Gen Zers spend an average of two years and three months in a role, according to CareerBuilder.This is the shortest average time spent in a job of any generation.Job hopping was kickstarted by millennials, and cemented by Gen Z’s higher expectations of work.The workforce’s youngest employees are continuing a job-hopping trend kickstarted by millennials.
According to October 2021 data from the US careers site CareerBuilder , Gen Z workers spend an average of two years and three months in a role, a reduction on millennials’ average time in a job of two years and nine months.
CareerBuilder said it analyzed internal data on 2.3 million users between August and September 2021 and calculated the average length of time a user spent in a role.The information was further broken down by generation, location, and job title.
Members of Gen Z are defined as being born between 1997 and 2012, while younger millennials are currently in their mid-twenties.
CareerBuilder found Gen X workers, now in their forties and fifties, and older Baby Boomers spend an average of eight years and two months in a role.
Other data backs up the idea that Gen Z is driving the “Great Reshuffle.” LinkedIn tracked the percentage of almost 800 million users who changed their jobs and discovered that job transitions had increased 54% year-over-year.But the number of Gen Zers transitioning jobs is even higher at 80%.
Having lived through unprecedented technological advancements and social-media fuelled social movements, Gen Z’s expectations of the workplace in Western Europe and the US exceed that of previous generations, according to CareerBuilder.
“Gen Z job hunters are forward-thinking, highly educated, and super tech-savvy,” said Sara Skirboll, VP of communications at CareerBuilder.
“They also want to see companies adopt substantive DE&I [diversity, equality, and inclusion] efforts, offer great employee benefits, and provide a supportive workplace culture.If they think a business is lagging behind the times, they’re more likely to leave it.”
Millennial nice-to-haves such as work-life balance, flexible working, personal happiness, and equality are Gen Z’s musts, according to Skirboll.
“Millennial preferences have become Gen Z expectations,” she added.If a business can’t meet those expectations, they risk losing Gen Z candidates to other forms of work.
For example, Gen Z might pick up multiple part-time jobs or enter the gig economy.Gen Z doesn’t necessarily define itself by job title.They have strong values and will hold out for work that aligns with them.”
One perk that job hopping offers is a higher salary raise, according to 2019 data from the UK Office for National Statistics.The report showed that job switchers gained 7.3% more in earnings on average, compared with the 3% pay rise that employees who stay put experience.
Despite showing an affinity for job-hopping, Gen Z watched parents and older siblings suffer through the recession , so their appetite for risk-taking is much lower.
This partly explains why the gap between the length of Gen Z and millennials’ average tenure is so little.
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