The 13th edition of Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey connected with nearly 23,000 respondents across 44 countries to track their experiences and expectations at work and in the world more broadly.

This year seems to represent one of potential global change and opportunity, and respondents’ outlook for the social and political situations in their countries reflects that ambiguity. But in many ways, this year’s survey findings reveal that Gen Zs and millennials see green shoots of optimism for the year ahead.

Many believe that the economic picture in their countries will improve over the next year, and that this will have a positive impact on their own personal finances. And, despite concerns seen in last year’s survey that employers might backtrack on workplace progress as they faced economic uncertainty, this year’s findings reveal that respondents feel their employers have continued to make incremental progress since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in areas such as work/life balance; flexibility at work; societal impact; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and protecting the environment.

However, respondents continue to express significant concerns about the future and there is uncertainty about how Generative AI (GenAI) could impact work and their own careers. 

A New Zealand perspective

The 2024 survey found that for the more than 500 respondents in New Zealand, cost of living remains the top concern with 56% of Gen Zs and 72% of millennials ranking it number one amongst other issues including ‘mental health of their generation’, ‘crime and personal safety’ and ‘climate change.’

Other key New Zealand findings: 

• Nearly half of Gen Zs and millennials in New Zealand say their current, overall mental well-being is good or extremely good.
• In positive news for Gen Zs, the percentage of respondents who say they feel stressed or anxious most of the time has dropped from 51% to 45% since the same survey in 2023.
• 33% of Gen Zs and 22% of millennials in New Zealand said that their job is a factor contributing a lot to their feelings of anxiety or stress.
• Despite this, there are improvements in the way that mental health is openly spoken about with close to three quarters of New Zealand Gen Zs and millennials claiming to have senior leaders who talk about the importance of prioritising mental health.
• In New Zealand, 36% of Gen Zs rank ‘uncertainty’ as their top emotion when it comes to AI, while millennials have a slightly more positive view with 38% being ‘fascinated’ by it.
• Just 14% of Gen Zs and 18% of millennials in New Zealand claim to be frequent users of GenAI at work.
• Less than half of New Zealand Gen Zs (44%) and even less millennials (36%) say their employer is sufficiently training them on the capabilities, benefits, and value of GenAI.
• The last year has seen a continued shift towards more on-site work, both globally and in New Zealand, with nearly two-thirds of respondents saying their employers have recently implemented a return-to-office mandate, either bringing people back fully on-site or moving to a hybrid model.

Research scope

The Deloitte Global 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reflects the responses of 14,468 Gen Zs and 8,373 millennials (22,841 respondents in total), from 44 countries across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The survey was conducted using an online, self-complete-style interview. Fieldwork was completed between 24 November 2023 and 13 February 2024. The report includes quotes from respondents who provided feedback to open-ended questions in the main survey. These quotes are attributed to respondents by age, gender, and location. As defined in the study, Gen Z respondents were born between January 1995 and December 2005, and millennial respondents were born between January 1983 and December 1994.

There were 501 total respondents in New Zealand: 300 Gen Zs and 201 millennials.