A milder query is 'How to motivate Gen Z?' And those who maintain that Gen Z is nothing but another generation, where their basic drivers pretty much remain the same, so 'no big deal here', are up for a rude surprise. We are dealing with a radically different lot, and our means of engaging must change, too. Or, to quote the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan, 'Please get out of the new one, if you can't lend your hand. For the times they are a-changin.'

As Gen Z becomes parents and caregivers at home and employees and managers at work, let's understand the expectations that drive their employment arithmetic and some humbling insights on how to make the most of our present to secure our future.

Don't seek tenure, look for short bursts.

The Deloitte Global 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, covering 22,500 participants across 44 countries, finds that only 6% of Gen Zs and millennials cite achieving a leadership position as their primary career goal. 'In the face of economic pressure, rising costs of living, housing constraints, geopolitical instability, and rapid technological change, many Gen Zs and millennials are choosing to sequence ambition-investing first in skills, stability, and well-being before committing to roles or paths that feel unsustainable,' notes Elizabeth Faber, Deloitte Global Chief People & Purpose Officer.

One core driver of corporate longevity is reaching leadership positions. Long service increases one's odds of landing the corner office. Those who have reverse-engineered the system are best suited to engineer it from the very top, or so the belief goes. But when Gen Z doesn't even see themselves assuming such lofty roles, the entire idea of longevity must be reconsidered. If they would rather stay short and deliver sharp, the firm must welcome the trade-off. Longevity must not be equated with loyalty, and loyalty with sincerity.

Someone in their 20s can still deliver value and then move on to new realms; most such employees seek variety rather than the external legitimacy of having been there, done that. Unlike Gen X and Baby Boomers, who prided themselves on relevant work experience and deep industry expertise, the newer lot may bring irrelevant experience and a tenacity for learning fast and delivering quickly. The volume of assignments, more like two-year projects than ten-year pipe dreams, suits this talent base best. Tap their quick pick-up and restlessness with the status quo by shifting vocabulary and values with grace.

Zig-zag pathways, not a neat ladder

The 2026 KPMG Intern Pulse Survey highlights that Gen Z interns are laser-focused on career growth, ranking it the No. 1 factor when choosing a full-time employer, ahead of workplace culture, work-life balance, salary, and staying ahead of new technology. They do not see career growth as a neat set of rungs on a corporate ladder climbed with clockwork precision. Their career trajectory is more like Brownian motion (random, erratic, zig-zag movements), punctuated by mistakes and leaps of faith.

Most human resource leaders still haven't figured out what such a zig-zag path looks like, or, more importantly, how to measure performance. Should you bet on a rank outsider at the cost of a loyalist? Should you give a failed entrepreneur a leadership role, knowing full well she's still an entrepreneur at heart?

A proclivity for taking half-chances, paying little attention to pedigree or institutional brand, and a general disdain for norms make for an employee more comfortable with ambiguity than the employer. 'No management is often the best management,' could well be the prescription in such cases. A pattern emerges only in hindsight, and it's new every time, as each millennial and Gen Z member yearns to author her own script, and HR must be ready with a bigger canvas.

Numerous employee surveys indicate that, compared with Baby Boomers and Gen X, newer generations have a heightened distaste for meetings, both virtual and in-person. While the older generation understood the importance of meetings, especially for optics and power structure, the younger crop sees them as wasteful. They would rather let their work speak.

Meetings have long tried to 'align' stakeholders and reach a 'consensus' before acting. But in these rapidly changing times, where your best-laid plans are upended at the very first encounter with reality, prediction becomes a fool's errand.

Instead of seeking agreement, it might be useful to bet on multiple scenarios and let dissent and disagreement have their day. No one condones and embraces creative abrasion better than Gen Z. They instinctively realise the merit of being their own men and women, rather than 'looking good'. They are more likely to question norms without clear merit than to toe the line. They are less likely to tolerate or stretch themselves beyond what their personal work-life calculations allow. People often misconstrued this as poor work ethic.

To lead this lot, one must first be willing to be a student again. One must redefine sincerity and commitment in terms of outcomes rather than tenure, appreciate and enable the messiness of career growth, and be willing to trim corporate niceties and posturing. If the audience is mean and the future is lean, you can't afford to drag out the past. Or, to invoke Dylan, 'May your hands always be busy. May your feet always be swift. May you've a strong foundation. When the winds of change shift… May you stay forever young.'

(The author is an independent contributor)