How Millennials and Generation Z Think About the Workplace

As of 2019, Generation Z — generally defined as those born after 1997 — officially outnumbers millennials and now accounts for almost one-third of the world’s population. And they’re starting their careers now. By 2030, this cohort is expected to make up 30% of the global workforce and represent an influx of 60 million job seekers.

With younger generations set to shift the future of the workforce, especially in an era in which the pandemic has caused a significant rethinking of the physical work environment, companies would be remiss not to design with them in mind.

So, what does Gen Z want from their work experience? Global architecture firm Gensler’s recent U.S. Workplace Survey Summer 2021 research found that this generation thinks about their workplace a lot differently than previous generations. LoopNet identified three key takeaways from the report.

When asked to rank their top 10 reasons for coming to the office, respondents across all generations (Gen Z, millennials, Generation X and baby boomers) actually agree on the office’s primary purpose: to collaborate with team members. But after that initial alignment, the generational preferences start to diverge. While older generations tend to view work in a black and white sense, younger workers have a more holistic approach to how they interact with their workspace.

For instance, Gen Z ranked maximizing individual productivity highly, at number three. This is likely because they lack access to a home office space or are sharing homes with roommates, and find the office to be a better place to focus on individual tasks.

This generation was also the only one to say that being visible for a promotion was important to them (number four) and to prioritize having access to senior leadership and decision-makers (number 8). This makes sense, as they are just starting out in the workforce, many of them may likely be at their first job, and they’re seeking the guidance of company leaders in order to develop skills for a long-lasting career.

In regard to the physical workspace, Gen Z highly ranked their desire for the office to inspire creativity and innovation, whereas millennials prioritized this lower than other factors, and older generations didn’t consider it at all. Older generations are more focused on accessing specific spaces, materials and resources and sharing knowledge and best practices at work, while this is less of a priority for younger workers.

While the rise of Gen Z may alter the workforce, employers should still be considering millennial preferences as well. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over half of the U.S. professional workforce is currently under the age of 45.

Millennials also ranked maximizing individual productivity in their top five purposes of the office. They too could lack access to a good workspace at home or may have young children that require attention during the workday.

Millennials are also focused on fostering professional and personal relationships at work, and Gen Z similarly ranked “building social connections and fostering camaraderie” as a priority in the workplace.

Overall, younger workers (Gen Z and millennials) appreciate more fluidity when it comes to what work means and where and how it gets done than their Gen X and boomer counterparts. Ninety percent of boomers say they prefer to work at home, while only two-thirds of Gen Z respondents said the same. Younger workers tend to look at physical work locations as more than just office and home, and much prefer “third places” like coffee shops, coworking spaces or other alternative locations.

The preference for working in a third place extends to meetings too — half of Gen Z respondents, compared to only one in six boomers, prefer to give and receive feedback in person, which can be at the office (31%) or an alternative location (50%), while only 19% want prefer to have such discussions virtually at home.

Based on this information, it could be wise for companies to consider office locations that have third places nearby for employees to utilize, providing a variety of options throughout the workday.

Gen Z is also the least likely to want to generate ideas from home, preferring the office (41% of respondents) or alternative working locations (28%) for ideation.

When at work, two out of three respondents across all generations prefer to work from a dedicated desk. However, younger workers are much more amenable to shared or hot desking setups than older ones, with 40% saying they’d prefer to work remotely and have reservable desks when in the office, compared to 25% of boomers. This shows that younger workers are more interested in prioritizing flexibility both within and outside of the office.