Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter on all things Gen Z.

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This is really good.

Like, really, really good.

A snapshot of life as a Gen Z worker - which aligns with so much of the intelligence and data we share with our Get to Know family every week. Noya Lee wants to be useful, she wants work to be fulfilling and she has multiple strands to her employment narrative, not a single story.

Many businesses which are 9-5, “in every day”, five days a week employers would be well advised to read Noya’s story. We can’t all be flexible, but the generational change is becoming more and more stark. Little wonder our video of Bernie Sanders calling for a four day, 32-hour week is one of our most watched.

In our Edition #51 we spoke about why young people - in the UK at least - are the most economically “inactive” demographic, neither in work nor looking for work. “Work shy” we called it - although “work agnostic” might be a better phrase.

Noya Lee and The Guardian series is worth the deep dive and helps to build an understanding of the major trends. 

Oh, and if you don’t know why many young people are sharing their memories of growing up with Nickelodeon, this is why.

Quiet on Set - the Dark Side of Kids TV, and the latest major conversation about the terrible behaviour of the past.

Not dead yet. . .

We often say Facebook is for the elders among us👴🏽, whereas young people spend their time on TikTok and Instagram. But Gen Zers are still lurking on Facebook, though not for social reasons. The big pull is Facebook Marketplace, where people sell their used wares. For young people on budgets, it means they can access stuff like furniture or electronics for a heavily discounted price.

And nor is this. . .

In the world of nicotine, it’s pretty well documented that Gen Zers favour vapes over smoking. It’s time to add another horse into the race: pipes and cigars. This piece from The Guardian explains the post-pandemic uptick in young people using cigars and pipes, and offers a reason for the shift: our TikTok virality culture. Of course.

Inclusive

We say that Gen Z is the most diverse generation yet, and here’s a new stat to confirm that: nearly 30% of Gen Z women identify as LGBTQ+, according to a new Gallup survey. Women aged 18-26 were more than twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ+ than their millennial counterparts. When broken down by gender, the survey found that women were nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+. The biggest rise is in the bisexual women category.

Mind the gap

A new report on digital etiquette and generational divides in the workplace discovered that 90% of teams reported conflicts over use of digital tools, with 60% admitting that these disagreements impeded productivity and collaboration. But the report, which surveyed 4,000 workers in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and Germany, also suggested there could be greater room for collaboration between generations. More than half of Gen Z workers said they envied older colleagues' phone confidence.

And finally…

71%

…of Gen Zers would quit their job tomorrow for one that better supports their wellbeing, according to the 2024 State of Healthy Eating and Well-being Report from Lifesum. 

How can we help?

In my many travels and conversations, I’m increasingly talking to CEOs, executives and civil society leaders wanting to better understand the next generation of consumers and the next generation of employees. Gen Z is putting pressure on us all to transform in fascinating ways, and many of us are asking questions about how to cater for younger workers and future proof our organisations.

If this sounds like you, we’d be keen to have a chat and see if TNM can help. From our own content production to work we have done, for example, with The Oliver Wyman Forum, we have a raft of insights and data which can support you. We work closely with a number of global organisations – helping with high-impact story-telling, digital media, internal communications, through to employee benefits, HR and working structures.

Email me direct and all of us at TNM look forward to speaking further.

Kamal Ahmed
Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder
The News Movement

Our Top 5 News List

The top stories young people cared about this week, from our audience team and newsroom debates.