The newest to join the industry might be the first to leave. Gen Z is ready to quit if their jobs don’t change to meet their needs. Across the board, the youngest working generation is shaping up to be the most unhappy at work. But it appears as if they’re especially reeling when working within the frontline.
Often overworked and underpaid, frontline employees are feeling pushed to the brink. A majority (75%) of them report feeling burnt out, according to a UKG survey of almost 13,000 frontline workers. That rises to 83% of Gen Zers in said sector.
Frontline workers, or employees working directly with a customer, make up 80% of the workforce, according to estimations from Microsoft’s report released in 2023. Dealing with the average consumer is not necessarily a walk in the park. And many employees are getting paid low wages for a high-stress environment.
Gen Zers are the least content, after all, at 61% reporting to be not satisfied with their overall employee experience, compared to 55% of all workers feeling similarly. And they’re ready to act on their burnout, as over a third say they’d quit because their job negatively impacts their physical or mental health.
“Our global study finds that not all workplace cultures are supportive of Gen Z and the frontline workforce,” Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence (which collaborated with UKG on said study), wrote in the associated press release. “One thing is for certain across all generations: if you don’t fix the frontline experience, you risk losing valuable talent,” he added.
Frontline workers are fed up
Keeping the customer satisfied has proven to not always be that satisfying.
During the early pandemic, the strife of dealing with increasingly difficult and just plain hostile consumers took center stage. It got to the point where a restaurant in Cape Cod made headlines after closing for a day because of how people were treating their employees. Restaurants were also short-staffed, which customers were seemingly not understanding of.
Still, issues persist. A third of all frontline employees feel like they’re not treated with respect at work—and Gen Z is especially tired of the status quo.
It’s not just the kids that are not alright; most front-line workers are feeling stressed out. But it’s the most junior in the workforce that’s perhaps most ready to walk out the door.
Gen Z employees say interactions with people at work have worsened their mental health to a greater extent than other generations (at 72% and 62%, respectively). While 59% of frontline workers say they'd quit because of “negative interactions with their managers, co-workers, or customers,” that number shoots up to 71% of Gen Zers.