Gen Z who moan about coming into office blame WFH for feeling ‘lonely’

Gen Z feel overwhelmingly left behind by remote working practices beloved by their older office peers, a new study has found.

The post-covid world of WFH and hybrid working is leaving the UK’s youngest generation of adults feeling ‘lonely’ and ‘anonymous’ among their colleagues.

Researchers found Gen Z feel they are missing out on ‘water cooler’ moments – from chatting to colleagues to after-work drinks – that were taken for granted by the generations above.

Considerably higher than any other age group, more than three-quarters (78%) of WFH and hybrid staff aged 18 to 28 say they would favour a return to the office full or part time.

Older workers are far less enthused, with nearly three-quarters (74%) of WFH Baby Boomers – aged 60 plus – saying they would not return to the office if requested to do so.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Gen X – aged 44 to 59 – say they would resist a return to the office, even on a part-time basis. The same for around half (55%) of Millennials – 29 to 43.

The research was conducted for AI e-learning platform Thrive as it rolls out Thrive Hub to its impressive list of clients, including household names like Vodafone, Burger King and ASOS.

Their pioneering new Learning Management System introduces a personalised launchpad that connects every work system, app and workflow of staff members.

Among the features is Spaces, a new social community engine Spaces to help colleagues – whatever their age – stay connected with their peers and feel more part of the team.

Thrive, named among the Sunday Times’ Top 50 fastest-growing UK tech companies for 2025, introduced its new LMS system at its Thrive Live event on London on Wednesday (December 3).

Some of the biggest drivers behind Gen Z wanting a return to a more traditional office environment centre around the social aspects of working life.

More than two-fifths (44%) of young Brits say they miss out on office gossip and chats – more than double all other age groups, the highest being Gen X at 19%.

The same number (44%) of Gen Z feel ‘anonymous’ or ‘less visible’ due to their current WFH or hybrid work setup, compared to just 16% of Millennials and Gen X and 7% of Boomers.

Two-thirds (67%) of Gen Z feel ‘disconnected’ from colleagues – far higher than felt by older colleagues for whom full-time office working was the norm before the global pandemic.

The sense of disconnection from colleagues was felt by a third (34%) of Gen X but less than a quarter of Millennials (23%) and Boomers (22%).

A third (33%) of Gen Z feel less well-known to peers than before the introduction of WFH compared to a quarter of Gen X (26%) and Millennials (25%) and just 17% of Boomers.

And, more than half (56%) of Gen Z feel WFH means they miss out on spontaneous social moments like grabbing lunch with a colleague and going to the pub with office pals.

This ‘FOMO effect’ of WFH was felt by twice as many Gen Z than all other age groups quizzed, the highest being Millennials (25%) in the survey of 2,000 WFH and hybrid workers.

When it comes to work itself, two in 10 (22%) Gen Z say their biggest motivator to return to a full-time office setup was to ‘collaborate more effectively with colleagues’ – a sentiment not shared by older peers, the highest being Gen X at one in 10 (11%).

Thrive co-CEO Cassie Gasson said: ‘The pandemic sparked a workplace revolution – WFH has been a real game-changer for millions of Brits balancing life and office demands.

‘But, this response from the youngest members of our workforce has been loud and clear, they’re feeling left behind and isolated by the new setup.

‘For most, working from the office was just the done thing, so the associated networking and social elements are simply taken for granted.

‘While we can’t turn the clock back, at Thrive we’ve worked to develop new systems to make every business and every employee feel connected and more part of a team.

‘That’s why we’re so proud that our customers will benefit from our new Hub and Social Spaces on Thrive. It’ll be used by millions of workers, connecting teams and colleagues in ways never seen before.’