What is GenZ is thinking of returning to work?

The real rubber of hybrid work models is hitting the road over the past six months with Leaders, HR and companies navigating the rocky road of implementing this thinking into their teams and environments.

With Hybrid work, my thinking kept circling back to GenZ and how they will approach working from a physical office.

I guess this thought trail was sparked by the book and research of the father & son duo; David and Jonah Stillman who already indicated the complexity of how GenZ likes to work in their own space without distractions, but still wanted all the options old school offices handed to them.

And since this young talent segment already constitutes 32% of our workforce according to Bloomberg in 2021, they are going to be an increasing voice of how hybrid work or any work from the office will be received.

To get some real views from actual GenZ co-workers; I decided to interview four bright tech interns from WeThinkCode as they completed their vacation work with us.

I truly believe they hold a unique vantage point as most of them have had some sort of employment that demanded physical presence but also had to shift to almost a purely virtual vacation work period and eventually work model after we adopted them into our teams.

All four interns had a preference for a hybrid work model; with clear agreement that this blended model is needed.

The benefits of working from home were :

• the freed up time and effort when they had
• the mere fact that all four are dependent on public transport which is often unreliable and tricky from the areas they lived.
• that they had more energy and could get more work done than they would have had if they had to undertake lengthy daily commutes.
• cost savings since fears around the affordability of commuting is exacerbated by the recent surge in fuel price..

Where working from the office offered:

• Increased collaboration and interaction with the team
• more discipline since working from home in a digital age offers a lot of distractions.
• more learning and growth opportunities by being surrounded by key people in the team.

When asked how they see a hybrid model playing out they indicated that meetings such as strategy and planning sessions, SCRUM sessions and collaborative meetings should be conducted physically in the office.

However, self-directed, focused work like coding is best suited for the home.

We also discussed a little about what opportunities the pandemic has opened up. There was a key interest in the chance to explore:

• Work from anywhere: Since Gauteng (and other urban centres) are expensive and crowded the option to work more remote is appealing but also raises concerns with challenges and costs to get to the office, the effect of load shedding and a disconnect with the team and culture.
• Workcations: With virtual work being so easily accessible, the idea to extend holidays with an additional week by working remotely is highly appealing and motivating. Interestingly, this would negate the value of leave as an employee going forward.

Lastly, we discussed risks with work from home which included:

• Digital fatigue of being online for too long.
• Digital distraction is too intense with notifications making focus hard.
• Cabin fever as not everyone has larger living arrangements.
• The pressure and required discipline of managing work, deliverables, time and personal needs in a condensed space.
• The lack of collaboration and ease in sense-checking ideas and work with a peer.

So overall, there are positive signs in this small sample of GenZ co-workers that hybrid is both needed and workable, but there are some potholes to navigate in their young careers going forward.

I encourage you to talk to your interns, learners and young hires also to gauge what their thoughts are, as they are going to be an increasing percentage of our teams and leaders.