Gen Zers Crave the Office
“What does Generation Z want?” That was the question posed by the real estate brokerage Newmark Group Inc. as it asked younger workers what they desired from their workplaces.
One of the surprise results: If given the binary choice between being fully remote or fully in office, 80% of respondents would choose to be in the office. However, and not so surprisingly, hybrid came out to be the top choice when it was offered as an option.
Gen Z workers, or those born from 1997 through 2012 and who constitute today’s younger employees, have been a bit of mystery to bosses. So Newmark set about to find out what they want – and used two Gen Zers to do the asking. Most of the respondents – 56% – were in California.
Key findings:
• 82% prefer to work in cities over suburbs and even over mountain or beach towns.
• Though Gen Z workers are more focused on a better work-life balance than previous generations, they still prefer to spend time in the office. (Of the respondents who ranked the importance of work-life balance at a 5 on a 1-5 scale, 85% still expressed a desire to be in the office.)
• The average maximum commute time participants were willing to travel one way was just over 45 minutes
• Gen Z craves mentorship and face-to-face learning.
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Angelenos like to think of themselves as trendsetters. And when it comes to renting instead of buying a home, we certainly are. Los Angeles has 46 ZIP codes where renters are in the majority – more than any other city. (New York is close with 44.) Three ZIP codes are close to being renter-only neighborhoods, with homeowner occupancy of 3.5% or less. They are 90014 in central downtown, 90017 in the Good Samaritan Hospital area and 90057 around MacArthur Park.
This is according to a study that came out two weeks ago from RentCafe, an apartment-finding website.
Nationwide, according to RentCafe, 43.7 million households now rent. That’s the highest level in 55 years. And 101 ZIP codes switched to a renter majority in the past decade.
The Insider column is compiled by Editor-in-Chief Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
