Work-Life Views Are Changing - Is It a Generational Thing?

In order to nurture a diverse and resilient workforce, do we need to factor in generational differences? As the world of work evolves, assuming a blanket sentiment for all is unfair, but generational stereotypes might oversimplify things.

As businesses return to the office, the role generational differences play in our working lives has been thrown under the spotlight. The narrative has mostly focused on all employees wanting to collaborate more; younger generations wanting to learn from their senior peers; and older generations with home offices feeling less inclined to commute.

These statements have some truth to them.

During the pandemic, Caroline, a Bristol-based millennial, was working at a fully remote, green-missioned startup. As much as she enjoyed the level of purpose it gave her, her wellbeing began to suffer: “Working from home 24/7 and having no social contact with my colleagues was really starting to impact my mental health.

“Friends at other businesses were beginning their return to the office and I didn’t have anywhere to return to. That wasn’t going to change, as the business decided to stay fully remote.” She handed in her notice and soon found an employer that has a sleek office in town.

“I’m much more productive now. In-person conversations are faster, I’m networking with people in other teams and I have a chance to learn from senior leaders just by watching how they work.”

30% of Gen Z have said ‘having meetings where most participants are in the same room’ actually discourages them from returning, but for half of Gen X and millennials, it’s an incentive to return.

Generations Glossary

Gen Z were born between 1996 – 2015, millennials were born between 1977 – 1995, Gen X were born between 1965 – 1976, and Baby Boomers were born between 1946 – 1964.

Caroline wasn’t alone in her desire to socialise with colleagues. A recent report published by LinkedIn found that for 78% of millennials, ‘socialising with others in person’ was driving their return to the office. On top of that, out of all generations, “millennials are most enthusiastic about the prospect of career progression at the office.”

In fact, 55% cited ‘advancing my career as quickly as possible’ as a motivation to return – a figure much higher than Baby Boomers (33%) and Gen X (38%).

But this isn’t to say Baby Boomers don’t want to return – they simply have other motivations to do so. ‘Having opportunities to collaborate’ and ‘socialising with others in person’ – just like millennials – were among top drivers for this generation to return.

Sarah, a Baby Boomer working in London, says: “More than ever, and in unexpected ways, I really value my time in the office. I had taken it for granted before. The chance to see and talk with people, have really quick conversations, raise and solve issues, help and get help from colleagues – when in person, in the same place, it’s completely different to working solely on Teams or Zoom.”

And while younger generations are rumoured to care more about how trendy an office is, or how eco-friendly it is, Sarah proves it’s not exclusively a millennial/Gen Z thing: “I feel really privileged to work in a relatively new building by the Thames with panoramic views of London. It makes me feel at the centre of life and excitement, with a sense of the old and new butting up against each other. It’s also a smart office, and has a BREEAM Excellent rating.”

But she recognises that different generations might need different things: “I’m more aware of the generational issues facing our workforce now, such as people in flat-shares fighting for space, silence and Wi-Fi; and people with young children who have to juggle family and work life. They can really benefit from a more flexible and hybrid work-life.”

Even when not working from home, research has shown that generations have clear preferences about their office lives. 30% of Gen Z have said ‘having meetings where most participants are in the same room’ actually discourages them from returning, but for half of Gen X and millennials, it’s an incentive to return. And for millennials, ‘dressing up for work’ was the strongest felt chore within office life, with 37% saying it discouraged them from returning.

Office life aside, the collective experience of our working lives (such as culture, employer ethos, and preferred management styles) seems to divide the room again.

Research has shown that Gen Z employees value work-life balance, transparency, positive relationships and frequent touch points – “60% of Generation Z-ers want weekly, if not daily, check-ins from their manager.” Baby Boomers, on the other hand, are traditionally more independent, goal-oriented and competitive.

“There are so many nuances to preferred working styles, and age doesn’t dictate many of them. Personality, whether someone is an introvert or an extravert, and how collaborative someone’s role needs to be, are all likely to play a much bigger role in how people like to work.”

But traits like independence are likely to come with experience. Baby Boomers have more years in the workforce than their Gen Z counterparts. It’s only natural to assume that younger talent wants a greater number of touch points throughout their working week – they’re learning and developing their foundational skillsets.

“Grouping team members by generation feels a little too simplistic,” argues Steven Lydon, a Senior Agent in our Flexible Office Solutions team. “There are so many nuances to preferred working styles, and age doesn’t dictate many of them. Personality, whether someone is an introvert or an extravert, and how collaborative someone’s role needs to be, are all likely to play a much bigger role in how people like to work.”

In fact, an article in The Harvard Business Review titled “Generational Differences At Work Are Small. Thinking They’re Big Affects Our Behaviour”, explains “there’s very little evidence that people of generations behave markedly different at work or want markedly different things.”

“Ultimately,” according to Steven, “we shouldn’t always focus on managing multi-generational teams. Though it might help in some instances, we should focus more on managing groups of individuals, each with a set of unique preferences, life commitments and personality traits. The goal is to ensure you’re actually listening to everyone’s needs, rather than assuming a blanket sentiment for each group.”