Gen Z workers came of age amid the pandemic—and now quitting their job is always front of mind (2024)

A survey by PwC, one of the “Big Four” consulting firms that periodically weighs in on all things workplace- and future-of-work-related, found that a quarter of employees globally want to shift jobs in the next 12 months. Gen Z workers, aged between 18 and 26, make up about 35% of those wanting to quit, while millennials (aged 27 to 42) are another 31%. The common reason cited by 44% of the workers considering quitting their jobs is overwork.

Anthony Abbatiello, partner and workforce transformation practice lead at PwC, told Fortune that there’s a shift underway: “I think what we saw at the beginning of the Great Resignation, I would say we saw [quitting happen] more by industry or role.” Quitting was more about the type of work being done instead of a generational attitude, he said. But that’s changing.

When the Great Resignation first kicked off, Zippia, a recruitment and job insights platform, found that a bulk of those who quit were in the 18-to-29 age bracket, which includes a mix of old Gen Zers and young millennials. After surging in 2021, quit rates fell last month back down to pre-pandemic levels of 2.4% across industries, pointing to an end of the so-called Great Resignation. Even the professor who coined the term predicted it would end this year. But not for Gen Z. Abbatiello says the new findings show a generational shift is underway.

“The data is showing us that the Gen Zs are considering this more,” Abbatiello said. “Whether or not they actually follow through and quit their jobs is another question,” he added, “but they are certainly considering it.”

The millennial legacy of ‘I quit’

Gen Zers are not the first ones to challenge the workplace as we know it.

Millennials were the first to earn the title of “job-hoppers”—referring to workers who are not held back by employer loyalty and prefer to move around more often than their older counterparts.

At one point, changing jobs regularly was an unusual concept, as reported by Fortune all the way back in 1953 with “The Transients,” a feature story that became a best-selling book called The Organization Man by former editor William H. Whyte. It covered the midcentury mentality of loyalty to one’s company for one’s entire career, especially at the managerial level. Organization men appeared throughout pop culture, for instance memorably in Billy Wilder’s 1960 classic The Apartment. Although countless changes hit the economy and the workforce in ensuing decades—from the “Great Inflation” of the 1970s through the “Masters of the Universe” 1980s turbocharged by finance—the idea of staying loyal to one’s employer never quite wavered.

In retrospect, perhaps a slight change was notable in the Gen X era of the 1990s, when major shifts got underway, particularly the signing of NAFTA, which led to massive job losses, especially in manufacturing. Ennui about work surfaced in pop culture, memorably in the Gen X workplace classic Office Space. By the time millennials entered the workforce in the 21st century—around the same time as another late-’90s policy revolution took place, China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization—the middle class was in the grips of decline and companies were rapidly losing loyalty to workers. The era of mass layoffs truly began in the 1970s, but the battle scars of the Great Recession in 2008 were kindling on a bonfire. So millennials responded in kind.

Data bears this out; research firm Gallup found that in 2016, 21% of millennials said they wanted to switch jobs, three times higher than non-millennials at the time.

Leigh, a data scientist and personal finance content creator, who requested anonymity for safety purposes, said that Gen Zers have grown up observing how being employed in the same job for years impacted their parents. The 26-year-old, who has switched jobs four times since graduating university in 2017, told Fortune that the younger generation is jaded by what they’ve seen: “While their parents may have demonstrated admirable work ethic and loyalty, they often didn’t have much to show for it in terms of personal fulfillment and financial stability.”

To be sure, younger workers have always been more inclined to switch jobs. Even though millennials earned a reputation as the job-hopping generation that killed worker loyalty, Pew Research Center found in 2017 that Gen Xers had been just as likely to hop around when they were young adults. In other words, the convulsions of the 1990s were obvious by the next decade, but Gen Xers may not have gotten credit as the original job-hopping generation, making Gen Z the third line of “generation quit.”

Seeking greener pastures

Now, job-hopping is one of many things that’s been discussed about Gen Z workers—whether it’s their ambition or their shrinking attention span or the need for work-life balance. And while the desire to act on their priorities is stronger with this generation, they don’t always do it.

Think trends like “quiet quitting,” which originated on TikTok and became a phenomenon that many Gen Zers resonated with and found themselves in the center of—82% of them even said the idea appeals to them in a survey last year. But that number hasn’t translated into actual quits.

There’s also something to be said about the way Gen Z entered the workforce: The oldest members of this generation are still early in their careers and have been impacted by the disruptions to work and education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who entered the workforce during this time were imprisoned in endless virtual Zoom meetings. That, added with Gen Z’s urge to seek out their identity beyond the traditional nine-to-five job, may have amplified their disengagement from work. Some of them are even being taught professional etiquette from scratch because of how the pandemic warped their relationship with work.

