Over one third of businesses said it was more difficult to motivate their Gen Z employees and the majority (88%) of employers are adapting their training methods to meet the needs of the newest members of the workforce, showed a survey by Grant Thornton. 

Nearly one in three (32%) businesses have moved towards more on demand content and more gamification within their training (30%), to appeal and engage with the new younger cohort.  

The pandemic also had a significant impact on young people’s education and opportunities for a first part-time job, which has had a knock-on impact on how prepared they feel for certain aspects of the workplace.

Gen Z workers also have specific expectations around what they believe are unreasonable asks in an early career job. They were particularly keen to ensure they did not have to work excessive hours and did not want to study for professional exams such as accountancy qualifications outside of working hours.

Over half (51%) said it was unreasonable to be expected to take on extra responsibility without compensation, while 40% thought regularly working 10-hour days should not be expected.

One in three (31%) also said that being expected to study outside of working hours was unreasonable, which is a common requirement for those working towards gaining a professional qualification. 

Three quarters of the young people surveyed believed that what they do for their job will be an important part of their identity and the research identified what Gen Z consider the most motivating reward for going above and beyond in their role at work: 

• career progression and opportunity to do more interesting and challenging work; 
• annual salary increase; and
• direct verbal appreciation from line manager and colleagues.

Ronnie Corbett, audit culture director at Grant Thornton UK LLP, said: ‘This insight into how the current generation of young people view careers and work will help to inform and shape decision making about how we best support them as they progress – after all, these are the people that will be running our firm one day.

‘Generalisations are easy to make, but we must be mindful that there are many different factors that determine a person’s mindset and motivation – age is just one of them. 

‘Workplaces, and society at large, are rife with age-related (across generations) stereotypes, which are not always accurate. This is why it is important that we better understand how beliefs about age affect our workplace, and work to dispel some of the rhetoric that creates barriers and inhibits cohesion. This is an area of inclusion that needs more focus.

‘Harnessing the power of different perspectives is an opportunity, and it’s something we are working on as firm to leverage - it’s in everyone’s best interest to do so.’

Gen Z respondents also felt they were least prepared for softer skills such as verbal presentations and persuading and influencing. This was reflected in the views of employers who also noted that Gen Z needed support with developing these skills.

Grant Thornton surveyed 2,000 people aged between 16 - 25 and 605 mid-sized businesses.