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Generational divides are an interesting thing. They’re like cryptids. Everyone knows what they are, people devote their lives to studying them, and there’s not not a total layer of impossibility surrounding them…but they really don’t incontrovertibly exist.
Old hippies and young conservatives prove adages wrong every day, but actual research can back up a few things; even if only generally.
The Hill poses the possibility on generational splits down the lines of working from home, and quotes a study titled ‘The Evolution of Work From Home’ as saying:
“People in their 20s have high returns to professional networking, on-the-job training, and mentoring.”
“People in their 30s and early 40s are more likely to live with children and face long commutes, raising the appeal of working from home.”
“Older employees may be less keen to work from home because they no longer have childcare responsibilities, or simply because they like to socialize at the workplace.”
That’s definitely more in depth than I would have given a WFH study credit for before reading it. The authors recognize different factors that just so happen to usually run along the lines of getting older.
Here’s a few more things I think might decide the desire for a home office more than just how long we’ve been here:
Class
More people are recognizing the need for flexibility in the usual rules. Excel in school, excel in a four year college, get a good job, get a house, get a spouse, raise them to do the same, nurse your parents, get nursed by your kids, then die fulfilled— is not the only way to get through life, and in fact is fairly easily disrupted. But I’d be willing to bet that being raised in an upper middle to high class home would imbue enthusiasm for following what is supposed to work (even high class young adults get prestigious assistant jobs ).
Income
Am I repeating myself? Not at all. What you make and how you’re born are two different things—and even the richest of the nouveau riche won’t have had access to the same rules and influences that someone from old money would. It’s why Beyoncé couldn’t buy a senator. Regardless, the less you make, the more you’re inclined to accept hardships. Between having your lights cut off and getting into an office, most people would not only choose the latter, but assume this binary was the only way there was. Whether all the enthusiasm is coerced or not, it’s present, and it’s palpable.
Employment Background
Sometimes, through a miracle of actual internal mobility, folks on the floor can actually move up into an office if they so choose. More money and less (kind of) strain on your body is a no-brainer for a lot of people. But something about direct teamwork really can’t be replicated through Slack. It’s not uncommon to miss the camaraderie of field work, and the extra step away from a good workplace team into a home office can make some people want to peel themselves out of their skin, no matter what their age is.
Personality
Some people don’t do well in relative isolation. We’re all different, and sometimes those differences mean in order to get the best synergy possible out of someone, there needs to be an office birthday party or two, and a water cooler to chill by. Personal preferences like fashion might be influenced by age, just based on how trends work, but you’ll still have stand outs. Honestly, my preference would be some sort of utopian ‘Found Family’ workplace, where I can have that sweet ‘Golden Girls’ style living AND working arrangement that didn’t require the purgatory of regular commuting.
For the most part, only one of these factors will change with just the passage of time, and I think they’re worth looking into as we decide how to move society forwards.
That said, generalizations aren’t always evil, and we can’t really escape making them ourselves. But the more we recognize certain behaviors as human things rather than splitting them down demographic lines in regards to policy, the better we’ll be.
Trust me. I’m an older young adult.
