The Gen Z Workforce: Rewards of Working Together IRL

As old­er mem­bers of Gen Z like myself enter the work­force, most of us are look­ing for­ward to work­ing with our new col­leagues side by side, in real office set­tings. We are the first work­force cohort who attend­ed uni­ver­si­ty dur­ing the pan­dem­ic. For us, that meant attend­ing lec­tures vir­tu­al­ly, a lack of com­mu­ni­ty on cam­pus, and job inter­views on Zoom. And most of us are ready for a change.

You may find that sur­pris­ing, since we in Gen Z are used to the vir­tu­al world and adept at nav­i­gat­ing it. But despite this, most of us val­ue col­lab­o­ra­tion and team­work, and although used to com­mu­ni­cat­ing with each oth­er through our devices, most of us don’t pre­fer it. 

Twen­ty-some­things are look­ing for­ward to social­iz­ing with col­leagues, find­ing a help­ful men­tor, and net­work­ing with indus­try peers. These things are more dif­fi­cult and cer­tain­ly less impact­ful when every­one is work­ing remote­ly. While many voic­es are loud­ly prais­ing the ben­e­fits of remote work, I rarely hear any­one speak­ing up for the Gen Z work­force and the cost to us if we can’t come to work in real offices.

I am hap­py that the work I do in C‑Suite exec­u­tive recruit­ing reg­u­lar­ly requires face-to-face inter­ac­tions with hir­ing clients and the can­di­dates. My work requires both in-depth under­stand­ing of client needs and com­pa­ny cul­ture and a thor­ough assess­ment of the can­di­dates and their fit. This isn’t easy to accom­plish in vir­tu­al exchanges. 

Despite the hype, remote work is not a moral issue. It’s sim­ply one more tool to get the work done. Even if you love work­ing remote­ly and are able to do a good job from home, you should con­sid­er the needs of Gen Z, and any­one else whose pro­fes­sion­al and social cir­cum­stances mak­ing work­ing IRL a bet­ter choice.