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The generational divide over remote work is not as clear-cut as it may seem. According to Gallup data from 2025, only 23% of remote-capable Gen Z employees say they prefer fully remote work. That figure stands in sharp contrast to older generations: 35% of Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers who can work remotely express the same preference.
Perhaps the more surprising finding is that 77% of Gen Z professionals—the generation most frequently associated with championing work-life balance and workplace flexibility—actually lean toward returning to the office (RTO). Still, this does not mean they want to be in the office five days a week. The preference is for a hybrid arrangement, not a full-time return to the pre-pandemic workplace model.
Axios reporting points to two primary factors behind this shift in sentiment among younger workers:
These concerns highlight a fundamental tension. While remote work offers flexibility, it may also reduce the informal learning and relationship-building that traditionally happen in a shared physical workspace—benefits that are especially valuable for employees in the early stages of their careers.
There is also a structural hurdle for Gen Z professionals seeking remote positions. A recent academic analysis of 50 million European job postings from 2018 to 2021 found that remote jobs demanded, on average, 25% more skills than in-person roles. These remote positions also required more experience and higher credentials from applicants.
This creates a compounding disadvantage for younger workers. When working remotely, Gen Z employees are not only more susceptible to feelings of isolation and concerned about missing out on career progression, but they also face steeper competition when applying for remote roles in the first place. Remote work opportunities traditionally expect and require higher levels of expertise, experience, and formal qualifications—barriers that can be particularly difficult for early-career professionals to clear.
As remote work becomes the standard expectation and flexible arrangements are embraced across industries, it is worth pausing to consider the full cost of this shift. Fully remote positions can deliver meaningful benefits for employee well-being and productivity, but they also carry significant downsides—particularly for early-career professionals. In fact, this is one of the reasons why more than three in four members of Generation Z now say they want to be back in the office.
To better understand this tension, I recently spoke with Dr. Joshua Mask, an economist at Temple University and a former recruiter. Dr. Mask has just published a study that carefully separates the adverse impact of artificial intelligence on entry-level careers from the adverse effects of remote work—a distinction that is rarely made in public debate.
One of the most interesting findings from Dr. Mask’s research is that AI-exposed jobs and remote-suitable jobs overlap considerably. Both categories tend to fall under the broader white-collar career umbrella, which makes it difficult to determine whether specific career losses should be attributed to artificial intelligence or to remote work arrangements.
To untangle these effects, Mask isolated data from 2020 to 2023—a period before AI began disrupting work in a major way. By focusing on this window, he was able to isolate remote work’s specific impact on early-career professionals without the confounding influence of AI adoption.
His findings reveal that teleworkable roles are associated with roughly a 2% decline in pay or starting salaries. However, this effect was largely mitigated when the professional transitioned to a different role. In other words, the salary penalty associated with remote work appears to be most pronounced at the point of entry, rather than throughout a worker’s entire career trajectory.
This modest but measurable wage difference raises important questions about how remote work is valued—and devalued—at the very beginning of a professional’s journey.
Beyond the salary data, Dr. Mask expressed deeper concerns about the long-term development of young professionals. His worries mirror the anxieties that Generation Z workers have reported in Gallup surveys.
“What I do truly worry about is people are starting out their career,” he said. “Taking on more remote work, or taking on a role that would potentially be like 100% remote—I worry about the gap in training, the gap in socialization. There’s a lot of things you learn in the first few years that I worry these students might be missing.”
For Mask, the socialization gap is the most pressing concern. He explains that the first few years of a career are a critical period for absorbing workplace norms, building professional relationships, and learning through observation. These are experiences that are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate through a video call.
“Because of the socialization, I would say more than anything else,” he added, “and I say that in part because AI, if it’s going to do anything in terms of automating tasks, it’s going to be the work that doesn’t involve us interacting with one another.”
This observation points to a striking paradox: the very tasks that remote work makes harder to learn are the ones that AI is least likely to automate. Interpersonal skills, collaborative problem-solving, and informal mentorship are all built through in-person interaction—and they are precisely the competencies that will remain valuable in an AI-enabled workplace.
Given these findings, I asked Dr. Mask what employers need to keep in mind when creating job openings to ensure they are protecting the pipeline of the next generation of talent.
His response underscores the need for intentionality. Employers who offer remote or hybrid roles must think carefully about how early-career hires will receive training, mentorship, and social exposure. It is not enough to assume that young professionals will “figure it out” on their own. Structured onboarding, regular check-ins, and deliberate opportunities for collaboration are essential to ensure that remote work does not become a barrier to professional growth.
For organizations, the stakes are clear: the decisions made about remote work today will shape the skills, confidence, and readiness of the workforce tomorrow. Getting it right requires balancing the flexibility that workers value with the developmental support that early-career employees urgently need.