“Entering the workforce during the pandemic caused Gen Z to often rely on video interviews, miss out on internships, be the first generation to view ‘work-from-home’ as normal, and also work at in-person roles that were deemed essential,” Jack Dorsey, a Gen Z expert and founder of the Center for Generational Kinetics, told Fortune.

Douglas Boneparth, president at Bone Fide Wealth, which specializes in advising young adults on financial matters, told Fortune that just as much of the millennial generation bore witness to the Great Recession of 2008, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was surely a big factor shaping Gen Z’s view of the workplace.

“[Millennials] got to look [at] how corporate America reacted to that event, and here’s Gen Z—they’re looking at the way corporate America was very accommodative during COVID with work from home,” he said. That has motivated many younger workers to work remotely and prioritize other parts of their life while remaining productive. And if the circ*mstances change, they’ll likely want to quit and find a more accommodative workplace.

It all coincided with a time when inflation began to soar, which could also be influencing the professional decisions of Gen Z employees. “Globally, employees are increasingly feeling cash-strapped as a cooling economy and inflationary challenges continue to impact workforce wallets,” PwC said in its report.

Many Gen Z workers are barely making ends meet—30% of them have taken up two or more jobs, according to HR and payroll services company Paychex. A separate Deloitte report has found that cost of living is a top concern for Gen Z, and half of them are getting by paycheck after paycheck—making higher pay a top motivator in the job search process.

Millennials and Gen Z both lack the safety nets their parents and grandparents had, Boneparth says. “So, if you’re no longer rewarded or being taken care of for working at the same place for 30-plus years, then where’s the motivation to really stick around?”

The upside of the job hop

Is job-hopping really so bad, anyway? If anything, economists largely see it as a way for people to seek out more competitive roles early in their careers, which helps with upskilling. People also receive pay bumps when switching jobs, a big factor behind choosing to stay or leave.

While serving 30-year tenures with a company used to be seen as normal in some industries, PwC’s Abbatiello said that people’s contribution to a company is no longer only determined by the tenure. “If we interpret it as…let’s look at the role that the individual has played, the scheme that they have developed, and if they progressed and continued to enhance their capabilities, then the job switching is less of an issue,” he said.

The younger generation seems to know that—the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the median employee tenure in a job is often higher among older workers than younger ones.

Indeed, many Gen Zers have found moving jobs to be highly rewarding in a professional sense.

“Switching jobs has given me the chance to explore different positions, gain clarity on what truly interests me, and increase my financial stability,” Leigh said. “While loyalty to a company is valuable, it’s essential to prioritize personal growth and financial well-being. If a company aligns with my values, provides an enjoyable work environment, and offers a fair work-life balance, I’m more than happy to stay.”

Gen Z is also experiencing one of the tightest job markets, Dorsey pointed out. That has created a high demand for their skills and boosted their confidence to find jobs that match their needs with relative ease.

“This reinforces the perception that the best way to move up in a career is to switch to another company, because the jobs are plentiful and switching jobs for Gen Z often leads to better pay, benefits, titles, and workforce flexibility—even if they take on the same role at another employer,” Dorsey said.

Quit rates, measured by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, have wavered a lot over the years. In the past two decades, August 2009 had one of the lowest quit rates with 1.30%, and through the year, an average of 1.75 million workers quit each month—that’s less than half of the 2021 average of 3.98 million a month. November 2021 saw an all-time high quit rate of 3%.

Generally, across age groups, job-hopping and subsequent pay increases are declining compared to 2021–2022 highs, according to a Bank of America Research analysis last month. The bank also noted that the younger generation—especially Gen Z—are the most impacted by softening pay raises linked to job changes.

“These findings suggest that younger workers in relatively better paid jobs may be experiencing the biggest moderation in labor market conditions,” Bank of America said in its May note.

Gen Z is also feeling the pangs of the changing job landscape in other ways. Dorsey’s research finds a lot of Gen Zers feel that they cannot financially afford retirement, prompting them to rethink how they view work.

“That has a big impact on how a generation approaches work, work style, and overall career or life planning—all of which are a departure from millennials who are now in their forties,” Dorsey said.

Leigh agrees—she said she is experiencing the pinch of the recent economic downturn. But she found that moving jobs has actually been a secret ammunition to boost her finances.

“Considering the impact of rising inflation and the cost of living, switching jobs becomes a strategic move to secure better financial stability and achieve my long-term goals,” she said.