Gen Z are challenging the stereotype that younger workers want to work from home, with almost seven in 10 saying spending more time in the workplace can improve their career progression. New data from CV-Library, one of the UK’s largest job boards, has revealed that 69 per cent of Gen Z candidates aged 18-28 believe spending more time in the workplace can improve career progression.
That’s compared with just 43 per cent of Baby Boomers aged over 60, suggesting younger workers see greater value in being around colleagues as they build their careers.
The latest Candidate Behaviour Barometer 2026, which surveyed 1,043 UK jobseekers, found that entry-level candidates are twice as likely as senior and management staff to want a fully-office based role. While 51 per cent of entry-level candidates would prefer to work fully in the workplace, this falls to just 26 per cent among senior and management-level candidates.
The findings challenge the assumption younger workers are driving demand for greater remote working, suggesting instead that those at the beginning of their careers see real value in being around colleagues and developing their careers in person.
More than half of entry-level candidates (53 per cent) say they learn more from being around colleagues, compared with just 32 per cent of senior and management-level candidates.
This creates an unusual dynamic: the workers most likely to value the office as a place to learn and develop are the ones least likely to find senior colleagues there.
In fact, 60 per cent of senior and management candidates prefer hybrid working – more than double the 42 per cent of entry-level candidates who feel the same.
There is also a difference in how workers at different career stages view the benefits of office life. While younger workers are more likely to value learning from colleagues, senior staff are more likely to believe office visibility can help with promotions.
Almost one in five senior and management-level candidates (18 per cent) say office visibility helps with promotions, rising to 26 per cent among executive and leadership-level candidates, compared with just 10 per cent of entry-level candidates.
Overall, 56 per cent of UK jobseekers believe spending more time in the workplace can improve career progression, either because they learn more from being around colleagues or because office visibility can help with promotions.
And while hybrid working remains the most popular setup, with 49 per cent of jobseekers choosing a combination of office and remote working, the appetite for some office time is strong. Nine in ten (90 per cent) would prefer to work in the office at least some of the time.
“There’s a real irony within this data,” noted Lee Biggins CEO and Founder at CV-Library. “The employees who most want mentorship and to learn on the job are entry-level workers, contrary to the popular belief that they’d rather be at home. Yet they expect to learn from older, more experienced colleagues, who are on the whole more absent than young people would want.
“With more companies demanding a return to the office, the promise of career development and coaching can prove a powerful draw. But it must be universal – it’s not good if the people they learn from remain at home. Without that, younger workers risk missing out on the informal learning, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing that can help them build confidence and develop their careers.
“There is no point having hybrid working without everyone being in at the same time,” added Biggins. “In fact, it might be the best way to encourage more people back in the office is to mandate senior staff – the rest will then follow”.