Hiring for a fully remote role requires more than posting a job description and setting up a laptop. Employers who are serious about attracting top talent outside their local area need to think carefully about how they structure the entire experience, from recruitment through onboarding and long-term development.
One of the most important steps an employer can take is to stop thinking about hiring as a reactive, one-off event. Instead, organizations should be continuously cultivating a pool of potential candidates. As Mask put it, with a dry smile: “The first thing they should recognize is that you want a pipeline.”
Mask brings a unique perspective to this advice, having spent about five years working as a recruiter before moving into labor economics. “I’m very familiar with that world,” he said. That background taught him a fundamental truth about the labor market: finding good people is genuinely difficult. He cautions employers against looking for a technological shortcut. “Do not be looking at AI going, ‘Hey, I can replace my whole business,’ because that’s not going to happen. Establish a pipeline.”
In practical terms, a strong pipeline means maintaining relationships with candidates even when there isn’t an open role. It means networking consistently, keeping in touch with strong applicants who weren’t the right fit for a previous position, and making sure your organization is visible to the kind of professionals you want to attract.
When an employer does need to hire fully remotely, Mask has specific advice about how the pipeline should be built for that type of role. The biggest challenge isn’t technical—it’s social. “If you want the socialization piece,” he explained, “it’s going to have to involve some, not coming into the office necessarily, but some sort of where the employees get in the same room together, like a retreat.”
These gatherings serve a dual purpose. They aren’t just about maintaining the existing employee culture. They are also essential for integrating new workers into the organization. A remote employee who never meets colleagues in person will struggle to build the informal relationships that make work enjoyable and productive.
Mask speaks from direct experience here. He started his professor job at Temple University in the middle of the pandemic. “My colleagues weren’t here. Most of my colleagues were teaching; everything was online, so everybody was at home,” he recalled. “My first experience here was largely remote.”
The result was a prolonged period of isolation. “The thing that I noticed more than anything else is that I didn’t really feel comfortable here for about a year because I didn’t know anybody,” he said. “It was a very different experience from every other job that I had.”
That feeling of being an outsider is something CEOs need to take seriously. Mask believes leaders should ask themselves a pointed question about their remote employees: “Are they entirely happy here if they don’t have any sort of relationships with anyone?”
Another critical consideration is the gap in training feedback that remote work creates, particularly for younger and less experienced employees.
“You have to recognize there’s going to be a gap in training feedback,” Mask said. In a traditional office, that feedback happens organically. A junior worker gets assigned something they don’t know how to do, so they walk over to a senior colleague’s desk and work through it together. “They just kind of sit at the desk and figure it out,” he noted. That natural, spontaneous learning is much harder to replicate when everyone is working from different locations.
To address this, employers need to be deliberate about how they assign and monitor work. Mask suggests two approaches. First, structure tasks so that progress can be monitored remotely, allowing managers to see whether someone is doing a good job and provide feedback accordingly. Second, build tasks that involve more oversight from current senior-level employees, creating a formal or semi-formal mentorship structure.
These considerations are not trivial, and should not be pushed aside as an afterthought. Being a responsible employer means thinking through how you set up remote roles, the options and structure you put in place for early-career starters, and ensuring you have enough in-office talent to nurture younger professionals where needed.
Entering the workforce is no longer just about landing a job; it is about strategically aligning personal values with professional opportunities. For Gen Z, this means walking into the job market with a well-defined understanding of what they want from an employer, a clear plan for leveraging early career opportunities, and a realistic view of how their work preferences—especially remote work—will shape their professional trajectory.
The onus is on Gen Z candidates to articulate their expectations before accepting an offer. This goes beyond salary and benefits. It involves a candid assessment of company culture, management style, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and opportunities for professional development. Going into interviews with a clear set of non-negotiables and areas where you are willing to compromise can prevent future dissatisfaction and job hopping. Employers are increasingly looking for candidates who are self-aware and intentional about what they need to thrive.
Another critical component is understanding how to maximize the initial stage of one’s career. The first few years are a period of rapid learning and skill acquisition. Gen Z professionals should have a strategy for how they intend to use this time—whether it is seeking out mentorship, volunteering for high-visibility projects, or building a professional network. It is important to recognize that early roles offer a foundation for long-term success, and having an intentional approach to growth can accelerate career progression.
While the desire for remote work remains strong, it is essential for young professionals to understand the long-term implications of this choice. Remote work offers flexibility and autonomy, but it can also limit spontaneous learning, informal mentorship, and organic networking opportunities that often occur in a physical office. Before committing to a fully remote role, consider the potential impact on your visibility within the company and your ability to build relationships with senior leaders.
To make an informed decision, ask yourself the following:
By evaluating these factors, you can make a choice that supports both your immediate lifestyle needs and your long-term career goals. The decision to work remotely is not inherently right or wrong; it is a trade-off that requires careful consideration of how it will impact your professional development for the next few years.
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