70 Percent of Workers Over 50 Go To Office As Gen Z, Millennials Prefer Hybrid

Workers over 50 are most likely to come into an office full time, while Gen Z and Millennials were most likely to choose a hybrid, two, three or four days, in the office arrangement. 

Older workers are more accustomed to being in an office and may feel more comfortable with that, especially as data reveals bosses remain less approving of hybrid or remote work than employees. Younger workers feel more empowered and less threatened by it as they do so much on mobile devices anyway. But these results do suggest that hybrid is here to stay and likely to become the common standard. JL 

Britney Nguyen reports in Quartz:

Almost 70% of full-time workers between the ages of 50 and 64 say they work fully on-site. This age group were also the most likely to not come in at all, responding they work fully from home. Gen Z and millennial workers between the ages of 20 and 29 were most likely to have a hybrid work arrangement, with 31.7%, almost double the percentage of workers between 50 and 64. Almost 30% of workers between the ages of 30 and 39 responded that they work hybrid, while just over a quarter of workers between 40 and 49 years old reported being hybrid. "Older workers have decades of experience and habit coming into the office, so that might push them to come in more often than younger workers who embrace hybrid.”

It’s no surprise older and younger generations have different habits and attitudes — and it extends to the workplace, too.

Almost 70% of full-time workers between the ages of 50 and 64 say they work fully on-site, according to the monthly Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA), which surveyed over 13,200 workers between 20 and 64 on their working arrangements. Workers in this age group were also the most likely to not come in at all compared to other age groups, with 14% responding they work fully from home.

Compared to younger workers, full-time employees between the ages of 50 and 64 were least likely to have a hybrid work arrangement and more likely to be on either end of the spectrum. The survey, which has measured work arrangements since May 2020, is authored by Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J. Davis, and defines the full workday as at least six hours.

Gen Z and millennial workers between the ages of 20 and 29 were most likely to have a hybrid working arrangement compared to other groups, with 31.7% — or almost double the percentage of workers between 50 and 64 — responding that they have a hybrid arrangement. Almost 30% of workers between the ages of 30 and 39 responded that they work hybrid, while just over a quarter of workers between 40 and 49 years old reported being hybrid.

Barrero, an assistant professor of finance at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), told Business Insider there are two likely explanations for the split between younger and older workers.

“On one hand, those older workers need less mentoring and networking than younger ones. That means they can afford to be fully remote and might feel really comfortable doing things on their own,” Barrero told Business Insider.

“On the other hand, these folks have decades of experience and habit coming into the office. So that muscle memory might push them to come in more often than younger workers who embrace hybrid.”