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Gen Z workers herald gradual shift in office culture

Yahoo Finance's Kelsey Barberio discusses Gen Z seeking stability in the workplace over other perks.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

- All right, well let's continue our conversation with a focus on another aspect of youth unemployment. The youngest cohort in today's workforce, Gen Z, comes with a different set of expectations about work, from social responsibility to flexibility in work from home. But as the balance of power shifts back to employers, how will these trends square with the new economy?

Well, joining us now, Yahoo Finance's Kelsey Barberio. So what are we watching here? Because it seemed like the employees had all the power at one point.

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KELSEY BARBERIO: Definitely seems like they did. I think that now people are a little bit worried about stability. I think that's going to be a big thing, like it would be for anybody. We're a little bit scared about the economy. I think that people want to find themselves in a role that is going to make them feel like they might be there for at least a little while, given how things are.

But I think outside of that, there are a lot of factors. I think that people really care a lot about a remote or a hybrid work environment. I think that especially there's a shift there where people at one point I think, wanted to be fully remote, that was a big goal. And now we have all these recent grads who have never been into an office and they're realizing just how important something like that is when they realize that they go to Slack their coworker and they don't know them and it makes it really awkward and really uncomfortable.

So I think that more people are looking for still that flexibility, where they can go maybe work from London for a week, but they still want to be able to go into the office, feel like they're comfortable, they know their employees, their employers, their coworkers. And that's another thing that I think people are really caring about right now is they want to know who they're working with. Are they going to be friendly with the people that are there? I think that people are trying to avoid a toxic work environment in any way possible.

[INAUDIBLE] talks about it all the time, the terrible boss or whatever. People want to make sure that they're going to be in a role that makes them feel fulfilled and that's based on their coworkers, based on different perks and things like that. But I don't think people care as much about the Google type perks these days. I think people are more concerned about stability.

- Yeah. Kelsey, it feels like there's a bit of a reality check that's about to come with this particular generation, because as you point out, a lot of these people just graduated straight into the pandemic, in a remote environment. And what we're seeing increasingly is, as the labor market sort of evolves here and as companies struggle to get employees back into the office, they're increasingly saying, we're not going to do remote anymore. We've seen data from places like LinkedIn point to that. What do you think that suggests in terms of the expectations for the youngest workforce, when this is all they've known?

KELSEY BARBERIO: I mean, I think they're going to just have to figure it out. I think that, that's what we've all had to do. I mean, I'm 27-years-old so, I have lived life in an office before the pandemic. I'm used to it.

I know what it's like, but I get to be remote now and that's wonderful. But I'm fully understanding that not every role is like that and I think that a lot of people feel the same way. I think initially it might feel difficult for people to take a fully in-office position, but when they're faced with the reality of whether not having a job or going in and making it happen, I think they'll make the right choice.

- OK, we'll be watching. Certainly employers hoping it's moving in that direction. Kelsey Barberio, thanks so much for that.