Work is broken. Gen Z can help fix it | Amanda Schneider

0:06You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hume. Research shows that many millennials, so people my age, say they'd rather stay in one job until retirement, whereas Gen Zers tend to say they'd rather switch jobs every year. In her 2024 talk, consultant and researcher Amanda Schneider shares how our younger peers are reshaping the office as we know it and why it's best that we listen to what they have to say about the future of work. Coming up.

0:42I'd like to start with a little game of would you rather. So I'm going to invite everyone to go ahead and stand up. All right, take money off the table. Would you rather stay in the same job that you're in right now for the rest of your career? If so, you're going to go ahead and take a seat. Or would you rather change jobs every year from now until you retire? If so, you're going to remain standing. All right. Looks like around 60-40. You guys can go ahead and take a seat. So about 60-40 with the majority preferring to stay in the same job. Now, Gen Z will make up 27 % of the workforce by next year.

1:36And when we asked them this same question, the majority of them said that they would rather change jobs every year from now until they retire. While tenure, loyalty, and longevity have often been thought of as reasons to hire someone, our Gen Zers thought, would I rather build the collective insight from multiple different companies or only deep insight from one company? I share this to highlight just how differently from our traditional work norms, Gen Z sees the world. And we have a choice. We can ignore them. We could study them to stereotype them. But how did that work for all you millennials in the room?

2:23I want to suggest, rather than stereotyping, we look to Gen Z as prototypes to help us build a better future. When we prototype something, we keep the aspects that work, and we iterate on those that don't. Now, I've spent my career researching and writing about topics that matter to the world of workplace design and the knowledge workers who inhabit those spaces. If that's you or you manage a team of office workers, I'm glad you're here, because I want to argue that this topic right now has never been more important. In fact, I want to suggest that work is broken. But don't worry, in the next 10 minutes, I'm going to take you on a journey to understand why I say that and give us some inspiration, some what-ifs to fix it.

3:11Now, let's start with my story. My father instilled in me a deep curiosity for the working world when I was very young. And my mother instilled in me a deep desire to become a mother. I wanted to do both, and I wanted to do them well. And I was blessed with a phenomenal start to my career. But then came my second desire. I was blessed with my first son less than a decade into my career. And the transition was really tough. Here's why. Most of my paycheck was going to daycare. When we found out we were pregnant with our second son, before we even called our parents, we called the daycare only to discover that even with sibling priority, he wouldn't have a spot until he was seven months old.

4:01And I found myself, because of the standard accepted eight to five work hours, I was waking my kids up to rush them to daycare, to rush to work, to rush back, to pick them up, to feed them dinner, to put them in bed. We were spending more waking hours apart than together. and I hit a moment where I asked myself, what's the point? And sadly, this is the moment many women like me leave the workforce. But if we're honest, I would guess in the tumultuousness of the past four years, many of you have also had your own what's the point moment. So I'm going to invite you to close your eyes for just a minute.

4:42When was your what's the point moment?

4:50All right, you can open your eyes, but keep that moment in mind as I challenge that the norms our working world are built upon today are based on outdated rules that no longer apply. We still generally work banker's hours, a norm created when it was mostly men working with stay-at-home wives, and our linear career paths are built so that life peaks in your mid-career. This is the same time our duties caring for our elders and caring for our children peak as well. It's a recipe for burnout. But here's the good news. In the past four years, we've seen a massive shift in how knowledge workers work.

5:31Hybrid work is on the rise. This is the perfect time to rethink norms for the next era. And the solution in my research comes from looking at the youngest generation in our midst. Adam Grant calls this a Vouja Day moment. It's seeing things we've seen many times, but with fresh eyes. Now, my research team and I have intensely studied Gen Z and how their perceptions will affect the future of work. Here are three of the most interesting things that we've learned. Number one, Gen Z is blind to their own physical, digital fluidity. One of the most memorable moments in the research was when we were talking about hybrid work, and one of our young Gen Zers said, permission to speak freely?

6:23I said, of course. He said, I'm sick of everyone talking about how hybrid is hard. This isn't hard. It's just how we work. This is really a change management issue for you old people.

