Dive Brief:
- While 84% of women surveyed by LHH said they have the skills to advance their career, most felt more anxious about their next career move – more so than their male counterparts surveyed. The organization polled 2,000 people across the U.S., the UK and France, asking questions about job transitions, leadership, and reskilling.
- More than half of Gen Z respondents reported feeling particularly anxious regarding their job, with 34% of respondents saying that their skill set was not usable in the workplace.
- Additionally, 33% of Gen Z respondents felt that their next career move was out of their control.
Dive Insight:
"The world has gone through unprecedented change and we understand that people feel differently about work and what the future holds. For some, rapid change is exciting. For others, it creates anxiety," said LHH President Gaelle de la Fosse in a statement. "To be effective in what we do as a business, we need to intimately understand how people truly feel about the future of work and their careers." In light of this, upskilling continues to be one solution employers turn to in order to empower their people.
Women in the workplace have long grappled not just with receiving the opportunities to exercise their skills and knowledge but also with having the chance to excel in a positive, welcoming environment. Despite increasingly candid equal pay conversations, women still must navigate microaggressions, the threat of harassment or violence and workplace discrediting.
Employers can minimize some of women's anxieties by showing up for them in the workplace, as well as empowering them with the necessary tools to succeed and be surefire about their success.
Regarding Gen Zers, the LHH report added, "They are the most disillusioned — as a result of starting their career in a post-COVID hybrid working world." Combined with a lack of feeling in-control with their careers, "a pessimistic outlook for the future has decreased their levels of self-confidence." This pessimism is bolstered by 34% of Gen Z respondents confessing they don't get along with their co-workers and one in three respondents feeling as if their voice wasn't heard compared to older people, LHH found.
Overall, this dismal analysis of Gen Z tracks with previous findings regarding this age group, their attitude toward the arguably bleak present and the uncertain future of work.
A February 2022 report, authored by Washington State University's Carson College of Business, found Gen Zers were most likely to feel stifled by lack of in-person work interactions. Similarly, LinkedIn's Workforce Confidence Index revealed that Gen Z was the most keen on having more learning opportunities and avenues to flex their skills and expertise. Likewise, this age group wanted opportunities to move up and to shoulder more responsibility, more so than millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers.
In short, Gen Z continues to be hungry for upskilling opportunities – in fact, in this current climate, it's the top priority for job-seekers within this age group.
