Today’s edition is presented by SelectSoftware Reviews

Need the right HR software but have more pressing business to attend to? SSR’s HR software advisors have helped 15,000 HR teams find the best-fit HR tools - and HR Brain Pickings’ readers can use their free HR software matching service and get personalized HR software matches (for free).

Get Your Free HR Software Matches

Howdy HR friends!👋

Hope your week’s off to a manageable start (because “energized” might be asking too much lately) 😭 

Today we’re diving into a growing red flag on every HR dashboard — Gen Z burnout. They’re young, ambitious, and already running on fumes. Nearly half say they’re burning out, and many are quietly eyeing the exit before their careers even hit cruise control.

👇️ Coming up

In today’s edition

🚩 The Gen Z Retention Crisis No One's Talking About: How AI, Burnout & Declining Job Quality Are Creating a Perfect Storm

🛋️ The Break Room: What's your biggest challenge with Gen Z employees? Vote in our poll!

📚 Human Readsources: Navigating the "job-pocalypse": Strategies for supporting Gen Z through AI disruption, mental health challenges, and changing career expectations

💭 Opening thoughts

Your future leaders are already tired

Nearly half of Gen Z employees report feeling burnout despite being in the early stages of their careers, raising urgent questions about workplace sustainability and retention.

HR departments must pivot from conventional retention tactics to designing holistic workplace experiences that acknowledge Gen Z's unique challenges, including student debt burdens and the pressure to continuously upskill in an AI-driven economy.

This exploration will reveal actionable strategies to transform your approach to Gen Z talent management.

For easy reading

🧠 Let’s unpick

Gen Z’s Had Enough (and They Just Got Here)

While previous generations endured workplace challenges with a "pay your dues" mentality, your youngest employees are voting with their feet when their expectations aren't met.

As HR professionals, we're caught in the middle: executives demanding more productivity with fewer resources while Gen Z demands better support, meaningful work, and genuine work-life balance. This tension is creating a perfect storm for turnover right when you need fresh talent most.

The numbers tell a brutal story.

• Nearly 50% of Gen Z workers already report burnout—not after decades of work, but at the very beginning of their careers.

• Meanwhile, 41% of business leaders admit they're using AI to reduce headcount, primarily targeting entry-level positions.

• Add crushing student debt (76% cite education costs as their biggest barrier) and a housing market that requires six figures to enter, and you've got a generation questioning if traditional employment is even worth it.

So what can HR actually do? Perhaps most importantly, be the voice in leadership meetings asking the uncomfortable question: "If we replace entry-level jobs with AI, where will our next generation of leaders come from?" Because the companies answering that question thoughtfully will win the talent war for years to come.

You can read more at...

🔗 Study Reveals Only 40% of Americans Have Quality Jobs (Fortune)

🔗 Gen Z Burnout Crisis: Half of Young Workers Exhausted (The HR Digest)

🔗 AI Hiring Shift Threatens Entry-Level Jobs for Young Workers (The Guardian)"

🎬 Lights, camera, action!

Takeaway and try

1. 🛠️ Create ""AI-adjacent"" roles that pair Gen Z employees with new technologies, giving them opportunities to develop hybrid skills that can't be automated while solving your entry-level pipeline problem.

2. 🔋 Implement "Recovery Fridays" with no meetings or reduced hours—nearly half of your Gen Z workforce is already burning out, and this simple boundary can dramatically improve retention.

3. 📚 Launch even a modest education stipend ($1,000-2,000 annually) that acknowledges the 43% of Gen Z balancing work with continued education, turning their outside learning into a competitive advantage for your company.

4. 🗺️ Schedule quarterly career mapping sessions specifically for junior employees to create transparent advancement paths with clear milestones—they'll stay if they can see where they're going.

5. 🔊 Establish a "Future of Work" committee with guaranteed Gen Z representation to give your youngest employees a voice in technology decisions that will directly shape their career prospects.

👀Too long didn’t read

TLDR

🔥 Gen Z is questioning the entire employment bargain as nearly half are already burned out while companies replace their entry-level positions with AI. Smart HR teams will champion education support, transparent advancement paths, and push back on the AI replacement trend, because winning the Gen Z talent war means addressing the systemic issues they're the first to call out.

☕The break room

What’s your take?

📚 Additional reading

Human Readsources

"🤖 Amazon Cuts HR Staff Amid AI Expansion (HR Grapevine) - Amazon plans HR layoffs amid AI investment and cost-cutting.

📱 Social Media Content Affects Workplace Behavior (HCAMag) - Social media at work impacts employee emotions and productivity

🤖 Citi Mandates AI Prompt Training for 180,000 Staff (HR Dive) - Citi mandates AI prompt training for most employees."

That’s it for today.

Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠

We know you’re super busy and really appreciate you saving some room for us in your inbox 😀