Water-cooler chat or work-life balance? What matters to young workers

Before starting at Brisbane Times, I worked from home for nearly three years for an online publication.

For years, my sickeningly wholesome pre-work routine was to wake early, go for a walk, get a coffee, swim in the ocean and be at my desk ready to work by 8.30am.

Remote work meant I could live where I wanted, help my sister with her newborn baby, work interstate and overseas and take a more flexible approach to each day.

It had a huge effect on my mental health and productivity.

In theory, it’s a great set-up for writers who don’t necessarily feel creative between the hours of 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. And for the most part, it worked. In my mind, the social nature of an office would have been distracting.

Speaking recently to a friend about remote work, she described the impact work from home had on her dad during COVID.

“He started crying and said, ‘This is the first time in my 35-year career that I haven’t had to drive three hours every day for work. I have all this time to do all these things, go to the gym, spend time with my family. I didn’t know that life could be like this’.”

But younger generations know that their working lives can be “like this”, and they’re increasingly valuing jobs that allow for a better work-life balance.

Research from Microsoft published in 2022 found 53 per cent of employees were more likely to prioritise health and wellbeing over work, with 47 per cent of respondents saying they were more likely to put family and personal life ahead of their job than before the pandemic.

The same study found 58 per cent of Gen Z workers were considering a shift to hybrid work and 56 per cent were considering a shift to remote work.

For all the pros of flexible work arrangements, one of the cons is the lack of spontaneous interactions afforded to people who aren’t co-located with their colleagues.

When you put the options side by side – commuting to a 9-5 office job versus the flexibility and relative autonomy of hybrid and WFH – it’s easy to see what is more attractive. But Dr Caroline Knight, senior lecturer in management at the University of Queensland, warns there are other factors to consider.

“If you’re a new graduate, for example, it can be very difficult to build networks with people if you’re not in the office more often,” Knight said.

“If you’re working from home a couple of days a week, it can take longer to develop and maintain trusting relationships with colleagues.”

Knight has found that hybrid workers, particularly young recruits who don’t have partners or who live with family, are susceptible to loneliness and isolation, and might struggle to connect with colleagues.

“Obviously you can connect with colleagues online if you’re good at that … but, ultimately, we’re finding that it is the in-person relationships that really are the most meaningful, especially if you’re starting out.”

Employees co-located in physical workplaces are set up for “richer communication”: impromptu chats across the desk, after-work drinks or a passing conversation in the hallway – what is otherwise known as “water-cooler chat”.

At my previous job, my boss tried to imitate that water-cooler chat with a weekly virtual coffee catch-up. For a team of mostly introverts who had never met in person, it could be painfully awkward. But the times we did get together in-person, the dynamic was vastly different.

That’s the takeaway. Virtual connections don’t always give a full sense of who someone is – their mannerisms, body language and idiosyncrasies. These are helpful to understand about the people you work with. Otherwise, it’s a bit like online dating: you can only go so far with someone until you meet.

Having experienced remote, hybrid and full-time office work, I can see benefits to all.

Productivity isn’t always necessitated by where you’re working but how you work as an individual. Physical proximity makes it easier to build connections with colleagues (who, let’s face it, you spend a lot of your life interacting with) and is useful for face-to-face feedback. We don’t have a water cooler, but that off-the-cuff chat in the kitchen or across the desk is a welcome distraction.

But it might also have a contrasting effect on neurodivergent workers or individuals managing mental and physical health conditions, parents with young children and workers with long, expensive commutes.

While some workplaces push for a permanent return to the office, others see the benefits of hybrid work in enhancing employee satisfaction – even if all it means is just having the option available.

“A lot of organisations have become interested in work design because it is one way to protect people against psychosocial ill health … burnout, stress, anxiety – all those things are already high, particularly since COVID,” Knight said.

“There is a way that people can work better when they have the autonomy to choose … and find out what works for them or what doesn’t.”

Which might be the best parting advice for younger workers still figuring out what works best for them.