Gen Z Redefining Future of Work: Flexibility, Purpose Taking Priority Over Traditional Career Paths, Says Randstad Report

Gen Z will significantly transform India’s professional landscape, according to a recent report by Randstad India. Titled The Gen Z Workplace Blueprint, the report reveals how Gen Z is ushering in changes in how employers and companies are thinking about employment, retention and growth of its employees. The findings assume significance as Gen Z will form the bulk of the workforce in the coming years when rapid technological change and ever-changing workplace dynamics are shifting the traditional work culture and equation.

What Gen Z Is Prioritising

According to the report, these young professionals are prioritising pay, flexibility, and purpose over the stability of traditional long-term jobs. While pay remains the driving-force, other aspects, such as flexibility and job satisfaction from the employer help in retaining these young employees.

Gen Z places pay at par with flexibility, the report says. Better pay, flexibility and a well-structured work-life balance are preferred over traditional perks, such as extra leave or retirement benefits. The generation is seeking a work environment that promotes growth, individuality, learning, and supports professional and personal aspirations, the report says.

According to the report, travel opportunities and the ability to work remotely are one of the major retention drivers.

“These preferences reflect Gen Z’s global outlook and desire for exposure at the workplace. It shows how in the coming years the work environment is going to shift as this generation becomes the leaders. Long-term plans, short-stints – they have planned what their long-term desires and career goals are, but they don’t see themselves staying at jobs to prove their loyalty to them and compromising on growth. They are not disloyal, they just seek something that adds to their personal and professional growth,” the report says.

According to the report, the choices this generation is making are offering a challenge and an opportunity to the employers.

Vishwanath PS, managing director and CEO of Randstad India said that companies which enforce lifelong learning, inclusive work-environment and preferences are not only attracting Gen Z, but also retaining them for the longer run. He said companies should evolve their talent strategies and workplace culture to meet the expectations of their future employees.

The report said that Gen Z’s willingness to change jobs does not mean they are disengaged or not loyal to the work; they are just discerning what role jobs play in their career goals. For employers, this is a chance at offering liberating work life balance in exchange for a dedicated and driven workforce, the report added.

AI and Gen Z

Since this generation is starting to work at a time of such intense technological changes, this report also shed light on their relationship with Artificial Intelligence. Around 58 per cent of respondents of the survey conducted by Randstad expressed enthusiasm for use of AI at workplaces, while 55 per cent of total respondents said they already use it for problem-solving at work.

However, 46 per cent respondents said they are worried about the ill-effects that AI can bring to their work and workplace.