Young professionals are in the office more than other generations, a recent study by real estate firm JLL found.
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Some ambitious Gen Z professionals are leading the return-to-office trend, eager to climb the corporate ladder, learn from their older peers and upend stereotypes about their generation.
Born between 1997 and 2012, many members of Gen Z started their first jobs in the midst of the pandemic. As remote and hybrid work became the new norm, the youngest generation at work were often scapegoated for the rise in empty offices, facing a flurry of criticism for being lazy and shirking in-person work.
Recently, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon complained that while he has been working seven days a week since the pandemic, “the zoomers don’t show up.” Zoomers refers to Gen Z. Meanwhile, British businessman Lord Alan Sugar, 78, urged young workers to get back into the office saying they “just want to sit at home.”
However, contrary to those accusations, young workers up to the age of 24 are coming to the office an average of three days a week, higher than all other age groups, per a recent global study of 12,000 employees by real estate firm JLL.
Additionally, Gen Z report craving more in-person interaction, with 91% of Gen Z desiring a balance between virtual and in-person opportunities to connect with colleagues and grow professionally, per a survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults by events company Freeman.
Although young workers enjoy the benefits of remote work and flexibility, they view the office as “a launchpad for their careers,” Dan Schawbel, a managing partner at research firm Workplace Intelligence said.
CNBC Make It interviewed three Gen Zers about how being in the office is helping them get ahead.
‘We have no idea how to be a professional adult’
Gen Z have been said to have made several corporate faux pas in recent years from channeling the “office siren” aesthetic to using TikTok slang like “ick,” due to their inexperience. The office provides an environment for young workers to get to grips with corporate norms from communication skills to dress codes.
Trust specialist, Sophia Thibault, said the pandemic hit in the middle of her first year in college affecting her ability to socialize. So when her first job at MRHFM law firm required her to be in the office five days a week, she welcomed the opportunity.
“At first it was a little annoying having to be in office every single day, but I think it helped me really transition into the workforce,” the 24-year-old said.
“I just want to be paid well and be surrounded by the people that are going to guide my future. How can I learn when I’m not here with them?”
Max Ranzato
Associate at PEM Law LLP
Being around colleagues 40 hours a week helped develop Thibault’s ability to interact with a diverse group of people and pick up habits like corporate lingo, buzzwords, and the dress code by observing others — much of which can’t be learned “behind a computer screen,” she said.
“Overall, my friends who I graduated with, like being in office because we have no idea really how to be a professional adult,” she said.
Max Ranzato, a 28-year-old associate lawyer based in New York, agreed with Thibault’s view and recalled getting his first job out of college as a life science recruiter which shifted from full-time in the office to remote work after a year, because of the pandemic. Ranzato said remote work stalled his learning as his manager wasn’t there anymore to give him advice.
“Once it switched to remote, you lost all of the fun and perk of being a recruiter and then it just went to cold-calling people all day alone, not talking to anyone, not eating lunch with anybody, not really making friends,” he said. “I definitely think working from home is very lonely.”
‘I want to be highly successful’
But for Gen Z, working in an office isn’t just about filling the gaps in their corporate knowledge, it’s also about getting ahead.
“I want to be highly successful,” said Ranzato, who now works at a law practice and commutes 90 minutes from Queens to New Jersey four days a week just to be in the office.
“So I walk to the subway, take the subway to Penn Station to get the train, take a train to Newark, New Jersey, and then I Uber to the office,” he explained. “It sounds very intense, but I don’t mind it.”
Ranzato, who estimates his commute costs between $600 – $800 monthly, says it’s worth it because as an ambitious lawyer hoping to make partner one day, he feels that his “learning grows exponentially while being in the office.”
In the office, Ranzato interacts with partners every day, observing their behavior and communication style in meetings and asking the questions he needs. “I just want to be paid well and be surrounded by the people that are going to guide my future. How can I learn when I’m not here with them?”
His Gen Z friends who are accountants or engineers feel the same way and hope to be recognized by higher-ups. “They want money. They want to level up. They want to do what their bosses are doing,” he said.
Schawbel explained that the office environment accelerates career progression via “immersion,” which is harder to replicate through a screen.
Thibault said in her former job at law firm MRHFM, she and her Gen Z colleagues were always in the office, and were extremely motivated. “We were on top of our work…and everyone in the office knew if you needed somebody to work on something, ‘give it to the three girls, they’ll get it done.'”
Molly Gilbride, a 25-year-old media relations specialist in Seattle, said she’s “confused” when Gen Z are accused of being lazy and shirking the office because in a prior role, Gen Z were the core group of workers coming into the office.
“I think we value flexibility and the choice to be in the office, but that’s not to say we don’t like going into the office because it’s too much work,” she said.
‘Hybrid is the future’
Even the Gen Z workers who love being in the office appreciate one or two work-from-home days.
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Even Gen Z workers who love being in the office, appreciate one or two work-from-home days a week, signaling an evolution of the traditional 9-5.
“The future is overwhelmingly leaning toward hybrid,” Schawbel said. “It’s about the best of both worlds.”
Gilbride’s current company allowed her to transition to a remote job due to personal issues, but she misses being in the office because it added a bit of “diversity” to her week.
“The flexibility of remote work is fantastic and it’s what I needed in my life at this moment in time, but I am trying my best to get back to a place where I can be hybrid because I love going to the office.”
Ranzato also enjoys his work-from-home Fridays because the “freedom” allows him to do the dishes, cook lunch, or fold clothes. With billable hours, he can make up his hours throughout the week, customizing the structure to fit his life.
TikTok content creator Gigi Robinson believes “hybrid is the future.” The New York-based 26-year-old doesn’t work a full-time job because she lives with multiple chronic illnesses and regularly commutes hours for treatments during the working week.
Robinson was studying at the University of Southern California when the pandemic hit and studying became strictly remote. “Serendipitously, Covid happened, and all of a sudden, the accessibility tools that I was once begging for: Can I Zoom into class? Can I do remote hand in? were accessible to everybody. And I was like, ‘well, why was this so hard before?'”
Robinson, who now runs a fully remote internship program at one of her companies, believes that remote work offers accessibility for people like herself.
Remote Gen Z workers are not just slacking off, Thibault pointed out. She spoke of her surprise when an older colleague once mentioned that he sits by his pool when working from home.
“When I’m working from home, I’m not sitting in my pool…I wouldn’t be swimming in my pool during work hours and I wouldn’t blatantly be telling co-workers that,” she said.
“I feel like Gen Z, we want to prove ourselves, this is our first chance to work and be professionals and we are very money-motivated and motivated by feedback, new positions… so that is what is driving us to work harder [and] be in the office. But also when we’re at home, we’re working hard as well.”
