Elizabeth Faber
Global Chief People & Purpose Officer
Deloitte
Episode 92
Money, Meaning, Wellbeing: Gen Z's new workplace trifecta challenges HR.
Current chapter: Built by People Podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 25, 2025 · 10:34
Thesis
“Organizations must adapt their HR and talent strategies to the evolving expectations of Gen Z and Millennials, who prioritize a trifecta of money, meaning, and wellbeing, alongside continuous learning and development.”
Show notes
Exploring Gen Z and Millennial Workforce Insights with Elizabeth Faber from Deloitte
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, host Dave speaks with Elizabeth, the Global Chief of People and Purpose Officer at Deloitte, about her extensive career journey and the insights gathered from Deloitte's 14th annual Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey. Elizabeth shares the motivation behind the survey, the methodologies used, and some surprising findings, such as the evolving definitions of success among Gen Z employees. She emphasizes the importance of balancing career ambitions with personal fulfillment, mental health, and continuous learning. Elizabeth provides practical advice for HR leaders on how to adapt strategies to meet the evolving needs of the younger workforce, covering aspects like mental health, learning and development, and aligning work with purpose.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:44 Sponsor Message: Previ Network
01:09 Guest Introduction: Elizabeth's Career Journey
02:36 Exploring the Gen Z Survey
04:10 Challenges in Survey Data Collection
05:44 Surprising Insights from the Gen Z Survey
07:21 Impact of Survey Data on HR Strategy
09:45 Parting Advice for HR Leaders
11:09 Closing Remarks
What you'll take away
- 1Only 6% of Gen Zs surveyed aspire to leadership roles, indicating their definition of success includes personal fulfillment, wellbeing, and learning beyond climbing the corporate ladder.
- 2HR leaders must help resolve the perceived trade-off Gen Zs have between leadership roles and personal fulfillment, demonstrating that both can be achieved.
- 3Mental health support, continuous learning and development (including GenAI capabilities and soft skills), and a clear organizational purpose are top priorities for Gen Z and Millennials.
- 4By 2030, Gen Z and Millennials will constitute 3/4 of the workforce, making it critical for organizations to align talent strategies with their 'money, meaning, and wellbeing' trifecta.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Elizabeth challenges the conventional notion that leadership roles inherently require sacrificing work-life balance and personal fulfillment, stating that organizations must adapt to allow for both.
In Elizabeth's words
“one data point that is striking this year is the challenging notion of ambition that Gen Zs in particular have. And one of the headlines from this year's report is that only 6% of those surveyed aspire to leadership roles within their organization.”
This highlights a significant shift in career aspirations among the younger workforce.
“We need to help resolve the perceived trade-offs that Gen Zs have with leadership roles versus personal fulfillment and understand that we can't have them both. You can attain leadership roles and still have a work-life balance and still invest in learning and development. Still have purpose-led leadership roles.”
This quote directly addresses a key challenge for HR leaders in attracting and retaining future leaders.
“9 out of 10 consider purpose to be foundational to how they think about their employers. It's very important to them.”
This emphasizes the critical role of organizational purpose in job satisfaction for younger generations.
“I would share with this community the importance of achieving this trifecta that Gen Zs and millennials aspire to, to achieve their own happiness of money, meaning, and wellbeing.”
This concisely summarizes the core drivers of employee happiness and engagement for Gen Z and millennials.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggling to understand and adapt workplace policies to the evolving expectations of Gen Z and Millennials.
- •Companies facing challenges in attracting and retaining Gen Z and Millennials due to perceived trade-offs between leadership roles and personal fulfillment.
- •Employers needing to provide adequate mental health resources and support for their workforce.
- •Businesses requiring significant investment in upskilling employees, particularly in areas like GenAI and leadership/soft skills.
- •Companies struggling to articulate a clear organizational purpose that resonates with and motivates Gen Z and Millennial employees.
In this episode
Built by People Podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Elizabeth: Dave joined Deloitte over 30 years ago as a fresh MBA
Deloitte's People and Purpose Officer
The global Gen Z and Millennial survey is in its 14th year
The Gen Z & Millennial Survey
Elizabeth: We conduct both a quantitative and qualitative review of our survey data
The Survey of Business and Innovation
Only 6% of Gen Zs aspire to leadership roles, survey finds
The Way Ahead for Gen Z in the Workplace
Deloitte uses survey results to help inform HR talent strategies
Mental health and wellbeing
Organizations that prioritize wellbeing will attract more Gen Zs and millennials
The Trifecta of Money, Meaning, and Wellbeing
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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