The last year-and-a-half has uprooted everything we know about the workplace, and widened the experience gap between younger professionals and older, more experienced colleagues.
According to a new survey from Adobe, the challenges among workers vary depending on generation. This indicates that Gen Z employees who are feeling the bulk of dissatisfaction after entering an unprecedented work field are driving The Great Resignation.
In fact, the surveys showed that over half of Gen Z respondens planned to seek a new job next year and were among the least satisfied with their work-life balance. Additionally, 62% said they felt pressured to work during normal office hours, despite one-quarter saying they perform better working outside of traditional 9 to 5 schedules.
Toronto-based customer experience firm Ada cites the Adobe study as a reason why companies should incorporate flexibility into their office arrangements.
Ada itself adopted a flexible workplace even prior to the pandemic, which includes giving its over 300 employees unlimited paid time off and companywide PTO days in observance of events like “National Strawberry Ice Cream Day.”
“Flexibility and autonomy are increasingly part of the values evaluation process for employees, and for our Gen Z and millennials, they continue to focus on values alignment as an important part of how they choose an employer,” said Chelsea MacDonald, senior VP of operations at Ada. “They’re savvy evaluators, and these groups will continue to reward companies that align with their values and punish those that don’t.”