Happiness at work: Gen Z’s experience in finding meaning in their work

Bertha Kristiyanti, Ika Febrian Kristiana

Abstract


Indonesia is one of the countries that employs Gen Z on a large scale. It is known that the industry turnover rate in Indonesia reaches above 10% on average. Generation Z is known to be the most unhappy generation; they expressed feeling unhappy with their jobs for 22% of their time. The question in this study is to explore how Gen Z experiences in making meaning of their work. A descriptive phenomenological qualitative research design was chosen to get a picture of the experience of finding the meaning of work for Gen Z. The participants involved in this study amounted to three people, with the characteristics of participants being Gen Z and having a minimum tenure of three years. The participants consisted of two women and one man, who was 26 years old and worked as an employee. Data were collected through in-depth interviews online and face-to-face. The results of this study show that there are things that influence finding happiness at work, namely career decision making, success in adjusting, compatibility with the work done, and support from coworkers. Participants mentioned that the fit with the work they do and the support of coworkers have a big influence on their finding happiness at work. For future research, more in-depth research can be conducted on other psychological aspects in the industrial field, as well as research using quantitative methods to examine the variable of employee happiness at work in relation to several other variables, involving a larger number of subjects.

Keywords


bahagia; bahagia di tempat kerja; gen z

Full Text:

PDF

References


Awada, N. I., & Ismail, F. (2019). Happiness in the Workplace. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 8(9S3), 1496–1500. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijitee.I3313.0789S319

Bakker, A. B., & Leiter, M. P. (Eds.). (2010). Work Engagement (0 ed.). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203853047

Bencsik, A., & Machova, R. (2016). Knowledge sharing problems from the viewpoint of intergeneration management. 42.

BLS. (2024). Employee tenure in 2024 (USDL-24-1971). Department of Labor. http://bls.gov/news.release/pdf/tenure.pdf

Charles-Leija, H., Castro, C. G., Toledo, M., & Ballesteros-Valdés, R. (2023). Meaningful work, happiness at work, and turnover intentions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043565

Deloitte. (2019). Deloitte Indonesia Perspectives. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/id/Documents/about-deloitte/id-about-dip-edition-1-chapter-2-id-sep2019.pdf

Divekar, S., & Kulkarni, S. (2022). Happiness at the workplace. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 10(4), 70–75.

Dwidienawati, D., & Gandasari, D. (2018). Understanding Indonesia ’ s generation z. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 245–252.

Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Febriyanti, D. A., Listiara, A., & Kahija, Y. F. L. (2015). Penyesuaian diri dalam bekerja pada pengasuh di panti asuhan cacat ganda: Studi fenomenologis. Jurnal Psikologi Undip, 14(1), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.14710/jpu.14.1.69-80

Fitri, F. F., Aiman, R. M. P., Angelica, C. N. R., Putri, N. T. A., & Saraswati, K. D. H. (2023). Career adaptability: Studi deskriptif pada karyawan gen z. Jurnal Ilmiah PSYCHE, 17(1), 39–56.

Giorgi, A., Giorgi, B., & James, M. (2017). The descriptive phenomenological psychological method. In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research In Psychology (2nd ed.). Sage. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318451180_The_Descriptive_

Phenomenological_Psychological_Method

Herdiansyah, H. (2015). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif untuk ilmu psikologi. Salemba Humanika.

HiBob. (2024). Employee tenure. In HR Glossary. HiBob. https://www.hibob.com/hr-glossary/employee-tenure/

Hinduan, Z. R., Anggraeni, A., & Agia, M. I. (2020). Generation Z in Indonesia: The Self-Driven Digital. In E. Gentina & E. Parry (Eds.), The New Generation Z in Asia: Dynamics, Differences, Digitalisation (pp. 121–134). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-220-820201012

Juniartika, R., Sari, E. Y. D., & Widiana, H. S. (2020). Efektivitas pelatihan kebermaknaan kerja untuk meningkatkan keterikatan karyawan pada perawat. MEDIAPSI, 6(1), 26–36. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.mps.2020.006.01.4

La Kahija, Y. F. (2017). Penelitian fenomenologis: Jalan memahami pengalaman hidup. PT Kanisius.

Md Zani, R., Ahmad, I. N., & Saad, S. M. (2022). Happiness at work across generations. Universiti Teknologi MARA, 6, 56–57.

Miller, S. (2019). Generation z and millennials seek recognition at work. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/benefits-compensation/generation-z-millennials-seek-recognition-work

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412995658

Nindyati, A. D., & Ramadhani, A. (2022). How z gen in Jakarta have their meaning of their work? INQUIRY: Jurnal Ilmiah Psikologi, 13(01). https://doi.org/10.51353/inquiry.v13i01.596

Pryce‐Jones, J. (2010). Happiness at work: Maximizing your psychological capital for success (1st ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470666845

Randstad. (2022). Randstad workmonitor 2022: A new era in the #howwework revolution (p. 15). Randstad. https://www.randstad.com/s3fs-media/rscom/public/2022-04/Randstad_Workmonitor_2022.pdf

Ridgeway, C. L. (2001). Small-group interaction and gender. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 14185–14189). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/03999-1

Salas-Vallina, A., Pozo-Hidalgo, M., & Monte, P.-G. (2020). High involvement work systems, happiness at work (HAW) and absorptive capacity: A bathtub study. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 42(4), 949–970. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2019-0366

Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, S., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., Burroughs, H., & Jinks, C. (2018). Saturation in qualitative research: Exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality & Quantity, 52(4), 1893–1907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8

Setianik, A. E., & Siswati, S. (2020). Pengalaman menjalani karier sebagai seniman lukis: Sebuah interpretative phenomenological analysis. Jurnal EMPATI, 8(4), 748–757. https://doi.org/10.14710/empati.2019.26519

Sidorcuka, I., & Chesnovicka, A. (2017). Methods of attraction and retention of generation z staff. CBU International Conference Proceedings, 5, 807–814. https://doi.org/10.12955/cbup.v5.1030

Sousa, J. M. D., & Porto, J. B. (2015). Happiness at work: Organizational values and person-organization fit impact. Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto), 25(61), 211–220. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-43272561201509

Susanto, D., Risnita, & Jailani, M. S. (2023). Teknik pemeriksaan keabsahan data dalam penelitian ilmiah. QOSIM: Jurnal Pendidikan, Sosial & Humaniora, 1(1), 53–61.

Tjiabrata, W., Lengkong, V. P. K., & Sendow, G. M. (2021). Pengaruh kecerdasan emosional, kualitas kehidupan kerja dan kebahagiaan di tempat kerja terhadap keterikatan karyawan pada PT PLN (Persero) UP3 Manado. Jurnal EMBA : Jurnal Riset Ekonomi, Manajemen, Bisnis Dan Akuntansi, 9(2), 458–468.

Uchida, Y., & Kitayama, S. (2009). Happiness and unhappiness in east and west: Themes and variations. Emotion, 9(4), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015634

Wulandari, S., & Widyastuti, A. (2014). Faktor-faktor kebahagiaan di tempat kerja. Jurnal Psikologi, 10(1), 49–60.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/personifikasi.v17i1.27650

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Bertha Kristiyanti, Ika Febrian Kristiana

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

  

Indexed by:
   

Creative Commons License
Personifikasi by Universitas Trunojoyo Madura is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.