Gen Z may be known for their technological prowess, but when it comes to the workplace, they would rather chat face-to-face than over Zoom, according to a new report from Gallup.
Gallup found that among baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z, the youngest generation is actually the least likely to favor exclusively remote work.
Only 23% of Gen Z employees say that they prefer fully remote work, compared to 35% of employees from each other generation.
Jim Harter, chief scientist of workplace management and wellbeing at Gallup, says he was surprised by the study’s findings.
“You might think that [Gen Z] just would have an automatic preference for remote work, because they can do a lot of things digitally,” he says.
However, according to Harter, Gen Z employees feel that their careers are being “compromised” by fully remote work.
Mentorship is crucial for early-career employees, Harter says, and it can be more difficult to establish those relationships in a remote setting.
Additionally, fully remote Gen Z employees tend to be less clear on “how their work fits into the bigger picture of the organization,” he says.
According to the Gallup report, Gen Z is far more in favor of hybrid work: 71% of Gen Z employees said that they prefer a hybrid work environment, the highest percentage among all generations. Gen Z is also more likely to say that they wish other employees in their organization worked remotely less often.
Still, fully in-person work is unpopular across all generations: only 6% of Gen Z workers want to work in-person all the time, along with 4% of millennials, 9% of Gen X, and 10% of baby boomers.
According to Harter, loneliness may also be a significant reason that Gen Z workers seek in-person interaction. A 2024 Gallup study found that one in five employees reported significant loneliness, with employees under 35 most likely to be affected.
Among Gen Z, “there’s a craving for that in-person connection,” he says.
Even though other generations may prefer fully remote work, leaders have a responsibility to ensure that Gen Z employees receive “the right kinds of development” in the workplace, Harter says.
“There are so many things that happen in-person that you can’t schedule for on Zoom calls: random conversations, solving problems, quickly asking for advice,” he says. “All of us that have experienced it know the difference.”
Even hybrid teams often “aren’t getting the timing quite right” to ensure that Gen Z employees have the in-person interactions they need in the workplace.
For hybrid teams, the solution could be scheduling certain days for the whole team to be in-person, he says.
Fully remote teams can build closer connections with Gen Z workers by prioritizing “meaningful conversations” about career goals, challenges and strengths.
“I think that people in the upper generations need to consider not just what’s good for me, but what’s good for the whole team, the whole organization,” Harter says. “The really effective organizations and leaders see that, and they put a plan around it.”
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