During the pandemic, remote work became the norm for many businesses but is there another shift happening? In this video clip from "The Virtual Opportunities Show" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on April 12, Fool.com contributors Rachel Warren, Travis Hoium, and Demitri Kalogeropoulos discuss a new trend that shows a younger demographic wanting a return to a corporate environment.
Rachel Warren: One thing I did want to note as well and to follow up on what Jose had mentioned about the age group, which I wish there had been more of a look at some of the demographics related to that study. But for example, with interns being dissatisfied with remote work. You think of some of the reports that came out earlier this year about Gen Zers, Business Insider reported that 65% of Gen Zers planned to join the "Great Resignation." This was back in February.
Then last month there was an article on Fortune actually that was also saying 80% of these demographics said they want to leave their job to find a career that aligns more with their interests. I think we're going to continue to see a lot of movement in different work-age demographics but I do think it's going to be very much a tug of war between what workers want and what companies and managers are willing to provide.
Travis Hoium: That will be interesting to tie into what we started with. That's really easy to say when there's stimulus coming all the time and there's plenty of jobs, maybe a little harder when your groceries and your rent are 10% more expensive than they were a year ago, and you decide you quit your job. I just think that is an interesting dichotomy between those two things right now.
Demitri Kalogeropoulos: I never thought about the idea of breaking it down demographically because I would just assume maybe younger workers would be more interested in work-from-home because they're more, maybe comfortable with, they're less attached to that corporate environment. They have less experience doing that and they're more digitally enabled, I guess.
But then it makes sense to me because if you're an intern, you want to be interacting with people, you want to learn about the job. You want to see how each of the roles are playing out and network and all that too. Maybe later on in your career, you can be more independent, but it does make sense, I think, in that way.
Hoium: Well, on the social infrastructure too. I think there's been a lot of coverage of this in Silicon Valley. If you have a family and you're at home, working from home is great because at the end of the day your kids are there, your spouse is there. If you're single and 25 and everything is shut down and you're just on Zoom calls all day and you shut your computer down and you're just alone, that's a very different dynamic. That's something that I think is going to play into this as well.
