Recent workplace studies in the US have confirmed widespread opinions in the UK that young workers in 2024 are now demanding flexible workplace benefits, and have turned the tables on employers by asking more of them.  

It has been a long-held belief that employee benefits will help to motivate and retain the best employees, and these study findings have confirmed that ‘Gen Z’ employees no longer see their employer as an enforcer of Draconian policies. Instead, younger employees now have much different expectations of a package that comes with a job, and are asking far more of their employer, such as benefits including mental health days, working from home for a minimum of two days per week, insurance benefits, travel perks, help with training and tuition fees and student loan assistance. And of course, salary sacrifice schemes also come under these new benefit expectations.  

Employee benefits promote loyalty and motivation 

Studies published by Workhuman iQ and Gallup, and referenced in an article published in US business magazine Forbes, show that flexibility is now a key indicator as to whether an employee is happy in their work and with their work arrangements. Remote and hybrid employees (those who mix work-from-home with on-site work) are said to have much higher engagement levels than exclusively on-site workers. This ties in with the employer benefits we have always referred to with the Pink Salary Exchange salary sacrifice car scheme, that employees being offered such a scheme feel more valued, more loyal to their employer and more motivated to work for a fair-minded employer who promotes inclusivity.  

‘Generation Z’ employees are classed as those being born between the late 1990s and early 2010s (so between around 1997 and 2012). It is felt that some older employees may begrudge this demand for improved employee benefits by their younger colleagues, and will be confused by an apparent role reversal in who is driving the employee/employer relationship. However, it should be remembered that by 2025, around 27% of employees will be from ‘Gen Z’, and hence it is no surprise that workplace trends are evolving.   

Changing expectations of employees  

There is a widely held belief, or assumption, that Gen Z workers are “lazy, entitled and unrealistic” according to the Forbes article, and that they don’t work as hard as previous generations who were “workaholics and relentless taskmasters”. But this is being dismissed as a myth peddled by incumbent generations who, historically, have always said the same about the generation coming next. Instead, the article argues that people are now living longer and working to an older age, and hence we are restructuring career paths and the nature of jobs. So changing expectations and demands is a continuation of the natural evolution away from traditional views of employers as strict and ruthless enforcers.  

In 2024, the ‘new normal’ is non-linear career paths and new job categories, particularly as people are working into their 60s but with fewer top executive jobs available, hence new roles are being created and along with this comes flexible packages with more employee benefits, in order to retain these valued employees. The Forbes article also argues that the COVID-19 pandemic played a huge role in Gen Z employees shifting their demands and seeing more value in simply asking for what they want, and also seeing issues such as asking for mental health support as perfectly normal, with no stigma attached.  

Sign-up for the next generation salary sacrifice car scheme  

Salary sacrifice car schemes fit into this bracket of offering an employee benefit with multiple attractions. These include zero-emission driving, motoring cost savings and paying less income tax, which all add up to creating a better work-life balance. At Pink Salary Exchange we like to think of our salary sacrifice car scheme as the ‘next generation’ of employee benefits, and if you sign-up for our scheme today you too can be part of this evolving vision of the job landscape, and the shifting focus towards employee retention and motivation.