Deloitte Survey: Surprise, Gen Z and Millennials are Worried About the Cost of Living and GenAI

I tried to find a stock photo full of fabulous Gen Z mullets and sour faces, this is the best I can do.

When was the last time we covered Deloitte’s yearly Gen Z and Millennial survey? This is its thirteenth year and we’ve been around for almost 15 so…you know what, who cares. It’s been a while.

This year’s survey consisted of 22,841 respondents (14,468 Gen Zs and 8,373 millennials) across 44 countries. Here’s the short of what they found:

• The cost of living is Gen Zs’ and millennials’ top societal concern, but green shoots of optimism for the economy and their personal finances are emerging
• Nearly nine in 10 Gen Zs and millennials say purpose is important to their job satisfaction and they are increasingly likely to turn down work or employers that don’t align with their values
• As anxiety about climate change increases, many are actively seeking to align their careers and consumer behaviors with their environmental values
• GenAI is creating uncertainty and influencing career decisions, but positive perceptions of GenAI largely increase with frequent use
• Work/life balance is a top priority, as long working hours drive stress
• Return-to-office policies are yielding mixed results with some reporting benefits like improved engagement and collaboration while others are experiencing increased stress and decreased productivity

More than half of each group (56 percent Gen Zs and 55 percent millennials) are living paycheck-to-paycheck, up a couple points for each group from last year’s results. It’s surprising then that only about three in 10 aren’t feeling financially secure.

Despite this, a good number of respondents believe external economic conditions will improve. I can assure you few of these are elderly millennials. Almost half of Gen Zs (48 percent) and 40 percent of millennials expect their personal financial situations to improve over the next year. How? They don’t say.

On the subject of purpose, Deloitte uses interesting language in the press release. In the past we’ve always made fun of these declarations that millennials and Gen Z strongly value purpose over a paycheck. While this may be true for some, it’s harder than ever to find this elusive purpose hiding in soulless, commodotized corporate America (and 43 other countries, we imagine). You’ll notice though they’ve tacked on “more personal factors such as a lack of support for employees’ mental well-being and work/life balance” in the purpose category. So work-life balance is purpose now I guess which suddenly explains why these kinds of surveys always say Zoomers and millennials think it’s so important.

Purpose is key to workplace satisfaction and well-being, according to nearly nine in 10 Gen Zs (86%) and millennials (89%). And increasingly, these generations are willing to turn down assignments and employers based on their personal ethics or beliefs—half of Gen Zs (50%) and just over four in 10 millennials (43%) have rejected assignments. Nearly as many (44% of Gen Zs and 40% of millennials) said they have rejected employers. Reasons for rejecting an employer or an assignment include factors such as having a negative environmental impact, or contributing to inequality through non-inclusive practices, and more personal factors such as a lack of support for employees’ mental well-being and work/life balance.

Now let’s talk about the elephant-sized algorithm in the room: GenAI.

Gen Zs and millennials believe GenAI will have a significant impact on their career paths and the way in which they work. Nearly six in 10 Gen Zs (59%) and just over half of millennials (52%) believe the prevalence of GenAI will make them look for job opportunities that are less vulnerable to automation, such as skilled trades or manual labor.

In its efforts to replenish the dwindling accounting pipeline, the AICPA and its various tendrils in public accounting and academia would be wise to note the above. Rather than trying to make accounting sexy (stop trying to make sexy happen), focus some energy on making sure students feel secure about the long-term job prospects. Young people are more future-minded than we give them credit for. Really explain, in graphic detail, how AI will transform the profession in the next five or ten years, don’t just throw out the oft-repeated phrase “AI will reduce grunt work and free accountants up to do more high level work.” Those already in the profession know what that means, young people never exposed to the inner workings have no concept of grunt tasks vs. high level critical thinking.

Uncertainty is the top emotion Gen Zs and millennials report feeling when they think about GenAI. The survey also finds that women in particular express greater uncertainty about GenAI than men do and are less likely to feel comfortable working alongside it. A lack of familiarity may accentuate feelings of uncertainty. Gen Zs and millennials who use GenAI at work all or most of the time are more likely to feel trust and excitement than uncertainty. They are also more likely to believe GenAI will free up their time, improve the way they work, and improve their work/life balance. But, conversely, frequent users of GenAI are also even more likely to have certain concerns, such as believing that GenAI-driven automation will eliminate jobs and make it harder for young people to enter the workforce.

So yes, frequent users of GenAI appear enthusiastic about its potential to free up their time and improve work-life balance. But these users are also much more likely to think it will directly eliminate jobs. Because they know what it can do?

In response to these types of concerns, both generations are focused on reskilling and training. However, only about half of Gen Zs (51%) and millennials (45%) say their employer is sufficiently training them on the capabilities, benefits, and value of GenAI.

Kids, I’m going to give you a piece of advice: don’t wait around for your employer to reskill you. Take a look at another recent Deloitte survey called the 2024 MarginPLUS study and you’ll quickly see that training you in a technology that could potentially make you obsolete is not a thing many employers are invested in doing. Here are some free courses you can take right now:

• 12 days of no-cost training to learn generative AI this December [Google]
• Machine learning & artificial intelligence [Amazon Web Services]
• Artificial Intelligence Courses [Harvard University]

Anyway, that’s the survey. You can access the full survey here.

Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey finds these generations stay true to their values as they navigate a rapidly changing world [Deloitte]