EMBRACING THE WORKPLACE REVOLUTION It’s official: Gen Z is not here to inherit the world we built; they’re here to reinvent it, claims Edhec’s Geneviève Houriet Segard , as she talks us through how the latest cohort of business school alumni plans to upend the world of work F or those of us in business education, dealing with Gen Z students isn’t just an HR puzzle – it’s a wake-up call. A generation is entering the workforce not with demands, but with ideas and plans for real change. They’re not tweaking old structures – they’re discarding them in order to reimagine them entirely.
Far from being disloyal or unfocused, this generation is in fact simply not interested in outdated concepts of career stability. Moreover, those surveyed no longer separate their work and private lives; instead, the two intertwine and feed off each other. For most young people (nine out of 10), work is considered central to personal growth and a fulfilling life. However, they are not giving up on their work‑life balance and expect companies to offer them the opportunity to reconcile the two. Speaking of the corporate world, young people view it as both positive and negative. They are keen to join businesses that offer interesting team projects and congenial work environments, but they won’t tolerate excessive stress and an overly complex hierarchy. They favour simplicity over sophistication and are eager to begin work so they can contribute to this critical transition in corporate structure. Going for purpose over prestige Our findings also show that meaning trumps money. While salary matters (and it does), Gen Z prioritises purpose over financial rewards. In fact, their top priority is not a pay cheque, but a sense of alignment: between their job and their values; their work schedule and their life; their career and the world. They want jobs that offer more than tasks: they want a mission. Environmental and social impact are no longer ‘nice-to-have’ values for this generation; they are central to their career choices. They want to feel useful to society and they want to matter. This has profound implications not just for employers but also for educators. We need to ask ourselves whether we are preparing students to fit into systems or to challenge them and if we are cultivating vision in addition to offering technical and soft skills. One of the most misunderstood aspects of Gen Z is their openness to change. Nearly 60 per cent already foresee pivoting completely from one profession to another in their lifetime, not out of anxiety, but out of curiosity. They are building portfolios rather than résumés and designing careers that can stretch, flex and evolve along with them.
This past spring, Edhec Business School and Job Teaser, a European job board that focuses on emerging talent, surveyed nearly 9,500 young adults, aged 18-30, from seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK) about what they want from their careers. The results may be startling, but they are also incredibly inspiring and hopeful. The answers portray a generation of employees who have a fundamentally different relationship with work compared to older cohorts. Gone is the 20th-century model of strict processes, rigid schedules, top-down corporate hierarchies and a decades-long commitment to a single, large corporation. The survey results showed that Gen Z isn’t disengaged; they’re focused on a completely different list of professional goals compared to the Boomers and Gen X. Say goodbye to a linear career Let’s start with their attitude towards careers. A first job? It’s a test run. Half of respondents said they’d like a fixed-term contract or to be self-employed, but most indicated that they don’t want to stay long, at least not in their first job after university. How long will they stay? A year at most. The majority already anticipate switching sectors or roles – sometimes entirely – more than once in their lives. However, this is not a sign of indecision – it’s strategic. Gen Z has grown up in a world of permanent crises: financial shocks, a pandemic, war, climate upheaval and now AI disruption. These shifts have transformed how young people think about their jobs and long-term career aspirations. They’re not resistant to long-term plans; they’re just realistic about how quickly those plans can collapse.
44 Ambition • ISSUE 4 • 2025
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