40% of Australia's Gen Z workers already hold a second paid job

Four in 10 Gen Z workers in Australia's labour force already perform paid work outside their main job, according to Deel's What Gen Z Workers Want – Australia report. The finding lands against a backdrop of more than one million multiple job holders nationwide as of June 2026, per Australian Bureau of Statistics data — and it puts secondary-employment policy squarely on HR's agenda.

The message from Deel, a global HR and payroll platform, is direct: employers need a clear, simple policy on outside work, and they need it soon. Workers aged 20 to 24 lead the trend, with 11.2% holding multiple jobs according to the ABS — the highest rate of any age band in the dataset.

What should a secondary employment policy cover?

Shannon Karaka, country manager for Deel Australia, said employers bear the responsibility for adapting to how Gen Z now structures work.

"Secondary employment policies work best when they're simple. Employees want clarity on conflicts of interest and confidentiality, and the confidence that they can be open about outside work without it counting against them," Karaka told HRD.

The policy question is not whether side hustles exist — Deel's 40% figure suggests they are already mainstream among the youngest cohort. The question is whether they stay hidden. "A clear policy brings side hustles into the open, where employers can manage them rather than leaving them hidden, which ultimately gives young talent reasons to stay," Karaka said.

For HR teams, that translates into several concrete decisions:

• Define what counts as a conflict of interest and where confidentiality boundaries sit.
• Signal that disclosure of outside work will not disadvantage employees in reviews or promotion decisions.
• Decide how the organization responds when outside work signals skills the main role could use.

That last point carries a talent-development angle. Karaka noted that half of the multiple-job holders in Deel's findings took on extra work because they enjoyed it — not because they had to. "Those doing it for enjoyment are showing drive and skills that employers could put to better use, through stretch projects and new responsibilities in their main role," he said.

Why pay sits at the centre of the retention question

Financial pressure drives much of the trend. Deel's report identified financial instability as the biggest concern among Australia's youngest workers: 48% of Gen Z employees are struggling with costs or fear income loss, and 68% named financial security as one of their goals for the next decade.

Karaka's prescription for employers starts with compensation. "It's in the top three priorities for 72% of Gen Z workers, and when pay falls behind living costs, it's hard for people to focus on their career development," he said.

Pay timing matters as much as pay level, in his view. Employers should consider giving staff access to wages they have already earned and encouraging healthy financial habits in the workplace.

"Money worries follow people into work and affect their focus and energy, which is why financial wellbeing underpins so much of the entire employee experience," Karaka said. "Regular pay reviews and transparency about how pay is set can also make a big difference."

The adoption question for HR leaders

The data frames a choice. Roughly one million Australians already hold more than one job, and the rate is highest among the cohort most employers are competing to attract. Organizations without a secondary-employment policy leave disclosure decisions to individual guesswork, which raises the risk of undeclared conflicts and unmanaged fatigue.

Karaka's argument is that transparency cuts both ways: employees gain clarity, and employers gain visibility into skills and ambitions they can redirect into the primary role. As financial pressure keeps pushing young workers toward second jobs, the employers that formalize clear outside-work policies — and address the pay anxieties driving them — are better positioned to keep that talent.