Company boss explains controversial work policy she has in her Gen Z office

Surveys have claimed Generation Z employees are the most difficult to manage but honestly, they just want to work smarter, not harder.

The ‘Lazy Girl Job’ boom lends itself to this idea, as well as quiet quitting and the rise in career-minded people opting for jobs purely based on the flexibility they afford.

And while most Gen Z - aged 12 to 27 - are happy to punch in and go home as quickly as possible, others are willing to go the extra mile to be out from under the thumbs of their millennial and boomer bosses.

One company that features a specific team made up of young business-minded employees is Manchester-based Socially Speaking Media.

Having previously worked with Netflix and Grace Beverley’s Shreddy, the award-winning social media agency has opened up about how its practices suit its Gen Z staff.

In a video posted to TikTok in July, the boss of Socially Speaking Media appeared in a video with her associate.

In the clip, captioned ‘Controversial ways I run my Gen-Z team’, the woman discussed one of the main rules she’s opted to implement.

“A few months ago, I posted a TikTok that got so much hate on it, and it was basically explaining rules to work in a Gen Z office.

“The biggest ones that seemed to get the most hate was when I was saying I have a ‘If the work gets done’ policy,” she explained.

“Basically do what you want as long as the work gets done.

“You want to work from home, watch a film while you work - I personally think I’d rather have that if I was working for someone else because that’s what works best for me.”

The woman reasoned that some days, her staff can be ‘really tired’, so she understands why they would want to work from home.

“I can see why people get annoyed about it when people take the mick with it,” she confessed.

After laying out the controversial policy, the woman turned to her associate to question whether or not the outlined flexibility makes her feel like a valued company asset.

“If I want a day where I listen to music or a podcast and that’s going to make me motivated to do more work, [then] that’s obviously better than [being] sat in the office in silence or no one talking,” the woman replied.

Interestingly, Socially Speaking Media isn’t the only business catering to its Gen Z employees.

Australian PR boss Jessy Marshall has recently spoken about how she allows her younger staff to go home early if they’ve completed all of their work.

“[Gen Z] are much better at saying they feel pushed or exhausted or they don’t feel like themselves and need to take time out,” she told news.com.au.

“They are good at setting boundaries but they are also very good at making sure they work in their allocated time.”

“On Fridays, I say to the girls, 'once your work is done, log off' where we can we log off early, particularly on Fridays, so they can give themselves an extra-long weekend.”

Marshall went on to claim that she was ‘really proud’ of the work her six Gen Z staff do for her Sydney-based company.

She added that she understands their ‘output is smarter than hustle culture’.