Beyond the Pay check: What Actually Makes Gen Z Stay

A straight-talk guide from Digitally Next

Let's start with a number that should make every agency founder sit up - 20%.

That's the percentage of employees globally who said they were engaged at work in 2025. Gallup's freshest report, released just weeks ago, calls it the lowest level since 2020. And for the first time ever, it's two consecutive years of decline. No region of the world saw engagement go up. Not one.

From 2020 to 2025, Gen Z and younger millennials lost eight engagement points. Older millennials lost nine. Baby Boomers? Largely fine. The people building your agency's future, the ones running your reels, writing your copy, managing your clients - they're the ones checking out the most.

And no, it's still not a salary problem.

So what's actually going on?

Packages are competitive. Freshers are negotiating hard. Offers are flying. And yet people are leaving, quietly disengaging, or treating your agency like a pit stop rather than a destination.

A 2026 survey of 1,000+ Gen Z workers found that 63% see their current job as just a stepping stone. Sixty-three percent. That's not a talent problem. That's a culture problem.

The issue isn't the package. It's everything that comes after the offer letter.

What the data says Gen Z is actually missing:

Gen Z and younger millennials were 13 points less likely over just five years to strongly agree that "someone at work seems to care about me as a person." The percentage who felt they had opportunities to learn and grow dropped from 48% in 2020 to just 37% in 2025.

• Feeling seen by someone at work - down sharply
• Growth conversations with managers - near absent
• Connection to what the organisation actually stands for - fading fast
• Feeling like their opinions move something - declining every year

Notice what's not on that list? Salary.

Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z Survey describes what this generation wants as a "trifecta" - money, meaning, and wellbeing. Money gets them through the door. Meaning and wellbeing decide if they stay.

44% of Gen Z have turned down job offers because the company's values didn't align with their own. They're not just evaluating your package, they're evaluating your culture, your leadership, and whether you actually live what you say on your careers page.

What actually keeps them:

1) Recognition and not the annual appraisal kind

Gallup's data shows Gen Z and younger millennials saw the steepest drops specifically in recognition and feeling cared about and the flight risk is immediate. One genuine shoutout in a team call. One "did everyone see what she pulled off this week?" - that's it. Costs nothing. Changes everything.

2) A visible next step, not a vague promise

70% of Gen Z graduates expect a promotion within their first 18 months. It's not entitlement - it's a desire for visible progress, structured development, and clarity about what comes next. Ambiguous career paths lose this generation fast. They want a map, not a motivational speech.

3) The feeling that someone actually cares

Gallup's 2026 report found that manager engagement dropped from 31% in 2022 to just 22% in 2025 and disengaged managers are now the primary driver of disengaged teams. The best manager at your agency isn't the one with the sharpest briefs. It's the one who notices when someone's been quiet for two days.

4) Values they can actually see in action

44% of Gen Z would reject a job if it conflicted with their personal ethics. They want companies to live their values, not advertise them. A nice culture deck means nothing if the 11pm brief with zero context is a weekly ritual.

5) Psychological safety - feeling heard, not just listened to

94% of professionals across all generations say company culture directly impacts their intent to stay and for Gen Z, "culture" starts with one thing: can I say what I actually think without it being held against me? In agencies with steep hierarchy, this one quietly does the most damage.

What we've built at Digitally Next around this:

• Monthly wellbeing days - not optional, it's policy now
• Quarterly growth conversations - not KPI reviews, actual growth talks
• Public recognition rituals - visible, specific, and genuine
• Onboarding done properly, be it the first day, the feedback system, the work allocation – not just "Day one should be special"

We won't pretend we've figured it all out. We're a growing agency, and we're building this in real time like everyone else.

But here's what the data makes impossible to ignore - $438 billion. That's what Gallup estimates the world lost in productivity in 2024 from disengaged employees. That's the cost of mistaking a good salary for a good workplace.

Gen Z isn't high-maintenance. They're high-clarity. Answer the real questions "why am I here, does anyone see me, where am I going" and they'll give you everything they've got.