their career decisions, Gen Zs and millennials say it comes down to money, meaning, and well-being
NEW YORK, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The 14th edition of Deloitte Global's Gen Z and Millennial Survey examines the responses of more than 23,000 participants across 44 countries. Projected to make up 74% of the global workplace by 2030, the survey finds that these generations are seeking a "trifecta" of money, meaning, and well-being while building the technical and soft skills that they believe will prepare them for the workplace of the future.
"Gen Zs and millennials launched their careers in the shadow of a global pandemic and a financial crisis—events that respectively shaped their expectations of work and what success looks like," says Elizabeth Faber, Deloitte Global Chief People & Purpose Officer. "These generations prioritize work/life balance and meaningful work as they strive for financial stability. And now, as they navigate the way GenAI is changing work, they are reevaluating the capabilities they need to succeed and the support they want from their employers."
Learning and development and the leadership gap
Gen Zs prioritize career growth opportunities and learning when choosing an employer, but few want to reach senior leadership positions. Both Gen Zs and millennials expect their employers and managers to support learning and development, but there's a wide gap between their expectations and experiences. Some also have doubts about higher education's ability to prepare students for the job market:
- Climbing the corporate ladder is not the end goal, but they're still ambitious: Only 6% of Gen Zs consider reaching a senior leadership position as a primary career goal, but they cite learning and development among the top three reasons they chose their current employer, just behind good work/life balance and opportunities to progress in their careers.
- Gen Zs and millennials want more from their managers on key areas of their development: Roughly half (50% of Gen Zs and 48% of millennials) want their managers to teach and mentor them, but only 36% of Gen Zs and 32% of millennials say this happens in reality. They also would like their managers to provide more guidance and support and to do more to inspire and motivate them.
- These generations are questioning the value of higher education: Around one-quarter expressed concerns about the relevance of the curriculum to the job market, and the practical experience it offers.
The impact of GenAI at work
Gen Zs and millennials are using GenAI more frequently, prioritizing training to boost their skills, and seeing improvements in their work quality. However, concerns about GenAI's impact on the workforce persist:
- GenAI usage is continuing to rise: Three-quarters of Gen Zs (74%) and millennials (77%) believe GenAI will impact the way they work within the next year and more than half of respondents already use GenAI in their day-to-day work, with 29% of Gen Zs and 30% of millennials using it all or most of the time.
- GenAI users have mixed feelings about its impact: GenAI users report that GenAI improves the quality of their work and their work/life balance. But more than six in 10 also worry it will eliminate jobs and say it is motivating them to seek jobs that they perceive as safe from GenAI-driven disruption.
- Soft skills are seen as critical for career advancement: As they work alongside GenAI, more than eight in 10 Gen Zs and millennials say developing soft skills, like empathy and leadership, is even more important for career advancement than honing technical skills.
The pursuit of money, meaning, and well-being
When asked about the factors that impact their career decisions, Gen Zs and millennials gave responses that fell into three categories: money, meaning, and well-being. The survey underscores that these areas are tightly interconnected as respondents seek to find the right balance:
- Financial insecurity is on the rise: Nearly half of Gen Zs (48%) and millennials (46%) say they do not feel financially secure, up from 30% of Gen Zs and 32% of millennials in last year's survey. The survey data also reinforces that without financial security, Gen Zs and millennials are less likely to have a positive sense of mental well-being and less likely to feel their work is meaningful.
- Purpose influences job satisfaction: Roughly nine in 10 Gen Zs (89%) and millennials (92%) consider a sense of purpose to be important to their job satisfaction and well-being. But purpose at work is subjective. Some Gen Zs and millennials say it's about having a positive impact on society. Others say their purpose is to earn money, find work/life balance, or to learn new skills so they have the time and resources to drive change outside of working hours.
- Positive well-being supports a sense of purpose at work: Among those who report positive mental well-being, 67% of Gen Zs and 72% of millennials feel their job allows them to make a meaningful contribution to society compared to 44% of Gen Zs and 46% of millennials who report poor mental well-being.
"Gen Zs and millennials have been consistent about their priorities at work, but as the world of work shifts rapidly around them, employers need to rethink how they can best meet their needs," continues Elizabeth Faber. "By being thoughtful about the impact of technology and modernizing the way work is structured, leaders have an opportunity to evaluate how the workforce is supported while advancing their organization."
To learn more, read the full report here: www.deloitte.com/genzmillennialsurvey.
About Deloitte Global 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey
Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reflects the responses of 14,751 Gen Zs (born between 1995 January and 2006 December*) and 8,731 millennials (born between 1983 January and 1994 December). In total, 23,482 respondents were surveyed from 44 countries across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. The survey was conducted using an online, self-complete-style interview between 25 October and 24 December 2024. The report includes quotes from survey respondents, attributed by generation and gender, who answered open-ended questions, as well as from participants in one-on-one, ethnography style, qualitative interviews conducted separately from the online survey between 19 December 2024 and 10 January 2025.
*Gen Zs are typically defined as being born between January 1995 and December 2010, but this study does not include respondents younger than 18, so each year the definition of Gen Zs in this survey shifts a year to include all adult Gen Zs
About Deloitte
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