For decades, women in the workplace were told to wait. Wait for the promotion. Wait for flexibility. Wait for the pay rise that never quite matched their male colleagues.
Now, many of those women are leading teams, managing a new generation who refuse to wait at all. In Australia, Gen Z already makes up 27 per cent of the workforce, and is on track to become the largest cohort by 2030. Gen Z employees, from entry-level hires to rising managers, are reshaping teams and rewriting the rules of ambition.
The 2025 Hatch Hotlist reveals just how deeply this generational shift is taking hold. The annual survey of nearly 2,000 Gen Z and Millennial professionals identifies the employers young Australians most want to work for and the values driving their choices. This year, Google, Canva, and Amazon topped the list, with twelve of the top 20 companies Australian-founded or based, including Atlassian, Qantas, and the NSW Government.
Now in its third year, the Hotlist serves as both a cultural barometer and a practical playbook for leaders looking to hire, retain, and inspire ambitious young talent.
Security over status
Asked what matters most in a job, young Australians put growth and learning opportunities first, followed by salary and balance. Crucially, 37% of survey respondents named unclear growth pathways as the biggest red flag when considering an employer, ahead of poor recruitment experiences or lack of flexibility.
This year’s Hotlist also highlights a tension. Many of the most admired employers have made layoffs. Yet despite these cuts, young Australians are drawn to Qantas for its national brand and travel opportunities, to Atlassian for its reputation in growth and workplace culture, and to Amazon for its scale and the diverse career paths it offers.
For Hatch co-founder Adam Jacobs, the emphasis on stability is no surprise: “Security is the dominant theme this year, which did not surprise me given the fast-changing world of work for young Australians.
“Young people are looking for job stability in an AI world, but they also want roles where they can grow, where workplaces are flexible, and where they are properly compensated. The best employers are clear about career paths and set people up to succeed.”
In a climate where redundancies and restructures dominate headlines, career stability and clear pathways for progression have become the new currency for retaining young talent.
Side hustles as a new safety net
One of the most striking findings: 80 per cent of young Australians either have a side hustle or want one.
A notable generational shift, unlike their parents who often held a single full-time job, Gen Z in particular is normalising blended careers consisting of multiple gigs, entrepreneurial ventures, and part-time roles.
On the surface, it can be interpreted about extra cash in a cost-of-living crisis. But culturally, side hustles represent something bigger: agency.
Whether launching a creative business, freelancing, or building an online brand, young professionals are diversifying their careers the same way previous generations diversified investment portfolios. This is partly enabled by technology (platforms for freelancing, e-commerce, etc.) and partly driven by a mindset valuing variety and independence.
Gen Z’s side hustles serve a dual purpose, a creative outlet and passion project on one hand, and a pragmatic financial safety net on the other, and Jacobs believes employers should rethink how they view this shift:
“Side hustles are on the rise, with more and more young Australians eager to try their hand at starting their own thing, while keeping a stable day job. Side hustles should be seen as a sign of curiosity, ownership, and drive.”
For leaders, that means reading ambition differently. A team member running an ecommerce business, or an Etsy store isn’t distracted, they’re building skills in marketing, operations, and resilience. Employers who embrace this energy, rather than penalise it, will attract the most entrepreneurial minds.
Hybrid is here to stay
Hybrid work has become both a cultural and political flashpoint. In Victoria, Premier Jacinta Allan has proposed Australian-first laws that would give employees the legal right to work from home at least two days a week. Nationally, research from the University of South Australia shows 78% of Australian workers would not even consider an employer without a flexible work policy.
Yet Gen Z are the least likely to want to be fully remote.
Having begun their careers in the isolation of COVID, many young professionals are actively seeking in-person mentorship and connection. The 2025 Hatch Hotlist reflects this shift: just 12 per cent of young Australians now want to work entirely remotely, down from 23 per cent last year, while 69 per cent prefer a hybrid model, with two or three days in the office the sweet spot for learning and collaboration.
Young people are not rejecting remote work altogether; they are rejecting the extremes. What they want is balance. Hybrid has become the cultural default.
AI optimism and the risk of sameness
Another cultural shift identified in the survey: AI isn’t feared by Gen Z, it’s already embedded. More than half of young professionals have used AI tools to apply for jobs, especially in writing cover letters and polishing resumes.
That creates fresh challenges for employers. Hatch’s Head of AI and Machine Learning, Dr Arwen Griffioen, warns:
“There is a real risk that as AI becomes more sophisticated and widely used, we will see a homogenisation of applications where everyone starts to sound the same. Employers will need to find new ways to identify personality, creativity, and culture fit, while keeping the human element at the centre of hiring.”
For leaders, especially those pushing for more inclusive hiring, the challenge will be balancing efficiency with empathy: using AI without erasing individuality.
Redefining ambition for the next decade
The 2025 Hatch Hotlist surfaces a generational shift in values, a workforce that wants growth, balance, and belonging. Women in particular emphasise diversity and flexible arrangements, showing that equity is not a side issue, it’s a deciding factor in where they choose to work.
And despite economic uncertainty, optimism is climbing. Almost 80 per cent of young Australians report feeling positive about their careers, up from 75% in last year’s Hotlist. In the face of disruption, Gen Z are building their own safety nets through hybrid models, side hustles, and a proactive embrace of technology.
The takeaway is clear: the new career ambition isn’t linear, it’s layered. Security no longer means one company, one ladder, one role for life. It means transparent growth paths, cultural alignment, and the freedom to build more than one professional identity at a time.
Access the full Hatch Hotlist 2025 here.