Gen Z was shaped by technology and has a global mindset. They are opportunistic and unafraid to take chances or question the status quo. Generalizations? Yes. But also helpful when trying to understand how a generation will affect the workplace.
During a webinar on Gen Z’s Influence in the Workplace last week, Allsteel shared some of its research on the latest generation entering the workplace and how it might shape how we work in the future. Kelly Colon, senior workplace advisor, answered questions from Senior Workplace Advisory Manager Jordan Arnold about Gen Z, which is predicted to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025.
Colon said that Gen Z, like all generations before it, is shaped by three main forces: the society and work in which they grew up; family impacts; and technology. Gen Z is no different. Their worldview is impacted by the times in which they lived along with a dash of their Gen X parents’ experiences. More than any other generation, Gen Z was formed by technology, including social media.
“From a generalization perspective, Gen Z really values and are motivated by diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said. “It is just part of their day-to-day narrative, which also includes individuality, creativity. And they really look at the world versus a myopic one-way view. They look at the world and the workplace as more of a portfolio.”
So how does the worldview of Gen Z fit in the workplace? Colon said it is important to remember that the generation began entering the workplace when the pandemic was starting. Either they were finishing up college or were very early in their careers. The pandemic had a huge impact on their ability to navigate the workplace. They started their careers working at home, so their foundational skills early in their careers have looked and felt different than other generations.
That does not mean they don’t want to work in the office, she said. Still, they might not want to be in the office five days a week.
“This generation understands and values that in-person connection for collaboration, mentorship, skill growth, exposure to different parts of the organization. So they still want a workplace that fosters that,” said Colon. “What they are unwilling to do is come in and sit because someone told them to do it. They’re not interested in that, so much so that when I interviewed a couple who were in their senior year of college, I asked, ‘Will you return to an office five days a week?’ Their response without any hesitation was, ‘I would rather die than go and sit in an office five days a week.’”
So if you take statements about not wanting to be forced back to the office and marry it with data that shows Gen Z still wants to be together, Colon said we need to create tethers and work environments that foster the very nature of what they’re looking for: purposeful, clearly designed and created, curated workplaces that allow for connection and collaboration, and foster mentorship that they’re still looking for.
Arnold said Gen Z has developed a distinct capability to do work in a lot of different ways. “The whole conversation about hybrid work, fluid work, flex work, whatever we want to call it, and the ability to do some of those things in a different way, it’s incredibly exciting. And it’s not shocking that Gen Z takes to that quickly — the ability to be able to leverage technology in a thoughtful way to work effectively,” she said.
Interestingly, Gen Z workers value mentorship, which is difficult in a post-COVID world where the perfect mentor/mentee relationship is stunted by work from home. But work from home and hybrid does not mean mentorship is dead. Instead, Colon said it takes a more intentional and thoughtful system that can connect workers from different generations.
As office design evolves, designers are thinking more in terms of creating ecosystems of work rather than traditional workplaces. Gen Z is closest to their time in higher ed environments, where they were used to visiting classrooms, going to the library, collaborating with friends in common areas and hanging out in dorm rooms. These spaces acted as a “menu” to Gen Z that they choose from based on their requirements, said Colon.
“And so they graduated, and ironically, they didn’t just immediately go straight into what we have historically programmed in design space planning and programming of spaces, which was very formulaic before,” she said.