Why the generation everyone thought would work fully remote is actually craving something completely different—and what it means for leaders in 2025.
Here’s a story that’ll make you question everything you think you know about leading younger employees.
Last month, I was Coaching a VP who was pulling his hair out. His team was scattered across three time zones, productivity was down, and his newest hires—all Gen Z workers—seemed disengaged despite having the “dream setup” of full remote work that everyone said they wanted.
“Doug, I don’t get it,” he told me. “We gave them complete flexibility, cutting-edge tech, and zero commute time. Shouldn’t they be thriving?”
Then Gallup dropped a bombshell that flipped the entire conversation upside down.
Gen Z workers in the U.S. are the least likely generation to prefer exclusively remote work, according to Gallup’s latest May 2025 findings. Only 23% of remote-capable Gen Z employees say they would prefer fully remote work, compared with 35% among each older generation.
Wait, what?
The generation that grew up with smartphones glued to their hands, who can navigate TikTok faster than most of us can find the TV remote, who seem to live their entire social lives through screens—they’re the ones who actually want to come into the office?
71% of Gen Z employees said that they prefer a hybrid work environment, the highest percentage among all generations. They’re not just okay with showing up in person—they’re leading the charge.
This isn’t just a minor workplace trend. This is a complete reversal of what every leadership expert, HR consultant, and business strategist has been preaching for the past three years.
Think about it like this: imagine you’re a master chef who’s been perfecting recipes for decades. Then someone walks into your kitchen and tells you that salt actually makes things taste bland, and sugar makes them savory. That’s what’s happening to leaders right now.
We’ve been operating under the assumption that younger workers want maximum flexibility and minimal face-to-face interaction. We’ve designed entire strategies around this belief. We’ve restructured teams, invested in remote-first technologies, and built cultures that prioritize asynchronous communication.
But here’s the thing about assumptions—they’re like building a house on quicksand. Eventually, the foundation gives way.
Gen Z employees feel that their careers are being “compromised” by fully remote work. Mentorship is crucial for early-career employees, and it can be more difficult to establish those Relationships in a remote setting.
Think about when you were starting your career. How many of your most important lessons came from overhearing a conversation in the hallway? From grabbing coffee with a mentor who casually shared a piece of Wisdom that changed your perspective? From watching how a seasoned professional handled a tense client call?
You can’t schedule serendipity on Zoom.
Here’s where it gets really interesting—and heartbreaking. Gen Z is almost twice as likely as Gen X, and nearly three times as likely as Baby Boomers, to say they experienced loneliness a lot of the day yesterday.
Picture this: you’re 24 years old. You graduated college during a pandemic. Your first “real job” involves staring at a screen in your childhood bedroom or a cramped apartment. Your coworkers are thumbnail images on your laptop. Your manager is a voice on a conference call.
No wonder “there’s a craving for that in-person connection.”
But here’s the kicker—many hybrid workers are still ending up isolated. The vast majority of Gen Z hybrid workers (66%) say they are required to work a certain number of days on-site each week, but they can choose which days. So they show up to the office on Tuesday, but everyone else chose Wednesday and Thursday. They’re physically present but socially invisible.
It’s like going to a party where you’re the only one who shows up.
Here’s what’s keeping me up at night as someone who’s spent 30+ years studying what makes teams tick: most leaders are completely unprepared for this shift.
We’ve gotten really good at managing distributed teams. We’ve mastered the art of running efficient video conferences. We’ve learned to track productivity through digital dashboards and project management tools.
But we’ve forgotten how to create the kinds of experiences that actually develop people.
“There are so many things that happen in-person that you can’t schedule for on Zoom calls: random conversations, solving problems, quickly asking for advice.”
When’s the last time you had a breakthrough idea during a scheduled brainstorming session versus during an unexpected hallway conversation? When’s the last time you really understood someone’s communication style through their carefully crafted email messages versus watching how they react under pressure in real time?
The skills that separate good leaders from great ones—reading body language, building genuine rapport, creating psychological safety—these don’t translate through a webcam.
This isn’t just about work preferences. This is about a generation that’s essentially saying: “We want to learn. We want to grow. We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. And we can’t get that from our laptops.”
77% of 18- to 24-year-olds are worried that remote work restricts their career progression. They’re not being entitled or demanding. They’re being strategic about their futures in ways that should make every leader pay attention.
They’re telling us that they need what every human being needs: connection, mentorship, and the chance to learn from others. The difference is, they’re brave enough to admit it.
So what do you do with this information? Here’s the framework I’m sharing with leaders who want to get ahead of this shift:
Stop letting people choose their own office days like it’s a buffet line. The solution could be scheduling certain days for the whole team to be in-person. Be intentional about when your team comes together. Make sure your Gen Z employees aren’t showing up to empty offices.
It’s like hosting a dinner party. You don’t tell your guests to show up whenever they feel like it and hope for the best. You coordinate. You plan. You create the conditions for meaningful interaction.
Traditional mentorship was built on proximity and spontaneity. Now you need to be deliberate about creating those learning moments. Fully remote teams can build closer connections with Gen Z workers by prioritizing “meaningful conversations” about career goals, challenges and strengths.
This means scheduling regular one-on-ones that go beyond project updates. It means creating structured opportunities for cross-generational knowledge transfer. It means designing work experiences that give younger employees visibility into how decisions get made and problems get solved.
“I think that people in the upper generations need to consider not just what’s good for me, but what’s good for the whole team, the whole organization.”
This is the hardest part for many leaders I work with. You might be a millennial who fought hard for remote work flexibility, or a Gen X leader who values efficiency above all else. But effective leadership means adapting your style to meet your team where they are, not where you think they should be.
If your Gen Z employees are telling you they need more face-to-face interaction, don’t dismiss it as them “not getting” remote work. Listen to what they’re actually saying about what they need to succeed.
Here’s what this trend really represents: a generation that’s hungry to learn, eager to contribute, and smart enough to know that real professional Growth happens through relationships, not just tasks.
As leaders, we have a choice. We can dismiss these preferences as generational quirks, or we can see them for what they really are—a roadmap for building stronger, more connected, more effective teams.
The companies that figure this out first will have a massive competitive advantage. They’ll attract and retain the best young talent. They’ll build cultures that foster Innovation and collaboration. They’ll create the kind of workplace where people don’t just clock in—they actually grow.
The ones that don’t? They’ll keep wondering why their carefully crafted remote-first strategies aren’t delivering the results they expected.
Take a hard look at your team. Are your youngest employees engaged? Are they growing? Are they building the relationships they need to succeed long-term?
If the answer is no, it might not be a performance problem. It might be a connection problem.
And connection, as it turns out, isn’t something you can automate, digitize, or schedule into a calendar app. It’s something you have to create, nurture, and protect—one meaningful interaction at a time.
The future of leadership isn’t about choosing between remote and in-person work. It’s about understanding what each generation needs to thrive, and having the wisdom to create those conditions—even when it challenges everything you thought you knew.
Your Gen Z employees are showing you the way. The question is: are you ready to follow their lead?
Doug Thorpe is an executive and business coach who helps leaders navigate the evolving challenges of managing distributed teams. With 30+ years of experience spanning military leadership, Wall Street, and entrepreneurship, he specializes in building authentic connections across generational and geographical divides.
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