Making work more welcoming for young workers

There is growing evidence that young people do not see the world of work as a healthy or welcoming place.

Deloitte’s 2026 Millennial and Gen Z survey found key sources of stress included not being recognised, not being treated fairly and not having enough time to complete work.

These concerns are easy to understand. Psychological research – from positive psychology and Carol Ryff’s model of psychological wellbeing to Self-Determination Theory – has long recognised that humans are driven to feel competent and effective, connected to others, able to exercise some control over our lives, and to experience meaning, purpose and growth.

Concerns about having enough time relate directly to the need to feel competent. It is natural to worry about not being able to perform at our best, then being judged as – or simply feeling – incompetent. This may help explain why the IOSH young worker survey found that a third of respondents feel anxious about taking full rest breaks.

Other concerns point to a lack of psychological security: uncertainty about what employers expect or not being fairly judged or recognised for their performance.

We have a fundamental need for some control over our lives, but the extent to which people expect work to provide autonomy can change between generations. The 2025 Youth Voice Census, for example, found that young people highly value flexibility and autonomy, and have growing confidence in their creativity. Rather than assuming this reflects a deficiency in work ethic, perhaps we should ask whether traditional models of work still meet expectations of worthwhile work.

The answer is not particularly dramatic. Rather than focusing all our attention on preparing young people for the world of work, we should also look at how to make work better at understanding and meeting the needs of workers of all ages. This could help address concerns highlighted in Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working review about preventing people falling out of employment through ill health. It could potentially provide some answers to the UK’s productivity challenges.

In part, this requires an evolution in how we manage people. Traditional management – assigning the right people and resources to tasks, ensuring workers understand what is required, monitoring performance and providing feedback – remains a solid foundation. However, the challenges facing UK industry call for more sophisticated approaches.