With Gen Z employees slated to comprise one- third of the working population by 2030, employers need to start paying closer attention to the workplace environment.
Why? Because Gen Z frontline employees are feeling overworked, underappreciated, and tempted to quit for a better employee experience, according to a new survey from UKG.
Talking to 13,000 frontline employees of all generations, it was Gen Z that saw the highest level of burnout at 83% compared to 75% of all employees. This situation has caused 36% of this generation of workers to say they would quit their jobs because it negatively affects their physical/mental wellbeing.
Other issues important to this group include vacation time. Fifty-eight percent said they would rather have more vacation time than receive a pay increase and 29% said they would forgo a promotion for an extra week of paid time off each year.
Additionally, Gen Z employees desire more input into when they work, where they work, and how long they work.
Comparing Gen Z to Other Generations
While Gen Z is overwhelmingly feeling more negative about frontline work, there are challenges reported by all generations. The UKG study uncovers that:
- 61% of Gen Z isn’t satisfied with their overall employee experience, vs. 55% across the frontline;
- More than 7 in 10 Gen Zers (72%) say interactions with people at work have worsened their mental health, vs. 62% among all frontline employees;
- 71% of Gen Z — and 59% of frontline employees in all generations — say they may quit because of negative interactions with their managers, co-workers, or customers;
- In organizations where frontline and corporate employees co-exist, nearly half of all frontline employees (49%) say there are two separate cultures: one for the frontline and one for everyone else; and
- About 1 in 5 frontline employees globally (19%) say they’re never recognized by their manager.
The Frontline Wants Greater Flexibility
Given frontline workers are required to be at a specific location, having greater control over their work schedule is a top desire. As the study reveals, work-life balance/flexibility and work schedules (tied at 55%) are two of the most important factors frontline employees consider when choosing an employer, only behind pay/compensation (71%).
Moreover, over a quarter of frontline employees globally (27%) say they’d resign due to a lack of workplace flexibility.
“Peoples’ work preferences have rapidly evolved over the past five years,” said Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, in a statement. “When you couple that with the digital, on-demand lifestyle that Gen Z has known their whole lives, it’s easy to see why the often-rigid nature of working in a physical location like a factory, hospital, school, warehouse, or retail shop would leave younger workers craving more choice. It’s exciting to see more organizations adopting innovative practices like employee self-scheduling, and that modern workforce management technology is rapidly pushing what’s possible for frontline flexibility even farther.”
A little over half of organizations with frontline employees (54%) offer flexible hours/self-scheduling. Other flexible scheduling practices are catching on, too, including shift trading with co-workers (41%), part-time work with no loss of benefits (28%), compressed workweeks (27%), and job sharing (18%).
However, there’s still room for growth: more than 1 in 10 frontline leaders (14%) say their organization doesn’t offer any of these flexible work arrangements.
“Contrary to popular opinion, our study finds that the frontline wants to work — they just want more choice into when and how much,” said Teresa Smith, director of human insights and HCM strategic advisory at UKG, in a statement. “In fact, despite feelings of burnout, 84% of frontline workers are either satisfied with the amount of overtime they work or wish they could work even more. Flexible work, including thinking about OT as a strategic tool to help organizations meet shifting business needs and help their employees at the same time, is key to attracting and retaining workers, regardless of age, across all industries.”
Job Retention
In an era of job hopping and attrition, 20% of frontline employees globally say they have been with the same employer for more than 10 years — showing many organizations have already created a compelling employee experience. Furthermore:
- 81% of frontline employees feel psychologically safe at work, meaning they can express their opinions and ideas, take risks, or make mistakes without fear of retaliation.
- 66% of Gen Z and 61% of frontline employees say that, when they provide feedback about their work experience, the feedback usually influences change at their organization.
- Two-thirds of all frontline employees (67%) say they’re treated with respect at work.
"While it’s not all bad — for example, two-thirds of frontline employees globally (66%) consider their workplace great overall — there’s still critical work to do to get Gen Z more excited about frontline careers," says Schawbel. "One thing is for certain across all generations: if you don’t fix the frontline experience, you risk losing valuable talent.”