Mind the Gap: For Gen Z, is the return of the workplace ritual fun or forced?

CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

Click to get this newsletter weekly

Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities

first up

A photo of three people laughing and eating pizza

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at what it means to have “fun” with your coworkers.

For Gen Zers who started new jobs remotely over the past couple of years, the concept of an in-person happy hour may be as foreign as answering the phone (naurrrrr). But as employers nudge people back into the office, there’s something to be said for the revival of the workplace ritual.

Millennials, Gen Xers, and boomers have loads of experience with after-work activities. Before the pandemic, the boss or the office social butterfly would organize happy hours, trivia nights, or—if you were really unlucky—karaoke. The idea was to create relationships with colleagues outside the office that would translate to stronger professional ties.

All of that changed when the pandemic hit and work for many people went online, causing the humble (if not totally spontaneous) midday coffee run with your coworker to devolve into a scheduled, 30-minute virtual catch-up. Even when people returned to the office, they found that some of their cherished coworkers had moved out of the cities where they had once worked; others who grew accustomed to the flexibility that working from home afforded them, have yet to return.

For as much as life has rebounded since the beginning of the pandemic, many Gen Zers (and likely a millennial or two) who work remotely report feeling lonely, making the workplace ritual a newly compelling idea.

The best of these rituals helps define workplace culture. As McKinsey senior partner Bill Schaninger observes in a recent episode of the McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, “Rituals are what make us us.” When they’re done well (that is, when they are inclusive and meaningful), they can help employees feel a sense of purpose or kinship with their colleagues, both of which can help reduce instances of depression and anxiety, as well as quiet quitting.

So how do you convince Gen Z—or anyone who now prefers to work remotely—to engage in these office rituals? For one thing, some of these rituals don’t have to happen in the workplace at all. Sending a weekly email or direct message that focuses on mindfulness or gratitude, for example, can help create the kind of goodwill fostered from in-person get-togethers, says McKinsey partner Bryan Hancock.

And for those of us who do want to get back to in-person activities, rituals can be centered on milestones like welcoming a new team member, acknowledging a promotion, or holding a send-off for someone leaving the team.

A final word of warning: let the “forced fun” apéros in France be a lesson to anyone reading this—think twice before making these rituals mandatory. Instead, take the pulse of what your team actually wants to do together. If you’re a Gen Zer, feel free to offer your own ideas and even take charge of planning something, making any rituals explicitly optional.

(Tell us how you feel about workplace rituals by emailing newideas@mckinsey.com.)

VISUALIZE IT

The share of people over 65 globally is expected to double by 2050, which could create challenges as care demands increase, even in countries whose populations are younger on average.