WATERTOWN, Mass., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cangrade, the AI candidate screening platform, today announced the release of new research examining four of the most persistent narratives about Gen Z and Millennial workers: that they're entitled, lack soft skills, job-hop for novelty, and work primarily for pay. Drawing on 71,747 validated behavioral assessments collected in 2024 and 2025, the data doesn’t support any of them.
The report, Four Things HR Has Gotten Wrong About Young Workers. For Two Generations Running., finds that the same narratives applied to Millennials entering the workforce after 2001 have carried over to Gen Z largely unchanged, despite behavioral data pointing in the opposite direction.
Key Findings
- Entitlement: Excellence ranks third of 16 motivational drivers, and Results Orientation is the fastest-rising competency in the 2025 dataset. Appreciation, the drive for external recognition most associated with entitlement, ranks 14 and is declining.
- Soft Skills: Emotional Intelligence ranks first of 40 measured competencies, 30.3% above the overall workforce average. The real gap exists in applied interpersonal behaviors: Active Listening ranks 31, Consensus Building 32, and Critical Thinking 37.
- Job-Hopping: Novelty ranks last and is the fastest-declining motivation year over year. Comfort, defined as preference for stability and psychological safety, ranks first.
- Compensation: Nearly last, compensation ranks 15 of 16 motivations. Approximately one in 14 workers in the dataset identify it as their primary driver, though the intensity of compensation motivation is rising alongside financial pressure on younger workers.
"Thanks to unsupported narratives defining two generations of workers, HR teams have spent years building hiring, development, and retention programs around problems that largely aren’t there, while underinvesting in the ones that are,” said Gershon Goren, Founder and CEO, Cangrade. “This research provides a clearer picture of where time and resources can be allocated to actually change outcomes, from developing critical thinking and listening skills to creating the stability and autonomy younger workers value.”
Strategic Implications for HR Leaders
Cangrade’s report outlines practical guidance for aligning talent strategy with the realities of Gen Z and Millennial workers, including:
- Predicting candidate fit with behavioral assessments, not generational generalizations.
- Building performance management around Gen Z and Millennials' drive for excellence and autonomy, not incentives and praise.
- Targeting development investment in Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Consensus Building, not Emotional Intelligence.
- Redesigning retention strategy around Stability, not Novelty.
- Paying competitively and transparently. For most, compensation increases beyond a fair baseline will not move engagement.
HR leaders ready to move from assumption-based to data-backed talent strategies can view the full report here. For more information about Cangrade’s AI-powered, bias-free hiring and talent management solutions, visit www.cangrade.com
About Cangrade
For HR leaders, Cangrade is the AI candidate screening platform. By building custom candidate screening flows instantly, Cangrade fuels talent decisions that improve business and employee outcomes throughout the entire talent lifecycle. Delivering 10x more accurate predictions of talent success and retention than traditional methods, the company's screening solutions have helped organizations like Wayfair, FDNY, Lamar Advertising, and Applied Industrial Technologies make the right hiring decisions for over 10 million candidates and counting. Cangrade was named to TIME's America's Top WorkTech Companies of 2026. For more information, visit www.cangrade.com.
Media Contact:
Gina Devine
Public Relations, Cangrade
gina@versionpublicrelations.com
