Generation Z: new rules on the labour market
A report entitled “Gen Z as Employees” was prepared by Quantum Digital Student Cooperative in August 2025, in collaboration with partners (Diverzum, SteiGen, PwC and DreamJobs). The report promises to provide tangible, data-based guidance specifically for domestic business decision-makers and HR managers.
Research was conducted in August 2025 with a representative sample of 2,361 people. Gen Z is the first “digital native” generation, whose values, communication habits and workplace priorities differ from the patterns of the preceding generations X and Y in several ways.
Incoming generation: they seek stability — but within flexible boundaries
Enough of the stereotypes
Many of the stereotypes are contradicted by the data. It isn’t true that Generation Z is fundamentally different from the other generations: love, deep relationships and the desire to help others are universal driving forces in which there is no significant generational divide. Financial success is an exceptionally strong motivation for Generation Z, with 56% of respondents considering it “extremely important”, compared to 22% of Baby Boomers. But the essential difference isn’t in the big picture, but in the deeper functioning: in the self-centred worldview and the demand for continuous progress. There is also a need for attention and recognition: while 20-23% of older generations consider it important to be “respected and admired by many”, this figure is 32% for Generation Z.
A dual expectation: stable yet flexible work
It seems that the need for stability isn’t going out of fashion in Generation Z – rather, what is changing is how they imagine security. The big question is how this duality can be translated into the language of work organisation. “Stability is important to me” – 20% of Generation Z and 21% of those under 18 gave the “completely true” answer, which is only a moderate difference compared to Generations Y (13%) and X (12%). The dividing line isn’t in basic needs, but in preferred forms of work: 61% of Gen Z respondents chose a stable, predictable job with long-term security and guaranteed advancement when the question was: “Is a stable, predictable job more important than a flexible, project-based work schedule?” Based on the data, the most striking generational shift isn’t in the small preferences of everyday work organisation, but in long-term career strategies. While 71% of members of Generations Y and X prefer to be loyal to a single company and build their careers there, this figure drops to 49% for Generation Z.
Shortened workplace life cycle
One of the key issues in retention is how long an employee considers to be the “optimal” length of time to stay in a job, in order to maximise learning and career development. Long cycles still dominate among older generations (6-10 years is most common among Veterans, while 33% of Baby Boomers would stay with a company for more than 10 years), but Generation Z has a shorter horizon: most say 4-5 years (38%), but many consider 2–3 years to be sufficient (28%). The research covers a 10-year period, and here we see the pattern that best describes Generation Z in this regard: they don’t want to choose between career and family, but rather to harmonise the two. Every second Gen Z respondent (51%) considers a successful career and starting a family to be equally important and tries to integrate the two.
Four strategic breaking points
Four decision-making breaking points show where companies need to change if they want to not only recruit Gen Z employees, but also retain them.
1. A culture of personalised recognition instead of universal benefits: individual performance should receive frequent, visible feedback, responding to the need for respect and attention.
2. Accelerated career plans based on internal rotation: knowledge acquisition and development must become a visible career path within the 3-4 year cycle preferred by Generation Z.
3. Addressing the dual need for security and flexibility with hybrid + project logic: stability is no longer seen as decades of “company loyalty”, but as part of maintaining an appropriate salary and balance.
4. Mental and physical health progress and a transparent, performance-based salary structure: a better work-life balance has become a universal demand and conscious support for this can only be achieved through mental and physical health programmes.
