Gen Z is stressed, burned out, and doesn't plan to stop the Great Resignation

• A new Deloitte report finds that 40% of Gen Zers surveyed say they'll quit in the next two years.
• Gen Zers, who are very stressed, are especially likely to leave customer-facing roles. 
• That could worsen labor shortages, as Gen Z seeks out a more meaningful work-life balance.

It's an "apocalyptic" time to be a Gen Zer. Climate change is looming, the pandemic is still sticking around, and prices are on the rise. 

A new Deloitte survey of 14,808 Gen Zers and 8,412 millennials around the world shows just how stressed and burnt out Gen Z is — and how they'll keep powering the Great Resignation.

Of the Gen Zers that Deloitte surveyed from November 2021 to January 2022, 40% said they'd like to leave their jobs in two years. Some of that may be for higher pay, or the other benefits that job switchers are racking up. But 35% said they'd leave even without another job lined up. 

"Overall, we saw the way we work change radically, and I think that got people to thinking, 'well, it's not only how I work, but maybe it's who I work for," Patricia Buckley, an economist at Deloitte, told Insider.

Gen Zers are especially ready to leave some of the lowest-paying jobs in the economy, where some of the biggest staffing crunches have been concentrated. Almost half of Gen Zers working in customer-facing roles are ready to leave within two years, and, similarly, 48% of Gen Zers working in retail are ready to hightail it out within the same time.

"I think things are going to get worse before they get better," Buckley said of those industries and their labor shortages.

So what can keep Gen Zers working? The top reason they chose to work where they currently are is work-life balance, followed closely by learning and development opportunities. Next up was "high salary or other financial benefits."

All of that shows how the youngest generation of workers is bringing their — very fragmented — life experiences to the workplace, and changing what work means. For instance, 37% of the Gen Zers said that they rejected a job or assignment "based on their personal ethics." That's a positive development, according to Buckley.  

"These young cohorts feel confident that, if you make me do something that I feel is not right for me to be doing with or without a new job lined up, I'll leave — but I feel confident that I can get something that suits my ethical system better," Buckley said. 

That may stem from the strains Gen Z is under. Nearly half of Gen Z — 46% of those surveyed — said that they're stressed all or most of the time. That rate is even higher among Gen Z women. The top stressor for Gen Z: Their long-term financial future. 

"When you look at the statistics talking about how many of both of these generations — the high proportion that are living paycheck to paycheck — that's really worrisome," Buckley said. "It's frankly more worrisome for the millennials because they're getting older, and they should be transitioning into the period of their life where you can start getting savings." 

Some Gen Zers and millennials have decided to simply throw in the towel on saving for the future. 

They've already weathered two recessions, and a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. In the future looms the climate crisis, where cities could be flooded, and water scarce, as 3.6 billion people feel the direct fallout from rising temperatures. Indeed, climate change was the second top concern among the Gen Zers that Deloitte surveyed. 

The result, as the New York Times' Anna P. Kambhampaty reports, is that Gen Zers and millennials are spending more now on experiences and things that bring meaning to their lives, rather than socking away money for the unknowable future.