If you’ve been told that logging off on time means you aren’t committed, a new survey of 1,045 Singapore workers aged 18 to 29 suggests many of your peers draw the same line. Deel, the global HR and payroll platform, released What Gen Z Workers Want 2026 – Singapore on 7 October 2026. Its full whitepaper has since followed, and it shows a generation that wants money, a home and a job that ends when the workday does.
The numbers come from an online survey run by YouGov on its own panels between 13 and 25 August 2026, designed and analysed by research firm ThinkerTank. Deel says responses were weighted to represent working Singaporeans aged 18 to 29, with a margin of error of about three percentage points. That makes it a solid snapshot of how young workers here see their jobs, though it’s worth remembering a company that sells HR software paid for it.
Money First, Manager Last
Ask Singapore’s Gen Z what they want in ten years and the answers are refreshingly practical. According to the whitepaper, financial security tops the list at 71%, with owning a home in second place at 60%. The more telling result sits third: 49% named “a job I can leave at the office” as a 10-year goal, putting work-life boundaries on the same shortlist as savings and property.
The career ladder fares worse. Only 29% want to be “leading a team as a manager”, while 44% want to become an expert in their field and 32% want to start or build their own business. Deel reads this as a cohort chasing specialist credibility and entrepreneurial control over a corner office, and the gap between “expert” and “manager” is wide enough to back that reading up.
Day-to-day priorities follow the same logic. Pay that keeps up with living costs made the top three for 72% of respondents, followed by flexibility over when and where they work (51%) and learning and career development (49%). Job security came fourth of six at 46%, which the report takes as a sign that young workers would rather build their own safety net than wait for an employer to hand them one.
Hustle Culture Loses Its Grip
The survey asked respondents to pick the description that best matched how they approach their job right now. The most common answer, at 29%, was doing the job well within set hours, edging out the 27% who say they’re giving everything to progress at their current company.
Further down, 14% are actively looking for another role and 11% give everything without chasing promotion. Another 10% would prefer to leave but feel held back by worry. The group doing only what’s asked and no more was the smallest at 9%, and Deel’s whitepaper makes a fair point here: effort isn’t the problem, since few people seem to believe that working harder will automatically move them up anymore.
That doesn’t mean they’re sitting still once the laptop closes. 77% either have or are seeking extra income, and 42% already run side hustles alongside their main jobs. Call it ambition with the hours redistributed. If the late-night email habit still feels familiar, our look at Singapore’s always-on work culture pairs well with these findings.
92% Carry at Least One Worry
Here’s the uncomfortable part. Deel found that 92% of respondents hold at least one major job-related concern, leaving 8% with nothing on their minds. Financial instability leads at 49%, with burnout close behind at 46%. Next come no clear path for career growth (37%), being stuck in a job they don’t want (33%), and not being valued or heard (30%).
The weight isn’t shared evenly. Half of young women worry about burnout compared with 43% of men. They’re readier to leave, too, at 29% against 19% of men.
Men are nearly twice as likely to go all out for promotion (34% versus 19%). The whitepaper admits the data can’t say which comes first: pulling back, or feeling unseen. Either way, a one-size engagement plan clearly won’t work for half of this workforce.
AI Is Moving Faster Than the Rulebook
On technology, Singapore’s young workers are well ahead of the stereotype. 49% say AI makes them more productive at work. Only 9% said none of the AI statements applied to them.
The catch is that much of this happens off the books. A third (33%) use AI on personal devices for work tasks, 19% use it more than their employer knows, and a mere 13% say their use is monitored. Interestingly, more respondents worry about becoming too reliant on AI (29%) than about it threatening their job security (26%).
That’s a governance gap rather than a discipline problem, and Deel’s own recommendation is sensible: make approved tools easy to use and set clearer rules around them. Workers already reaching for AI on their phones are telling bosses exactly what they need. The smart move is to meet them there.
Trusted, Yet Typecast
The headline contradiction lives in the whitepaper’s “Trusted but typecast” section. 82% of respondents feel trusted to work without micromanagement, 75% say leaders value their opinions, and 68% feel their contribution is noticed and rewarded. Yet 71% feel expected to be grateful simply to have a job, and 47% believe leaders see their generation as entitled and lazy.
The survey asked only young workers, so that 47% measures how Gen Z thinks leaders see them, not what managers themselves said. It still matters. 21% of respondents list working in another country as a 10-year goal. A shrinking talent pool that feels misread is one employers can’t afford to lose.
Karen Ng, Deel’s Regional Head of Expansion and Market Lead for Singapore, Hong Kong, ASEAN and India, put it plainly: “Gen Z is ambitious, just not by traditional measures. They deliver through technology and autonomy, yet workplaces interpret boundaries as laziness.” She added that “commitment should be judged by contribution, not hours”, which is about as clear a job description for modern management as anyone’s written.
Ambition, Redefined
Strip away the “lazy” label and the data describes something far more relatable: young Singaporeans who want pay that matches the cost of living, skills that make them hard to replace, and evenings that belong to them. Wanting to be the expert in the room instead of the boss of it is still ambition.
The full whitepaper, including the family business findings and the payday problems that 71% of respondents have run into, is available on Deel’s What Gen Z Workers Want – Singapore report page. Send it to the manager who keeps asking why you leave at six, then explore more of the company’s research at Deel!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of Deel.
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