CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

first up

Welcome back! This week, we’re examining how social interactions can improve work performance.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone a whole workday without speaking to another person in person. Two days? What about an entire week? 

For plenty of Gen Zers—who may live alone and work from home—this perpetual party of one is a fact of life. 

New research from the McKinsey Health Institute just dropped that shows this can be bad for overall health and workplace performance. In the article, “Working nine to thrive,” McKinsey senior partner Patrick Simon and coauthors identify six “modifiable drivers of health” in the workplace: social interaction, mindset and beliefs, productive activity, stress, economic security, and sleep. (For more on modifiable drivers of health—defined as things that can be improved or weakened based on individual choices and how systems and structures operate—read this McKinsey article.) 

Social interactions at work can affect how well people do their jobs. Feeling like part of a team isn’t just about having a good time; it also boosts innovation, engagement, and the quality of work produced, Simon and team found. This is especially true for people who might not have a big social circle outside of work. 

Even though the loneliness epidemic Gen Zers (and especially Gen Z men) face has been a headline-making topic for years, we don’t seem any closer to finding solutions. Like it or not, working from home may not be helping matters. 

A survey of 4,300 US adults has found that people older than 51 are twice as likely to have made friends at work compared with those under 30. While Gen Zers often still turn to college or grade school friends as they move through adulthood, it’s also important—and more difficult—to make new friends in adulthood. 

Employers have an opportunity to create workplaces that foster better social interactions. Employee assistance programs or workplace benefits usually focus on traditional employee benefits related to finances, for example, but these programs could also aim to encourage richer workplace relationships. Workplace rituals can help too.

Gen Zers can also speak up about wanting more social interactions at work. Becoming a de facto team social chair may not be part of one’s job description, but it can still be something worth pointing to during performance review season. (You may even want to tell your manager that organizing workplace social events demonstrates team-building skills in the absence of having direct reports or greater responsibility as an early-career employee.) 

In any case, putting yourself out there can’t hurt. Your new work bestie is waiting!

VISUALIZE IT

High school students in many sub-Saharan African countries may be ten or more years behind their peers in East Asia, Europe, and North America.

WAIT, DON’T SCROLL

Press one to speak to a representative. Think Gen Zers are afraid of a phone convo? Think again.

Presidential transitions. University presidents face a slew of hot-button issues, such as student debt and declining enrollment. Six actions could help new leaders tackle these problems effectively.

More than a monolith. US Latinos account for a disproportionate amount of box office movie sales and streaming subscribers relative to their population but fill fewer on-screen, off-screen, and leadership roles in media.

NOT US; STILL GREAT

Not-so-horrible bosses. Are Gen Z managers a liability or an asset in the workplace? [WSJ]

Immersion therapy. First-time managers often face these four fears. [HBR]

CROSSWORD

—Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York