- Mandates to return to office do not slow down, but representatives of Generation Z say it does not bother them.
- For the right company, some Gen Zers say they’re ready to ditch remote work.
- The survey shows that approximately 81% of Generation Z employees believe that personal experiences in the office are important.
It seems that more and more CEOs are calling their employees back to the office – and some Gen Z workers couldn’t be happier about it.
We spoke to Generation Z workers – defined as those born between 1997 and 2012 – who say they don’t mind working in an office. They actually prefer it.
In a recent Adobe survey, 63% of early-career Gen Zers said they already work full-time in an office. About 81% said they thought the experiences they had in the office were important. In September, Adobe surveyed more than 1,000 Generation Z employees at mid-sized and large U.S. companies about their Studying the future workforce.
Goldman Sachs has one of the strictest RTO policies among large firms. Its employees are “encouraged” to be in the office five days a week.
Louie Chavez, a 24-year-old analyst at Goldman, has been with the firm since July 2022. He told BI that efficiency is one of the best things about being in person.
Chavez said he appreciated being able to get answers to his questions “in real time,” but also added that there was an added social benefit of “being around colleagues and being able to joke with them.”
His colleague, 25-year-old co-worker Mary Kate Viceconte, said she appreciated being around older co-workers.
“I feel like at this point in my career I can learn directly from really talented seniors who have been doing this job for a long time,” Viceconte told Business Insider.
At Google, Andrew Abraham (22) said his dreams came true when he received a full-time job offer at the end of his internship. A recent survey found that Google is the second most prestigious internship to have on your CV, according to 13,000 professionals.
As an intern, Abraham told Business Insider he was offered the option of working remotely or working in person, and he chose to work in person. He currently works as a project manager and said he likes the benefits of Google’s Atlanta office.
The office is a great place to build relationships with co-workers, Abraham said, but he also added that it’s an attractive place because she can take an embroidery class, get a massage or drink a free coffee from the on-site barista.
Abraham said spending time in the office is the “best way” for early career professionals. However, he added that he also appreciates the flexibility and ability to work from home when needed.
Another Gen Zer, Zachary Timms, a 25-year-old design engineer, has been working at his Texas-based company for almost two years. The graduate said he spends half a day at the office Monday through Thursday, and half the day on Fridays. (He declined to name his employer, but BI verified his information.)
Timms said he enjoys his company’s dynamic environment and access to colleagues because the office has an open floor plan. The job would be overwhelming if he worked from home most of the week, he said.
“If I didn’t work in person, I wouldn’t have good relationships with my co-workers,” Timms said. “We were just talking today about joining a recreational volleyball league as a company, which I’m very excited about.”
Some Gen Z workers have already told Business Insider that going to the office helps socialize and prevent the loneliness that sometimes comes with working from home.
And for some employees, coming to the office isn’t really a choice. For example, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said he thinks remote work makes employees lazy and unproductive
Of course, not all employees are rushing back to the office, and some say the flexibility of working from home has changed their lives for the better. Whether RTO is actually better in terms of employee productivity and happiness remains a hot topic of debate.
For Gen Z workers, the debate is settled.
