Millennials were supposed to be the tough ones.
They entered the workforce during the 2008 global financial crisis. They saw hiring freezes, stagnant pay, unstable startups, mass layoffs, and then a once-in-a-century pandemic. They adapted to remote work before it was fashionable. They learned new tools every few years. They built side hustles when salaries didn’t stretch.
If resilience had a generation tag, it would read: Millennials.
And yet, the data now tells a surprising story.
A recent Voice of India survey by Great Place To Work India found that 49% of Millennials are concerned that AI could replace their role within the next three to five years. That is the highest anxiety level among generational groups.
Pause and think about that.
The very cohort that has survived crisis after crisis now fears being replaced by code.
AI FEAR IS NOT ENTRY-LEVEL PANIC
What makes this more interesting is that the fear cuts across experience levels. The survey shows that around four in ten employees are worried about AI replacing their jobs, regardless of tenure. And here’s the kicker: at least 40% of those who worry are planning to leave anyway.
This isn’t just freshers panicking. These are managers, team leads, project heads. People in their 30s and 40s. People with EMIs, school fees, aging parents, and peak earning responsibilities.
Millennials sit at a strange crossroads. They are not digital natives like Gen Z. But they are not insulated senior leaders either. They are however the operational backbone of most companies.
And ironically, the so-called “40s layoffs” in many firms tend to hit this very segment — mid-career professionals seen as “expensive” compared to younger hires or automation.
So yes, the anxiety isn’t imaginary.
THE MENTAL HEALTH BACKDROP
The fear also fits into a larger stress pattern. The Deloitte Global 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which polled over 23,000 respondents across 44 countries, found that:
34% of Millennials feel stressed or anxious all or most of the time
45% cite their longer-term financial future as a major stress factor
33% say their job contributes significantly to their stress
Nearly 68% said they had needed to take time off due to stress, but only 37% actually did. Many even gave a different reason for their absence.
So when Millennials say they fear losing their jobs, it is not dramatic overthinking. It is layered anxiety — financial pressure, family responsibility, and technological disruption colliding at once.
BUT HERE’S THE TWIST
The same Great Place To Work data offers another side.
When organisations move from no AI adoption to advanced stages, they see a 53% rise in employees who feel enthusiastic about AI.
In companies at advanced stages, 61% of employees feel supported by leadership in their AI efforts. Certified workplaces report 20% more positive outlook on AI and stronger leadership support.
In short, the fear is not just about AI, but about how AI is introduced.
If there’s an opaque rollout, anxiety spikes.
But with clear communication, training, and experimentation, confidence grows.
Millennials aren’t scared of learning. This is the generation that taught itself social media marketing, coding bootcamps, crypto investing, and remote collaboration tools. They are professional shape-shifters.
What they struggle with is uncertainty without transparency.
SO WHY ARE THE “TOUGHEST” ANXIOUS?
Because being resilient doesn’t make risk factors disappear.
Millennials learned to survive instability. But surviving something repeatedly doesn’t make you immune to fearing it again. In fact, it may make you more alert to early warning signs.
They have seen companies collapse overnight. They have seen industries disappear. They know disruption is real.
Maybe their anxiety isn’t weakness. Rather, it’s pattern recognition.
SO, SHOULD THEY BE LAID OFF?
Here’s the uncomfortable question.
If there is one generation built to handle transformation, it’s Millennials. They have already reinvented themselves multiple times. They bridge analog and digital worlds. They understand both hierarchy and hustle culture.
Replacing them with pure automation may solve short-term cost pressures. But losing institutional memory, cross-functional experience, and crisis-tested adaptability? That’s expensive too.
Perhaps instead of asking why Millennials are anxious, organisations should ask why their most adaptable workforce feels insecure.
And if a Millennial is genuinely terrified of losing their job, two possibilities exist.
One: they know they’ve stopped learning.
Two: their organisation has stopped leading.
Given this generation’s track record, the second is far more likely.
After all, the cohort that survived recession, startup bubbles, demonetisation shocks, pandemic lockdowns, and endless restructuring cycles is hardly fragile.
If anything, they are probably overqualified for chaos.
So maybe Millennials shouldn’t be this anxious. And maybe they shouldn’t be the first to go either.
Because if resilience were a KPI, they would have exceeded target years ago.