6:37And as a Gen Xer, that stung a bit. But if you think about it, Gen Z, the earliest of whom graduated in 2019, just pre-pandemic, hybrid isn't hard. It's simply the air they breathe. A fish doesn't know it's in water. It's just swimming. So, let's get fidgetal. That's physical plus digital. Now, contrary to popular belief, Gen Z doesn't want to be fully remote. They're also least likely to want to be five days a week in the office. They seamlessly and naturally understand how to blend the two worlds. So perhaps, by studying them, we can find clues that will help benefit the future of work for all of us.

7:25And as we look at broader research, most people actually would rather they care more about when they work than where they work. But if I do my best work at 4 a.m. and you do your best work at 10 p.m. to make that effective, we have to develop new communication norms, define core working hours for team interactions, and develop new ways of asynchronous working. While most of us have likely never had this privilege, the future of work starts with all of us looking deep to clarify when and where we're most productive. Number two, Gen Z expects transparency. You've likely heard about this from viral and very public salary discussions on TikTok.

8:15But we all were raised with the golden rule, right? You all can say it with me, treat others the way you want to be treated. But as a working mother who appreciates hybrid flexibility, to a Gen Z-er who maybe has to go into the office five days a week to escape a crowded roommate situation. Perhaps the new platinum role should be treat others the way they want to be treated, not the way you want to be treated. So let's find clarity through transparency. We all know that clarity is kind. And overall, in this five-star rating world, people want to know what will make them effective at your company.

8:56It's okay for people to move on. It's also okay for them to be clear about what trade-offs they will and won't make for work and their lives. But our companies must do the same. My hope is in the future. Companies have a range of options, where some, as their competitive advantage, are fully remote, others, as their competitive advantage, are fully in office, and there's a range of options where the majority of them exist in between. The future of work will start with companies boldly declaring their policies to help all of us make better career matches. All right. And number three, Gen Z insists on inclusion.

9:37Managers can't do it all, but they're often burdened, feeling like they have to. This can lead to implementation overload, where new ideas feel overwhelming. All the while, Gen Z is saying, put me in coach, but they often don't know where to begin. So let's engage new voices. Now, one of my favorite stories I've heard about this is that of the Gucci shadow board. In 2017, Gucci recognized that its sales were declining as its core demographic was aging. So they put in place a next-gen advisory board to advise their senior leadership on how to connect with the next generation through product development and marketing initiatives.

10:19The result was 136 % sales growth at the same time period that their largest competitor declined almost 12%. The future of work will start with engaging new voices from new places, but also all of us being open to hearing them, even when they don't match what we previously believed to be true. Now, let's return to my story, which obviously started well before Gen Z in the office was even a thing to study. But I think you'll find some similarities. Now, in 2011, I left my traditional job thinking it was a sidestep in my career. By 2015, that sidestep was so successful that we actually incorporated, and I started hiring other working moms that had left the traditional workforce for one reason or another.

11:13This group of powerful women effectively doubled our business 100 % by word of mouth year over year until ultimately we were acquired in 2018 by the largest media brand in our industry. And we were able to do this because we got fidgetal. Like Gen Z is expecting, we blended synchronous and asynchronous work. We found clarity through transparency. Our work style and culture was not for everyone, and some left us because of it. But those retained were the best fit for our culture, and actually helped us build an even more authentic brand. And finally, we stayed open to new ideas, even when it didn't match what we previously believed to be true.

11:57So, what I'm most proud of is, although this was developed for a group of working mothers, It grew to include an empty nester. It also grew to include a single 40-year-old and even a veteran shifting its career. We've proved success not only for those individuals, but success for the business. So I'll leave you with this. Work as we know it is broken. Gen Z can help us fix it, but it will take all of us to make it happen. Thank you.

12:37That was Amanda Schneider speaking at TEDxFargo in 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at ted.com slash curationguidelines. And that's it for today's show. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tonsika Sarmanivon. It was mixed by Christopher Fazey-Bogan, Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Ballarezzo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.