The Percentage Of Millennials And Gen Z Willing To Quit Their Jobs If Forced To Return To An Office Is Mind-Blowing

Written by C. James on June 3, 2021 updated October 22, 2024

The Covid pandemic has changed the way people live and work. It’s not only altered reality, but it has also changed expectations of future realities. Like never having to go into an office ever again.

For some people, going back to an office might be an essential part of doing business. But for the vast majority of people who work a 9-5 desk job, chances are their job can be performed remotely. And let’s not forget how many benefits there are with remote work.

Less chance for unnecessary exposure to Covid
Money saved on buying specific clothing for work
No time wasted commuting too and from the office
Less car related expenses (gas, maintenance, etc)
Money saved by eating at home
Less time sitting in pointless, unproductive meetings

Given all the benefits of working from home it’s no wonder some people are flat out quitting their jobs if their employers try to force them to go back into the office.

Bloomberg recently profiled a worker who quit her job minutes after she returned to the office. Seriously. Six minutes into a meaningless meeting she said “peace out.”

A six-minute meeting drove Portia Twidt to quit her job.
She’d taken the position as a research compliance specialist in February, enticed by promises of remote work. Then came the prodding to go into the office. Meeting invites piled up.
The final straw came a few weeks ago: the request for an in-person gathering, scheduled for all of 360 seconds. Twidt got dressed, dropped her two kids at daycare, drove to the office, had the brief chat and decided she was done.

Twidt is not alone. According to a recent poll conducted on behalf of Bloomberg, 39% of workers claim that they would quit their job if companies began forcing them back into office life. And that number balloons to 49% when you only factor in Millennial and Gen-Z participants.

While some companies may try to return to life before the pandemic, plenty of businesses are taking a more progressive approach. In fact, Brie Reynolds, a career development manager and coach for the website Flexjobs, told CNBC Make It that “many employers are embracing flexible workers at the very top by hiring more remote workers into the C-suite.”

As you can see from this breakdown from Flexjobs of the most common chief officer roles employers are hiring for right now and the average salary for each, remote work is here to stay. You might just have to quit your backward thinking company to make sure you get to stay remote as well.