What employees across different generations expect from work and why it matters for employers

What employees across different generations expect from work and why it matters for employers

Research shows employees across different generations value flexibility, wellbeing support and career development as much as salary. Employers who understand these expectations are better placed to attract and retain staff.

Published:

What Different Generations Want from Work — and What It Means for Financial Wellbeing

Here’s a number that should worry any employer still relying on salary to keep people: 87% of workers in CharityJob’s latest survey said they’d accept a pay cut for better work-life balance and flexibility. Not a slim majority. Eighty-seven per cent.

The Expectations and Values at Work: A Generational View 2026 report surveyed nearly 2,900 people in November 2025, broken down by generation. It’s focused on the charity sector, but honestly, the patterns it surfaces feel universal. What people want from work is shifting, and the financial implications of that shift are something most employers haven’t caught up with.

Pay matters. But it’s not the main thing.

When respondents were asked what matters most when applying for a job, the top answer wasn’t salary. It was a respectful and inclusive workplace (72%). Positive management style and employee autonomy came second (63%). Job security was third (52%).

Dig into the non-monetary factors and work-life balance came out on top - 54% called it extremely important. Flexibility of working hours and location followed at 40%.

What would keep people with an employer? Remote or hybrid working (72%) and flexible working hours (71%). Training and development came third. For Gen X and Baby Boomers specifically, enhanced pension schemes made the top five. Worth filing away for later.

So yes, pay matters. Nobody’s saying it doesn’t. But on its own, it’s clearly not enough for most people. And for a surprising number, it’s not even close to the top of the list.

Gen Z would compromise their values for money. That should tell us something.

32% of Gen Z said they’d work somewhere that didn’t align with their personal values if the pay was good enough. For Baby Boomers, just 18%.

Here’s what makes that uncomfortable: Gen Z were also the group most likely to say positive social impact was extremely important to them (43%, versus 32% overall). So they care about values more than anyone. They just can’t always afford to act on them.

The report puts this down to financial pressure. Rising rents, cost of living, a job market that isn’t kind to people starting out. 74% of Gen Z respondents in employment felt there was too much competition for available roles. 44% said jobs required experience they didn’t have.

That’s not entitlement. That’s a generation being squeezed financially from the moment they enter the workforce. And it points to something employers can actually do something about - not necessarily by paying more, but by making sure younger staff understand the full value of what they’re already getting. Pension contributions, salary sacrifice, tax-efficient benefits. Most early-career employees have no idea what these things are worth. Nobody’s ever explained it to them.

Burnout is everywhere

78% of employed respondents feel burned out or emotionally exhausted at work at least sometimes. 37% said often or always. Millennials were worst hit: 41% reported burning out often or always.

The report also found that comfort with setting boundaries at work increases with age. Gen Z were the least comfortable saying no; Baby Boomers were the most. Which is intuitive, but it means the people under the most financial pressure are also the least equipped to protect themselves from overwork.

We know from the CIPD’s 2025 Good Work Index that 31% of workers say money worries have hurt their performance. Financial stress and burnout feed each other. Someone lying awake worrying about whether they can cover rent doesn’t magically leave that behind when they sit down at their desk in the morning.

Financial education won’t fix burnout. But it can take away one of the things stoking it. Someone who understands their pension, has even a rough budget in place, and knows where to get guidance if things go wrong; that person has one fewer thing keeping them up at night.

More than half the workforce thinks they’re underpaid

53% of employed respondents said they don’t believe they’re paid fairly. Among Millennials, 55%.

Some of them probably are underpaid. But others may simply not understand their total compensation: the pension contributions, the holiday entitlement, the sick pay, the insurance. Because nobody has ever sat down and explained it.

This is one of the quieter arguments for financial education. If you’re spending money on benefits and your staff don’t recognise them as part of their pay, those benefits aren’t driving retention. They’re not improving engagement. They’re just costing you money for no return.

The generational split in the CharityJob data makes this concrete. Gen X and Baby Boomers ranked enhanced pension schemes in their top five retention factors. Younger workers didn’t. That doesn’t mean younger workers don’t care about pensions. It more likely means they don’t understand them well enough to care. And that’s a fixable problem.

What each generation actually needs

The report doesn’t frame things this way, but the generational data maps pretty directly onto different financial education needs.

Gen Z are at the sharp end of the job market. They’re the most likely to compromise on values for financial security, the least comfortable setting boundaries, and many are dealing with auto-enrolled pensions they’ve never looked at, student debt, and renting costs that eat up most of their take-home pay. What they need is the basics, explained without jargon: what’s on your payslip and why, how pension auto-enrolment works, why building even a small emergency fund matters, what salary sacrifice actually does to your pay.

Millennials feel the squeeze from a different direction. They’re the most likely to feel underpaid (55%), the most burned out (41% often or always), and many are juggling mortgages, childcare and the aftermath of years of cost of living pressure. Salary mattered more to this group than any other: 63% rated it extremely or very important versus 56% overall. They’re past the basics. What they need is help making the most of what they’ve got: understanding employer benefits properly, getting serious about retirement planning, knowing when and how ISAs and other savings vehicles are worth using.

Gen X put enhanced pension schemes in their top five retention drivers and lean towards stability. They’re closer to retirement and, for many, the question isn’t abstract anymore: it’s “have I actually saved enough?” Pension planning in detail, understanding the state pension, working out drawdown options, and stress-testing whether their current trajectory is realistic.

Baby Boomers valued recognition, team collaboration and long-term benefits. They were the most comfortable setting boundaries and the least likely to compromise values for pay. Their financial needs tend to be retirement-specific: tax-efficient withdrawals, planning for later life costs, navigating the shift from saving to spending.

So what do employers actually do with this?

The CharityJob report isn’t about financial wellbeing. It’s about what people want from work. But money runs through nearly every finding: Gen Z compromising their principles because they feel they have to, Millennials burning out under financial and workload pressure, more than half of employees not feeling they’re paid what they’re worth.

A few things jump out:

  • Flexibility isn’t a perk anymore. 87% would take less money for it. If your organisation still treats flexible working as something to be earned, you’re behind.
  • Benefits nobody understands are money wasted. If more than half your people don’t feel fairly compensated, start by checking whether they know what they’re actually getting. Pensions, salary sacrifice, health cover: these have real value. But only if people know about them.
  • One-size-fits-all financial education doesn’t work. A 24-year-old worrying about rent and a 55-year-old worrying about retirement drawdown are not the same person. The CharityJob data makes the generational differences very clear. Education resources should reflect that.
  • Wellbeing support isn’t optional. 84% said they’d leave a well-paid job that damaged their wellbeing. 77% of Gen Z rated mental health support as extremely or very important. Financial stress is part of wellbeing; you can’t meaningfully address one without touching the other.
  • Young workers aren’t the problem. They’re facing more competition for fewer roles, earning less, and feeling unable to push back. The response shouldn’t be to tell them to be patient. It should be to give them the financial knowledge to navigate what is, by any measure, a difficult start.

What people want from work has changed. Employers who respond to that - with real flexibility, genuine wellbeing support, and practical financial education that meets people where they are - will keep their people. Everyone else will keep hiring.

Sources