The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of work with a greater focus on flexible models and employee well-being. Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter, Lynn Perry Wooten, president of Simmons University, and David and Jonah Stillman, co-authors of “Gen Z @ Work,” join Washington Post Live to discuss the restructuring of work in the post-pandemic economy, the economic pressures in today’s labor market and the changing expectations of young professionals joining the workforce for the first time.
“This new generation of workers especially have different expectations for their employers. I think people want to live healthier lives, they want to have more balance in their lives especially with the introduction of social media, people have identities and lives that are outside of their work.” – Everette Taylor (Video: Washington Post Live)
”We go from a pandemic to a social reckoning to political unrest to the banking crisis to what are we seeing happening in Europe, and so every day we have to get up and assure people that we have their best interest… Being a leader, you’re thinking about the individual, you’re thinking about the team but then you have to go up and what’s the best interest for the entire institution.” - Lynn Perry Wooten (Video: Washington Post Live)
“We say, ‘what is your preferred mode of communication?’ And the four choices we give are email, text, phone or face-to-face. And overwhelmingly each time we’ve run the study, the answer is face-to-face communication… Just under 85 percent of Gen-Z said that they prefer face-to-face communication.” - Jonah Stillman (Video: Washington Post Live)
“One of the biggest things we saw was the death of the participation award, all that collaborative millennials, baby boomers were like everyone, show up do your best, you don’t even have to be that good at it. We said to our kids, ‘there’s winners and there’s losers.’” – David Stillman (Video: Washington Post Live)
“Six percent of Gen-Z likes open-office concept. As they see, ‘get your nose out of my work, I actually want your job.’ And so I think what’s going to happen is that this collaborative group of millennials is not going to be ready, and because of the pandemic to your point, they haven’t had a lot of time actually managing in a face-to-face environment.” – David Stillman (Video: Washington Post Live)
Everette Taylor
CEO, Kickstarter
Lynn Perry Wooten
President, Simmons University
Author, “The Prepared Leader”
David Stillman
Co-Author, “Gen Z @ Work”
Jonah Stillman
Co-Author, “Gen Z @ Work”
Content from AARP
The following content is produced and paid for by a Washington Post Live event sponsor. The Washington Post newsroom is not involved in the production of this content.
(Video: Washington Post Live)
Innovative Approaches to Managing Risk
COVID-19 forced workplaces to pivot like never before. In a segment presented by AARP, business leaders address the need to better identify future risks to the workplace while adjusting for changing behaviors. This segment will discuss the importance on planning and the innovative approaches required to address risks.
Scott Frisch
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, AARP