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In terms of career aspirations and jobs, a majority (63%) have concerns about pursuing passions for their careers due to not making sufficient income.
More Gen Z are entering the workforce, and they are bringing their new employee sentiments and expectations along with them.
For example, while organisations have been quick to hop on the artificial intelligence (AI) trend, a majority of the 10,072 Gen Z students (born after 1997) surveyed by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) in the US, believe that AI will have a more negative than positive effect on society in the next ten years.
In response, more than half (55%) are extremely or very much concerned about AI’s impact on personal privacy and 62% are worried about job displacement.
The new 2024 Career Interest Survey by the NSHSS provided further insights into what motivates the new adventurous, civic-minded, concerned, vocal, tech-savvy, emerging workforce.
*While the data is based on findings in the US, HRO believes it remains relevant to our readers in Asia.
For the youth, health benefits trump time-off and flexible work schedule as their most valued compensation benefits; 72% favoured health benefits, while 25% cited work-life balance, and 61% said flexible work schedule.
In terms of career aspirations and jobs, a majority (63%) have concerns about pursuing passions for their careers due to not making sufficient income. That being said, the biggest career fields of interest include:
- medicine/health-related (24%);
- healthcare (22%), and
- engineering (18%).
Meanwhile, names in the top ten list of desired employers included Google, Amazon, and Apple.
Exploring workplace and employer preferences, fair treatment of all employees remained top of all workplace preferences (28% rank it first), followed by work-life balance (25%), and corporate social responsibility (14%).
Interestingly, 67% of respondents indicated that they expect employers to offer in-person training. Clear health & safety guidelines also ranked number one in the importance of working conditions, followed by easy commute and modern amenities of office spaces.
On a larger scale, healthcare and health-related issues are the most important issue to Gen Z students, potentially coinciding with their desire to work in healthcare settings. The study largely attributes this to respondents' personal experiences with health-related issues.
Lead image / 123rf.com
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