First truly digital generation changes the game

n the corporate world, baby boomers and their successors, the millennials, are now joined by Gen Z. As the first truly digital generation, it is responsible for dramatic workplace shifts.

“While millennials adopt new technologies faster than their predecessors, Gen Z-ers have never known life without digital tech,” says Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty CEO Yael Geffen. “Research shows that 60% of this group prefer to learn through YouTube tutorials,

Iwhich presents new challenges for standard HR and training methods.” Global economy, traffic and the expectation of convenience all point to the traditional nine-to-five era fading, being replaced by flexible hours and digitisation, Geffen adds. Enter co-working centres like Slow in the City in Sandton, a forerunner in this market. Others following suit include Open in Maboneng, The Workspace, JoziHub, Impact Hub and Regus.

Gen Z-ers have different habits too: they prefer to shop online and walk everywhere, spurring further shifts in the commercial real estate sector.

Live/work/play precincts like Century City will become more attractive to such tenants, says Jack Bass, director of Lew Geffen’s Cape Town commercial division.

Moreover, International Workplace Group’s annual Global Workspace Survey shows that flexible workspaces boost productivity, with 54% of employees saying that working remotely enables them to get more done.