Gen Z in the News
Gen Z in the News
What Do We Know About Gen Z and Work? Turns Out, Not Much
Gen Z isn't leading the charge for AI at work.
Our content analysis revealed that the news articles analyzed discussed rarely discussed changes in or to work as a result of Gen Z's influence. The conversation that we saw in the news suggests that articles supposedly about Gen Z trends are really about workplace trends that coincide with Gen Z entrance into the workforce. We especially saw this in articles that referenced artificial intelligence (AI) and Gen Z workers. AI was one of the most frequent discussion topics in our sample; we tracked nearly a hundred instances across 77 articles.
However, closer analysis revealed that the discussion of AI tended to be surface-level, with the same dynamic observed across nearly all the article. The articles documented changes in the workplace in regard to AI and connected these to the presence of Gen Z, but only rarely discussed how Gen Z influenced the use of AI (nor acknowledged that most Gen Zers are entry-level employees with little, if any, control over technology use). Nor was there much practical discussion of how Gen Z was using AI or how the use of AI was influencing their working environment or working styles. In short: it's not the Gen Z is changing the workplace, it's that changes in work have accumulated to create a dramatically different landscape just as Gen Z is arriving for their first days of work.
Gen Z uses social media to talk about their lives—and those increasingly center work.
This pattern of indirect discussion continued for the majority of the codes that our team tracked. Ultimately, the majority of the conversations about Gen Z and work were looks at larger trends within the workforce and how they then relate to Gen Z indirectly or incidentally—or vice versa. For example, several articles described shifts on social media platforms like TikTok toward work-related content and trends, noting their novelty. However, Gen Z's use social media to document life changes is hardly new. As Gen Zers enter adulthood and more begin to work full-time, the social media content that they produce and consume has naturally shifted to what is central in this part of their life phase: work.
Gen Z want meaningful work and care about mental health, but there are bigger questions to ask.
There were two topics, however, that were specifically Gen Z work-related issues: values and mental health. Multiple articles noted that Gen Z prefers work that aligns with their values. This emphasis on values sets Gen Z apart from other generations, but the conversations around values tend to be surface-level, with little investigation of why this has become a defining characteristic of the generation. Several articles quoted Gen Z workers who explained that they seek out jobs that accomplish what they believe to be important work or contribute to causes about which they are passionate. This was borne out in our focus groups as well, with individuals discussing how much it mattered to them to find work aligned with their values and morals, but not detailing much beyond that.
Another theme observed was how Gen Z is shifting the workplace culture around mental health by beginning to discuss and, in turn, normalize discussing mental health in the workplace. This, as well as the shift to prioritizing values over other aspect of work, are two culture shifts that are beginning to impact workplace norms and practices. Another emerging theme (discussion of a trend without analysis of what motivates that trend) signaled that this change may be a necessary one: Gen Z workers experience high rates of burnout and loneliness. We interpret this as a call for more journalistic investigation and scientific research in order to understand why Gen Z workers are feeling burned out at the beginning of their career, and what their presence means for the future of work. We have identified patterns in what is happening, but a large gap remains. Gen Z's voice is needed to help address it.