Attracting and retaining Gen Z talent

Gen Z workers seek roles that provide career and skills development, as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR) aligned values, new findings have suggested.

For its 2025 report, Gen Z and CSR: What Australia’s Next Generation Expects From Business, Year13 collected survey responses from 1,110 respondents across Australia between the ages of 15 and 24 in August 2025 to explore ethical consumer behaviours and preferences of Australian youth.

CSR at ‘every touchpoint’

Natasha Markham (pictured), chief of staff at Year13, said that for Gen Z, CSR “plays a role in every part of the company and every touchpoint that a young person has with that company”.

Year13’s report revealed that 70 per cent of Gen Z wanted businesses to support life skills and career skills education for their people. In addition, the findings revealed that 77 per cent of Gen Z said they would consider the ethical, environmental and social impacts at a company before applying.

“Gen Z aren’t just looking for a paycheck but for purpose,” Year13 co-chief executive and co-founder Will Stubley said.

“Businesses that lead on these issues that Gen Z care about will attract the best talent, while those that ignore these expectations will struggle to compete in the new world of recruitment.”

Earning loyalty

Gen Zs now view life and career support as a part of CSR, which is changing how younger Australians choose where they want to work, Year13 said.

“Employers that back young people with real opportunities aren’t just ticking boxes, but earning loyalty and creating workplaces that feel like a good fit for their values and goals,” Stubley said.

Markham said: “It’s [knowing] that they’ve got career advancement opportunities and growth opportunities that they can do at work and knowing that their employer supports that.”

Markham noted the emphasis that Gen Zs place on identity, purpose and the ability to do something that is more fulfilling than a nine-to-five, followed by a “switch off,” she said.

Work-identity proximity

The proximity for Gen Zs between their work and identity is closing, Markham said.

She said: “Young people want work/life balance, but at the same time … they want to be spending [their time] doing something that is meaningful and [feels] like it gives them a purpose.”

While Markham acknowledged that change can be “scary” for companies, she urged HR departments to “lean into” what Gen Zs are saying, and consider ways to “adapt and evolve to meet these young people where they’re at and with what they’re expecting”, as a way to attract and retain Gen Z talent.

‘Doing’ CSR with Gen Z

Markham said: “I don’t see a way that it’s possible to do [CSR] effectively without having Gen Z involved.”

“There’s a very superficial misconception that young people are lazy and they’re very entitled because they want perks and flexibility … companies say ‘OK, how do we attract people,’ [and then] we go for these cool flashy perks and things,” Markham said.

A non-negotiable for Gen Zs is a company that invests in life and career skills education for their people, she said, noting the shift towards skills-based hiring, and the importance of skills, “particularly with the advancement of technologies and AI”.

“Young people have these big aspirations and ambitions, and they want to know that their company is going to invest in them and is going to support them to actually grow in that position and learn new skills,” Markham said.

She said companies must work with young people at their company to help make those changes, so that they can evolve into “this next stage of business and expectations from Gen Z”.