For young employees, the traditional idea of being in the office five days a week is no longer the norm. The pandemic normalized remote work, and now hybrid setups and fully virtual jobs are a common part of many industries. As they came of age in this hybrid and remote-friendly workforce, many young professionals have never experienced a strictly in-person, 9-to-5 office culture the way older generations did. Now with about “return to office” (RTO) mandates dominating the news cycle, many assume young workers are reluctant to give up the flexibility they’ve grown accustomed to. Older generations often see remote and hybrid flexibility as a crutch, accusing younger workers of being lazy or unable to function in the “real world” of traditional office work. Even actress Whoppi Goldberg has scolded young people for not wanting to “bust their behinds” the way previous gens did. This belief, coupled with headlines about the “Gen Z CEO who works from bed” and trends like “task masking”, has only fueled stereotypes that young workers...
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