KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — The Deloitte Global 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that 70 per cent of Generation-Zs (Gen-Zs) and 61 per cent of millennials in Malaysia have experienced harassment or microaggressions at work in the past year.

The top harassment behaviours reported in the survey were: offensive or suggestive emails or other communications (23 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 18 per cent for Malaysian millennials), repeated disparaging or belittling comments about the respondent’s gender (21 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 23 per cent for Malaysian millennials), and physical contact at work (20 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 26 per cent for Malaysian millennials).

Microaggressions reported include exclusion from informal interactions or conversations (12 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 7 per cent for Malaysian millennials), patronising or undermining behaviour by leaders based on gender (11 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 9 per cent for Malaysian millennials) and unwanted jokes at the respondent’s expense (9 per cent for both Malaysian Gen-Zs and millennials).

“Around eight in 10 did report the harassment they experienced to their employer, but a third of Gen-Zs and a quarter of millennials think the issues were not handled effectively,” the survey noted.

Besides that, more Malaysian Gen-Zs (66 per cent) and millennials (62 per cent) reported strong agreement with feeling burned out due to the intensity and demands of their workloads compared to last year’s findings (65 per cent for Malaysian Gen-Zs and 48 per cent for Malaysian millennials).

Meanwhile, 42 per cent of both Malaysian Gen-Zs and millennials reported feeling stressed or anxious all the time.

Most Malaysian Gen-Zs attributed this to worry over their long-term financial future (54 per cent), day-to-day finances (52 per cent) and their mental health (44 per cent).

On the other hand, Malaysian millennials were more stressed and anxious about day-to-day finances (50 per cent), worry over their long-term financial future (48 per cent), and the health or welfare of their family (44 per cent).

“Respondents are also struggling to disconnect from work, with 32 per cent of Malaysian Gen-Zs and 38 per cent of Malaysian millennials reporting that they are responding to work emails and messages outside of working hours every day,” the report accompanying the survey noted.

On average, Malaysian Gen-Zs (87 per cent) and millennials (87 per cent) find it more important than global respondents (81 per cent for Gen-Zs and 82 per cent for millennials) to consider mental health support and policies when it comes to new employers.

Respondents also indicated that they generally do not feel comfortable talking about mental health challenges with employers (32 per cent of Malaysian Gen-Zs and 34 per cent of Malaysian millennials).

In relation to that, 27 per cent of Malaysian Gen-Zs and 26 per cent of Malaysian millennials have taken time off work due to feelings of anxiety or stress but have given employers a different reason.

The online survey had 303 Malaysian respondents, 201 of which were from Gen-Z while 102 were millennials. The gender of respondents was split equally between male and female.

In total, the survey received responses from 14,483 Gen-Zs and 8,373 millennials from 44 countries.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/05/29/survey-around-two-thirds-of-malaysian-gen-zs-and-millennials-have-experienced-harassment-or-microaggressions-at-work-in-past-year/71524