“Secondly, they have to pay fairly; you will lose really high-quality candidates if you’re not competitive with your salary in the market right now.

“And the third essential element is to have a hybrid, flexible working model. That’s really important for Gen Z. More than 90 per cent of the companies that made the Hotlist offer hybrid work options.”

According to Jacobs, Gen Z are a generation who missed out on the buzz of an office environment at the start of their careers – yet they don’t want to be told they have to be in the office.

Technology companies dominated the 2024 Hatch Hotlist, with Google, Amazon, Canva, Microsoft and TikTok named among Gen Z’s favourite places to work.

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Qantas, Airtasker, venture capital firm Blackbird, The Iconic, Zip and Domain were also named among the top companies, with Lyka, Vow Food and technology scale-ups SafetyCulture and Deputy also on the list.

Other report findings were that Gen Z prioritises “good vibes” and work-life balance, with “bad vibes” the number one reason more than 25 per cent of Gen Z workers walk away from job opportunities.

Learning and growth opportunities top the list as the number one thing Gen Z want in their next career move, with one-in-five prioritising these over everything else.

Jacobs cited examples of “good vibes,” including Canva’s initiative to give team members a “golden ticket”, allowing them to choose which meal the in-house chef cooks for the entire company, and Eucalyptus, which offers its workers weekly social sport, catered fireside chats and quarterly rooftop parties.

“Gen Z are very quickly going to be the largest part of the workforce, and they’re coming with different attitudes about their career and what it means to them,” Jacobs said.

“For them, work is not just a box-ticking exercise of having a nine to five job; they are putting values first and thinking about their development and impact.”

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