More than half of Gen Z professionals are choosing freelance careers over traditional jobs, according to a recent Upwork survey. Upwork Research Institute Managing Director Kelly Monahan, PhD, joins Wealth! to discuss this figure and other trends she's seeing among the generation.

"Gen Z is really redefining what it means to have a long-term career today," Monahan says. As more individuals choose full-time freelance work, she explains that they increasingly seek control over their careers as corporate layoffs accumulate.

"What they're asking business leaders to think about is talent access over talent acquisition," She adds, explaining that Gen-Zers want agency over the projects they work on and the companies they work for. She also says many young people dislike corporate cultures, feeling they cannot be themselves.

Monahan's advice to freelancers is "making sure that you're learning and reskilling. In order to freelance, you're in control of your career. Make sure you're staying on top of the trends and continuing to skill with what's in demand today."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

We've all read the headlines.

Gen Z has a different view on work than their older counterparts.

More than half of Gen Z professionals are choosing freelance careers over traditional jobs.

The headlines say and the majority of them are choosing freelance for flexibility.

That's according to up work's latest survey.

So to break down what you need to know about the Gen Z workforce and of course, to demystify the headlines from the actual data, we've got Kelly Monahan who is the upwork Research institute managing director here with us, Kelly.

Great to see you.

Thanks so much for taking the time here on wealth first.

Where ultimately are some of the Gen Zers kind of flocking into the workforce based on this survey data.

Yeah, Brad, what we see within our survey data is that Gen Z is really redefining what it means to have a long term career today.

You know, as you mentioned, our headline is, you know, over 50% are choosing to work full time in a freelance capacity.

And I think a lot of that is driven by the macroeconomic conditions that they need to make money and that they want stability and they've seen a lot within um the macro climate today that's caused whether it's been layoffs, inflation.

So this needs to be much more in control of their careers is what I'm seeing underneath the data set and where are they working?

It's a really highly skilled avenue.

So 70% year over year growth we've had in our platform in the areas of A I and machine learning and these Gen Z freelancers are much more likely to already have the A I certificate in their hand ready to go.

No doubt, Gen Z will have had its hands on technology for far longer, at at least in a percentage of their life than generations prior.

Purely because from much of the technological advancements, they've been there literally since perhaps they, since they were born really.

And so all these things considered, what do business leaders need to know about how to engage with Gen Z in the workplace and how to of course, continue to make sure that they are um for lack of a better word stimulated at work.

Yeah, so I think this is a big wake up call for leaders today, the way that we've structured employment and work.

You know, I think through often the times you hear and hr leaders in particular talk about in terms of talent acquisition, meaning I want to find that one person that one unicorn who can come in and I don't want them working or doing anything else.

But working on this role or this job, Gen Z is telling us that's not how they want to work.

And so what they're asking business leaders to think about is talent access over talent acquisition.

And that means I want to come in, I want to work on projects that I have find meaningful that I'm learning and developing and growing my skill sets on, they're the most diverse generation to ever walk the planet as well.

And so they're looking for um cultures and environments where they can feel that they can be themselves, which is why we found 63% of Gen Z are freelancing because of that reason, they don't feel they can be themselves in corporate cultures today.

So if I'm an executive, I got to really be rethinking through.

How do I access this talent?

How do I make sure I don't need to have control ultimately over them and a much more open minded, they're going to be working in an open talent ecosystem today.

How does the wages compare?

I mean, we're talking about a generation that is that is really cozied up to the idea of having flexibility, setting their own schedule, knowing the type of projects that they wanna work on and being able to really thrive in a, in a freelance driven environment more than ever before perhaps, versus some of the wages, some of the coverage, even in benefits and total compensation packages that it would be compared against if it was just a normal 9 to 5.

Yeah.

So I think the great thing that we're seeing with Gen Z in particular in our platform is that they're able to set their own rates.

And so I know there's obviously a lot of conversations around the social safety nets, but what Gen Z has been able to do, especially those that have a post grad degree.

So we saw within our survey research too that 7% of Gen Z who hold a post grad degree are again choosing to freelance full time.

And instead of going to a, you know, corporate position, that's a really big flip than what I was expecting to see in the data.

And I think what we've seen from other generations.

So because of that, if you have Gen Z, if you've got the right skill set, especially those in the technical domain and or let's talk about it during human skill sets too, those that can manage, communicate um large complex projects, you actually might be able to earn more going through a freelancing route because you're able to set those wages and making sure that you're doing.

So in a way that covers your social safety nets.

Kelly, we only got 15 seconds left and in game uh informal game of so you think you want to freelance?

What is the number one consideration that people need to keep in mind?

Number one thing is making sure that you're learning and reskilling in order to freelance your control of your career, make sure you're staying on top of the trends and continuing to skill with what's in demand today.