Millennial worker blasts ‘lazy’ Gen Z work from home habit
A millennial has issued a grim warning to “miserable” Gen Z workers, urging them to reconsider their anti-office stance for the sake of their careers.
Corporate worker Toby, who works in the tech industry and goes by TechToby online, has upset the younger members of the workforce by claiming they won’t be able to get ahead if they don’t make an effort to go into the office.
The 27-year-old has more than 11,900 TikTok followers and often shares career advice.
Recently he released his top tips to “triple” your salary, telling people in their early 20s that they need to be in the office because they won’t be able to “build a network” when they are working from home and instead not “showing their face” in an office environment.
After receiving backlash to the advice, Toby doubled down on his stance, saying the reason he believes young people need to be in the office more is that they’re “all miserable”, “don’t have any confidence” and “lack serious social skills.”
“I only see this problem with Gen Z people who have started working from home because of the impacts of Covid,” he said.
“Barely any of you get paid good money and I can categorically tell you, you aren’t going to get these internal pay rises by not showing your face and staying at home.”
While the millennial doesn’t recommend young people go in five days a week, noting they “can’t afford it” and it is draining, he does believe once or twice a week is beneficial.
“You are missing out on vital knowledge from older people, people who have gone through your process,” he said.
“Some of you are going to be stuck on $30,000, $40,000 a year for the rest of your lives because you don’t know how to negotiate and you don’t know how to get promoted.”
Toby warned Gen Z could be missing out on opportunities by staying at home, such as the ability to put their hands up for new projects that may only be talked bout in person.
He worked five days a week in an office from the age of 17 to 22, claiming there was “no way” he would have gotten the internal promotions he did by “sitting at home.”
“A lot of you guys are just lazy. I understand it, you have been brought up in a different generation to what I was brought up in. You want everything given to you on a plate but you really need to understand that’s just not how it works,” he said.
The tech employee urged young people to “work smarter” and be “more savage” than their co-workers if they want to “do well in life.”
“Focus on your high income skills, get the experience you need and you will earn very good money,” he said.
However, not everyone was in agreement with Toby’s advice, with many claiming his points simply don’t apply in a lot of situations.
“There’s no one in the office to impress. My entire team is remote. Boomer mindset,” one person said.
“This is only relevant for small – to medium-sized companies. My work has multiple offices in the same city, in-person networking isn’t viable,” another wrote.
One person claimed the 27-year-old was “assuming so much” when making his videos.
“Everything is about leverage – you can WFH and still grow your career faster than others with leverage,” they said.
