Company Culture

Wakes up. Makes a tea. Opens laptop. Gets to work.

The world of flexible working is nothing new to us, with the outbreak of COVID-19 accelerating its inevitable adoption. Our rooms became our offices, and our colleagues lived within our laptops. As we all know, this wasn’t just an isolated moment of history, and the legacy of COVID-19 meant that as of October 2024, 41% of UK workers engaged in remote work at least part of the week (ONS).

Yet these habits are now being challenged with a ‘back to the office’ push from some companies, resulting in hotly debated arguments about what’s best for the industry. Gen Z are inevitably at the sharp end of this push, suffering accusations of laziness or an unwillingness to engage in company culture. In truth, Gen Z have a wide spectrum of perspectives on the issue and their attitude towards company culture is complex.

EXPLORE INSIGHTS

Insight 1

MENTAL HEALTH

Employee mental health can vary drastically depending on the workplace but our research shows Gen Z are far more confident about their mental health than they’re given credit for, especially when compared to other generations.

The stats show that although their general mental health isn’t perfect, Gen Z aren’t feeling the mentally pressures of working in the creative industries as much as their Millennial colleagues. We might infer that this is due to Gen Z creatives having a healthier attitude towards the discussion and treatment of their mental health, or simply that due to the disadvantages they have faced in recent years, they are able to ‘roll with the punches’ more than other generations.

Jonathan Chabala
Artist Marketing Manager
Spotify
Gen Z

Yolanda O’Leary
Insights and Strategy Director
YourStudio
Millennial

51% of Gen-Z say that the creative industries have a negative impact on their mental health, compared to 60% of millennials.

Insight 2

Work-life balance

The mental strain that Gen Z do feel when working within the creative industries could be down to many reasons, but the one that caught our attention was something held in high regard by both Gen-Z and Millennials: work-life balance.

Again, Gen-Z appear to defy stereotypes with a desire to give more of their time than Millennials to their careers. However our survey did make one thing clear: they’re in clear need of stronger boundaries from management, with nearly half of respondents saying their needs weren’t currently being respected.

Natalie Yung
3D Experience Designer
YourStudio
Gen Z

Noha Mohamed
Ad Operations & Podcast Production Executive, The Drum
Millennial

77% of Gen-Z say that a work-life balance is important to them, compared to 86% of millennials.

47% of Gen-Z said their managers don’t respect their work-life balance.

Insight 3

Flexible working

So, where does flexible working fit within all of this? Does the WFH-WFO split mirror all of the industry tropes about Gen-Z staying at home all the time?

Well, put simply, the answer is no. Our Gen-Z respondents were as likely to work from the office as their Millennial counterparts, with a 3-day at home / 2-day at office split the most popular of outcomes

Rob Estreitinho
Founder
Salmon Labs
Millennial

In AN IDEAL WORLD, 47% of Gen-Z WANTED TO SPEND 2 DAYS AT HOME AND 3 DAYS AT THE OFFICE. 

‍MILLENNIALS, ON THE OTHER HAND, WANTED TO SPEND 4 DAYS AT HOME AND 1 DAY AT THE OFFICE.

90% of both Gen-Z and Millennials believe that side-hustles are here to stay.

→                          When these clashes arise, it can be more helpful to look at all the extra skills a side-hustle can provide, such as collaboration, leadership, and critical thinking. Side-hustles are here to stay and it’s up to companies to reframe them as a positive, enriching part of their employee culture rather than a distraction. Employers should explore how to nurture the skills and responsibilities developed in side-hustles and create clear opportunities for young people to transfer them into their day jobs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our research shows that Millennials want to spend more time working at home, whereas Gen Z want more time to learn from their elders.

However, what we heard from both generations is a yearning for increased connection in the workplace. We have to create the conditions for this to be possible, setting the right expectations with clients so that staff don’t feel like they always need to be on.

We should move from an industry that prioritises being busy, towards one full of organisations that regularly create space for in person collaboration with teams of different levels of experience learning through osmosis.

1) Focus less on mandating set-days to work in the office and rather on being intentional with the time spent together as a team in the office. This should include dedicating time each week for team learning sessions with different levels of experience present, as well as inviting more junior staff to early stage ideation and client meetings.

2) Change the terms of engagement in contracts with clients from the start. These more human based contracts introduced during the project set up phase should focus not just on what but also how the work is delivered. It could include clear boundaries around the expected working hours, what does / doesn’t count as an emergency and a time buffer built into deliverables.

3) Train up mental health allies who are beacons of support that more junior colleagues can reach out to, safe in knowledge that what they disclose will not be shared.

THE INDUSTRY'S SAY ON THE FUTURE

Gareth Evans
D&I Strategist
Spectra
Millennial

EXPLORE
THE REPORT.

Growing up through austerity, an unprecedented global pandemic, and a looming environmental crisis, Gen Z creatives continue to face a unique cocktail of challenges. In 2024 Youth Beyond Borders (YBB) and EssenceMediacom (EMC) set out to help the next generation with a flagship programme called Future Friday’s. The programme gave young people the opportunity to develop creative projects through 8 weekly micro-residencies in professional settings, with financial support and mentoring from leading figures in the creative sector. Our cohort of young creatives threw themselves into the project, creating some groundbreaking work and forging networks that will help them carve a path through the industry in years to come. Yet something still felt off. Participants reported that they often struggled to communicate with senior leaders in their placement organisations, and opportunities to present their ideas in formal contexts led to feelings of awkwardness and hesitation. Put simply, our participants felt that they were unable to be their authentic selves in the workplace, meaning that their creativity, enthusiasm, and potential were being overlooked.This is part of a wider trend that we have noticed within our network of 1,500+ young creatives in the U.K.

CAREERS

AI