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\n Mat Beeche\n Global Strategic Communications Director, Deputy\n \n
\nAUSTRALIA 23 June 2025 — Australia's youngest shift workers are the most emotionally invested in their jobs and the most exposed when things go wrong. While overall frontline happiness among all generations remains strong at 81.14%, Gen Z workers report near-top happiness (83.95%) alongside the highest unhappiness rate of any generation at 6.32%, a combination that points to a cohort that is emotionally all-in on their work, and paying the price for it.
This is according to Deputy’s fourth annual Shift Pulse report, based on 1,062,159 anonymous, real-time end-of-shift surveys collected between May 2025 and April 2026, painting a picture of a workforce that remains broadly positive, but one where sustained cost-of-living pressure, poly-employment, and unpredictable rosters are beginning to chip away at the frontline experience.
"Macroeconomic pressure doesn't clock off when a shift starts," said Ciaran Hale, CTO of Deputy. “Australia's frontline workforce has shown remarkable resilience, but the combination of rising living costs, multiple jobholding, and unpredictable scheduling is quietly eroding that goodwill.”
This year's report segments shift worker sentiment by generation for the first time, revealing just how differently Australians experience everyday work across age groups.
On one hand, Generation Alpha, the youngest cohort now entering the workforce, tops the happiness rankings at 87.23%. Gen Z on the other hand, tells a more complicated story. At 83.95% happiness, they are among the more positive cohorts, but they also carry the highest unhappiness rate of any generation at 6.32%.
Unlike Generation Alpha, Gen Z are no longer new to the workforce, and are deep enough into it to feel its structural frustrations. Many are navigating poly-employment to make ends meet, dealing with rosters that change at short notice, and watching their pay struggle to keep pace with the cost of living. They are emotionally invested in their work in a way that older cohorts, having long since recalibrated their expectations, simply are not. That investment is what drives their high highs, but it also makes the lows land harder.
Baby Boomers sit at the other end of the emotional range — 79.40% happy, 3.95% unhappy — with a steadiness that reflects decades of navigating the realities of frontline work.
The report shows that where workers feel connected, scheduled predictably, and part of a team, morale holds. Where they don't, it doesn't.
Hospitality leads the nation at 82.91% positive sentiment, and it's no coincidence that the industry’s sub-sectors dominate the top 10 happiest workplaces list. Cafés (85.77%), bars (83.11%), fast-food restaurants (82.40%), and sit-down restaurants (80.60%) all rank among the most positive working environments in Australia. A significant driver of this is most likely who's working those shifts, as hospitality skews heavily toward Gen Alpha and Gen Z — the two happiest generations in this year's report, at 87.23% and 83.95% respectively. The energy, social connection, and novelty that make shift work rewarding for younger workers are most present in exactly these environments.
Adult Services (88.63%) and In-Home Care (88.56%) emerged as Australia's happiest shift-based sub-sectors, highlighting the role that autonomy, flexibility, meaningful work and human connection play in workplace sentiment. Both sectors significantly outperformed the national average, suggesting that workers are most fulfilled when they have greater control over their schedules and can see a direct impact from the work they do.
Meanwhile, Tobacco, E-cigarette and Vape Stores (88.05%) delivered one of the year's most surprising results, ranking among Australia's happiest frontline sectors although the sector continues to record pockets of unhappiness (5.75%) significant enough to also be in the top 10 unhappy sector list, reflecting a workforce that remains divided in its experience, but strong in its feelings.
The Australian Capital Territory has recorded the most dramatic turnaround in the country, climbing from last place in 2025 to become Australia's happiest jurisdiction in 2026. Workforce happiness in the ACT jumped from 78.23% to 85.28%, while the territory also recorded the nation's second-lowest level of unhappiness at just 4.34%.
Queensland (82.49%) and South Australia (82.07%) rounded out the top three, while New South Wales remained steady at 80.78%.
"The ACT's rise from Australia's unhappiest workforce to its happiest in just 12 months is one of the clearest signals in this year's data that workplace sentiment is not fixed," said Ciaran Hale, CTO at Deputy. "When workers have greater stability, stronger support systems and more predictable schedules, happiness improves. The challenge for employers is that expectations have changed. Fair pay, flexibility and certainty around work are no longer differentiators; they're the foundation of delivering a positive, engaging employee experience.”
Download the report below:
\n \n \nThe 2026 Australian Shift Pulse Report analysed 1,062,159 Shift Pulse survey responses submitted by shift workers between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026. Shift Pulse is Deputy's one-tap employee feedback tool that allows workers to anonymously record how they feel at the end of every shift. Download the report below.
Deputy is the intuitive, people platform built specifically for shift work. Trusted by over 1.5 million shift workers and 380,000 workplaces in more than 100 countries, Deputy brings together AI-powered scheduling, compliance automation, accurate payroll and mobile-first communication to help businesses run more efficiently and teams feel empowered. Discover more at www.deputy.com \u200b