Gen Z workers are digital natives, but what they want from their workplace is more old school

When it comes to AI, Gen Z workers may be the teachers, rather than the students.

Nearly all (89%) of KPMG’s Gen Z interns use generative AI weekly both in their professional and personal lives, according to a July survey by the accounting firm.

“They come in from day one, just already used to, on a daily basis, almost having some level of technology at their hands” said Derek Thomas, KPMG’s national partner-in-charge of university talent acquisition. “They [have] these tools that’s just helping make their job a little bit easier and helping them to get some more experience doing probably some more challenging things than we did when I first started out.”

Companies have an opportunity, Thomas told HR Brew, to lean on their Gen Z workers, who can use this technology to pursue more complicated tasks and projects than previous generations of entry-level talent. In return, however, they should consider Gen Z’s priorities for their workplace and careers.

Many of KPMG’s Gen Z interns reported finding value in in-person interactions with coworkers, Thomas said. As AI speeds up the pace at which work gets done, he suspects employees will be eager to dedicate even more time to these sorts of opportunities—they ranked hands-on learning as number one as well as observing colleagues in-office for “navigating expectations.”

Thomas said he was surprised to see how many Gen Z workers value stability: 59% of respondents said they want to spend their careers growing at just one or two companies, while 35% want to spend their careers in one industry.

“As a generation, they want to go deeper and wider, so in order to do that, they want to be in that one place where they could try to grow and learn,” he said. “Not necessarily always have to be that jack-of-all-trades and do 100 different things, but where can I best get that focus, and really learn my craft, and really get good at it?”