Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X All Basically Agree on work from home

tech.hindustantimes.com:

During the early days of the pandemic, the narrative was that remote-working was a grind for younger workers stuck in cramped apartments and bliss for their seniors living it up in airy home offices. The juniors were missing out on in-person learning, while their superiors were more focused on how to spend the savings from fewer train tickets.

In fact, attitudes to remote working are far less polarized.

The majority of traditional office workers appears to value the chance to work from home at least one day a week. There is some variation according to age, but it’s not large or consistent enough to be significant. 

A recent study by consultants McKinsey & Co. found that workers aged 18 to 34 were 59% more likely to leave than 55- to 64-year-olds if their employer didn’t offer a hybrid work arrangement.

The larger Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (a collaboration between Chicago, ITAM, MIT and Stanford universities) presents more nuanced findings. Workers in their 20s were most likely to start looking for a new job if their employer denied them hybrid working. But over-50s were most likely to quit there and then. (Of course, younger workers may have itchier feet generally, and older workers may have an eye on retirement.)

A lot depends on how you ask the question. Invite workers to think of the option of WFH for two or three days in terms of a pay rise, and those in their 30s will give it the highest value. Ask what pay rise would be needed to work in their employer’s premises five days a week and it’s the over-50s who want the biggest bump.

The important point is that support for a hybrid arrangement is high across the board. The appeal of reduced commuting time — often the most cited benefit of remote working