Six ways Gen Z are improving the workplace for everyone else

Not working overtime, taking allocated lunch breaks and speaking up about burnout – scandalous, right? While some say Gen Z are “ruining” the workplace, our Head of Content thinks they’re rewriting the rulebook for the better. Here’s what she’s learnt from working with the so-called “problem” generation.

As an elder millennial whose first job was in newspapers in the early 00s, a time when you only discovered the HR department existed if you were fired, and being shouted at was a daily occurrence, I have welcomed the shift in workplace culture we’ve seen over the past decade. Mental health is in, drinking a bottle of wine at lunch time and storming back into the office reeking of cigarettes to make wildly inappropriate creative decisions and upset your entire team is out.

The move towards companies valuing employees as individuals, caring that they don’t burn out and nurturing their development, can in my view only be a good thing. This is especially true of the creative industries, which face so many barriers to entry as it is. I think it’s great that entry-level talent has boundaries and knows its worth. I completely disagree with this characterisation of Gen-Z as work-shy and problematic. Here are six things I’ve learnt from working with people in their 20s.

Setting boundaries
It’s ok to not have emails on your phone, to leave the office dead-on your finish time and push back on requests when you’re already at capacity.

Radical vulnerability
Hormonal? Struggling? Just having a bad day? There’s no shame in sharing.

Comfycore
Sure, wear a tracksuit to the office. Keep your hoodie up all day if you want to. You should be judged on your output not your outfits.

Lunch isn’t for wimps
Eating a sandwich at your desk is reserved only for the busiest days. An hour off to chat with colleagues or have some quiet time is the reset we all need.

School of life
You don’t need to have spent thousands of pounds and three years getting a degree to be taken seriously.

Out of office
Take a duvet day if it’ll mean you perform better tomorrow.

It’s ok to get paid
All those years I spent as an unpaid intern on magazines, and writing for free for my “portfolio” = only now do I realise I could have, and should have asked for a fee!