Jed Simpfendorfer.
Jed Simpfendorfer – Director of Strategy & Partner, T garage.
We’ve been hearing the same story for years now.
Gen Z are different, Gen Z want purpose, Gen Z want to work for organisations that make a difference.
But I’ve always scratched my head at that. Isn’t that what we all want? To work for an organisation with purpose?
To feel like what we do makes a positive impact on society and contributes to a better place for those around us?
What I’ve also been curious about is that, at the same time as we’ve been hearing the cry for meaning from Gen Z, we’re also seeing the great disenchantment of Gen Z. They’re coming of age in an era of cost-of-living pressure, unaffordable housing, and a whole lot of uncertainty about the future.
So, has the search for idealism been squeezed by the pragmatic reality of life? Maybe some of that wide-eyed optimism has been squished out of the tube. Remember those free-loving hippies who grew into the more pragmatic Boomers? It’s a reminder that every generation evolves with its time.
Fortunately, at T garage, with the Sayso panels at our fingertips, we get to dig into questions like this for a living. In October 2025, we conducted a nationally representative study of Australians to determine what truly motivates different generations at work.
How is Gen Z feeling about work?
What does Gen X want at work?
And what about the now often-forgotten middle child, the Millennials?
And when you examine the data, not surprisingly, the simplicity of this story begins to unravel. It becomes a bit more interesting and a bit more complex.
Yes, but what do you really care about?
When asked what mattered most at work, the two things (in fact, the only two significantly different things) that really stood out for Gen Z were:
• Career growth
• Meaningful work
If you had to choose right now, which of the following matters the most to you? (Choose however many are important to you).
No surprises there. Yes, Gen Z are chasing more meaningful work (more on that in a moment). They’re also eager to learn, progress and make a difference. But honestly, isn’t that true for all of us when starting out?
But what I thought was really interesting was what we saw from Gen X. They ranked career growth and meaningful work much lower than any other generation. In fact, they cared about fewer things overall. Qualitatively, Gen X talked more about balance, security, and trust in their employer and valuing these over other workplace attributes.
Purpose, values and reality checks
Here’s where it gets intriguing. When we asked people what was most important, Gen Z actually scored about the same as other generations on top-2-box statements, such as "my work has a positive impact" or "my employer’s values align with my own." A slight skewing for Gen Z on positive impact, but no significant difference between the generations here.
Which of the following is most important to you?
The only significant difference we saw was again from Gen X, who were the least likely to trade off their work-life balance or flexibility for a higher salary.
Seems like we’ve got a lot more in common
Across both the quantitative and qualitative research, our study revealed a striking similarity across all generations. Everyone from Gen Z to Gen X (and all the rest of the generation alphabet) is searching for balance, belonging, and a sense of contribution. The language of it shifts, but the humanness of it doesn’t.
- Everyone wants flexibility and work–life balance. (Which might challenge organisations still encouraging a full-time office return)
• Younger workers often talk about wanting to “be their own boss.” Older workers describe it as wanting “autonomy.” Same idea, different packaging.
• Everyone wants respect and appreciation. But for older generations, that respect becomes more important with age.
And while Gen Z might talk about purpose, Gen X talk about principles. They want fairness, trust, ethics, and they’ll walk if the culture turns toxic. In fact, Gen X's primary reason for seeking to leave a current employer is that they feel the workplace has become toxic and their employer untrustworthy.
We all want similar things, just with a slightly different accent.
What it all adds up to
Younger generations crave growth, experimentation and learning.
Older generations value control, respect and stability.
And Millennials, now find themselves in the middle of the journey, still shaping what comes next for them.
Yet underneath it all, everyone wants to feel seen, valued and in control of their life.
You can read more about how Australians are reshaping their expectations of work in our previous article In The Trends: Defining leadership in 2025 - AdNews.