Explore how Gen Z nurses’ expectations for flexibility, feedback, career growth, and support are changing how healthcare organizations plan for the future workforce.
According to recent research from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) and Laudio, Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — is now the second-largest generation in the nursing workforce, and the only generation that is still growing.
As more Gen Z nurses enter the profession, their expectations around flexibility, communication, career growth, and workplace support are becoming harder for healthcare organizations to overlook.
Gen Z is now the second-largest generation of nurses, making their expectations increasingly important to how healthcare organizations plan for the future workforce.
For healthcare leaders, the real question is what those changing expectations mean for healthcare workforce planning. Recruiting nurses is only part of the challenge. Organizations also need to consider how scheduling, leadership, career development, and support affect whether nurses want to build their careers there.
Not every Gen Z nurse has the same priorities, and many of these expectations are shared across generations. But as Gen Z becomes a larger part of the workforce, these nursing workforce trends will increasingly influence how organizations attract, develop, and retain nurses.
Understanding what Gen Z nurses want from employers can help healthcare leaders identify where current workforce practices may need to evolve.
For many newer nurses, flexibility means having more control over when they work and how work fits into the rest of their lives. That can include greater input into schedules and easier ways to swap shifts, request time off, or pick up available hours.
Hospitals, however, still need to fill every shift and maintain appropriate coverage. The challenge is giving nurses more flexibility without creating gaps in care.
That makes flexibility an important consideration in healthcare workforce planning for nurses. Nurse scheduling strategies that give nurses more control over their schedules while maintaining adequate coverage can help organizations balance employee preferences with patient care needs.
Starting a nursing career comes with a steep learning curve. Newer nurses need to know how they are doing, where they can improve, and who they can turn to with questions.
For Gen Z nurses, that connection with their managers appears to be especially important. AONL and Laudio found that Gen Z nurses expect frequent connection, transparency, and clear guidance from their leaders. The research also points to one-on-one check-ins, timely recognition, and personalized feedback as meaningful forms of manager interaction.
For leaders, the takeaway is straightforward: supportive leadership needs to be visible and consistent. Regular check-ins, useful feedback, and personal recognition can make communication part of everyday nurse engagement, rather than something reserved for formal reviews.
Nurses are more likely to see a future with an organization when they can see where their careers might go. Clear paths into specialties, leadership, and advanced roles give them opportunities to grow without having to leave to move forward.
Strong nurse career development connects those opportunities with the skills nurses need to pursue them. By identifying the competencies required for different roles, organizations can give nurses clearer development goals while building the talent they will need in the future.
This makes nursing development content relevant to workforce planning as well as individual career growth.
No orientation program can prepare a new nurse for every situation that will arise in clinical practice. Experienced nurses can provide practical guidance and perspective as newer nurses build their skills and confidence.
Structured nurse mentorship makes those relationships more intentional. It gives newer nurses someone to learn from while creating a clearer way for experienced nurses to pass along knowledge gained through years of practice.
Flexibility, feedback, career development, and mentorship may sound like separate employee concerns, but each has direct workforce implications.
Scheduling affects coverage. Career development affects the skills available within the organization. Mentorship and feedback require support from experienced nurses and managers. And retention determines how often organizations need to recruit, hire, and develop replacements.
That connection is especially important as Gen Z takes on a larger role in the nursing workforce. A 2025 Press Ganey report found that 24% of Gen Z nurses left their roles in 2024. For healthcare organizations, turnover at that level creates a retention problem that affects staffing needs and makes it harder to build the stable, experienced workforce organizations are trying to plan for.
According to Press Ganey, 24% of Gen Z nurses left their roles in 2024, making retention an increasingly important issue for workforce planning.
That is why effective nurse workforce planning needs to consider what brings nurses into an organization as well as what makes them want to stay. Healthcare workforce planning strategies for Gen Z nurses should connect scheduling and coverage, skills and competencies, career development, engagement, and leadership rather than treating them as separate priorities. Bringing those areas together can help organizations address healthcare workforce challenges before turnover or staffing shortages force a response.
The following strategies can help organizations adapt to the expectations of Gen Z nurses while still meeting workforce and patient care needs.
Giving nurses more flexibility does not mean giving up control over staffing. Self-scheduling, shift swapping, and easier access to open shifts can give nurses more input while organizations maintain clear coverage requirements.
The goal is to find a workable balance between what nurses want and what patients and clinical units need. A thoughtful approach to nurse scheduling can make flexibility part of the workforce strategy rather than a separate employee benefit.
Nurses should not have to leave an organization to find their next opportunity. Clear career paths can make internal opportunities easier to see and understand.
Leaders can support mobility by defining the skills required for different roles and helping nurses prepare for their next step. Incorporating those efforts into nursing workforce management can also help organizations develop existing employees for future workforce needs while providing natural connections to nursing competency and development content.
Support should not disappear once orientation ends. Nurses continue to encounter new responsibilities, challenges, and career decisions as they gain experience.
Regular feedback and nurse mentorship can provide continuity. The type of support nurses need may change over time, but opportunities for guidance and professional connection should continue as their careers progress.
Staffing numbers alone do not tell leaders where workforce problems may be developing. Scheduling, competency, retention, and patient census information can provide a more complete picture of changing needs.
Bringing those areas together can make healthcare workforce planning more proactive. Leaders can identify recurring coverage problems, anticipate skills gaps, and determine where development or retention efforts may be needed before problems become urgent. Healthcare workforce planning resources and healthcare workforce trends can also support those decisions.
Every nurse who leaves creates another position an organization needs to fill. Retention therefore has direct implications for staffing, recruitment, and workforce stability.
Effective nurse retention strategies should connect with scheduling, development, and leadership rather than operate as separate initiatives. These discussions also create natural opportunities to connect with nurse retention resources.
For organizations asking how to retain Gen Z nurses, there is no single program or benefit that provides the answer. The better approach is to consider the full employee experience and identify where workforce practices help nurses build a career within the organization.
Gen Z nurse retention depends on the full employee experience, from scheduling and development to leadership support.
Preparing for the next generation of nurses does not mean building a workforce strategy around Gen Z alone. It means paying attention to healthcare workforce trends affecting nurse retention and recognizing where workforce practices may need to change.
The challenge is finding a sustainable balance: offering flexibility without compromising coverage, creating career opportunities while developing needed skills, and providing support as nurses grow in their careers.
When scheduling, development, leadership, and retention are considered together, healthcare workforce planning becomes more than an exercise in filling positions. It becomes a way to build and retain the nursing workforce organizations will need for the future.
Many Gen Z nurses value flexible scheduling, regular feedback, supportive leadership, career development, and mentorship.
As Gen Z becomes a larger part of the nursing workforce, flexibility, manager support, and professional growth are becoming more important considerations in healthcare workforce planning.
Hospitals can support retention through scheduling flexibility, manager support, mentorship, feedback, and opportunities for nurses to develop and advance.
Organizations need to balance changing expectations around flexibility, development, and support with the practical requirements of staffing and patient care.
Scheduling flexibility gives nurses more control over how work fits into their lives while organizations remain responsible for maintaining appropriate coverage.
Healthcare workforce planning shapes staffing, schedules, development opportunities, and workplace support. Connecting those decisions with nurse retention strategies for healthcare organizations can help create an environment where nurses have opportunities to build longer-term careers.
