Virtual PBX Possibly More Important to Millennials than Gen Z

Each new generation brings with it new ways of doing things in the society they'll be living in. Just as the last of the Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce in the tens of thousands every single day, Generation Z or Gen Z will be entering in 2017. For public and private organizations, this means having to adapt to the needs of a group of people that will be part of the workforce for the next 40+ years. A new study conducted in collaboration with 8x8 and Koski Research revealed each generation has a preference when it comes to technology and for Gen Z the office and face-to-face meetings is not going to be as bad as it is for Millennials.

As the study revealed, the preference of Millennial's to work from home or remotely has changed the culture in the workforce, which has forced many companies to change along with them. However, this report is suggesting they might have to reassess this decision in order to accommodate the Gen Z that will be entering the workforce in starting in 2017.

Many of the technologies that have been deployed to address the needs of Millennial's such as video communications, virtual PBX, BYOD and others are going to have to be evaluated. These technologies were in part developed because Millennial's preferred to work remotely, over email and with limited face-to-face interactions.

The report also goes on to say because these two groups will be part of the workforce for some time to come, they'll have to find and develop a hybrid work environment with the flexibility to fully integrate mobile and remote work, while accommodating the needs of Gen Z's focus on efficiency and in-person communication.

So a company that has deployed a virtual PBX solution will be able to use the technology for its remote capabilities as it relates to its Millennial workforce, but also bring in Gen Z when they are chatting or texting through their mobile devices. And although the report said face-to-face is more important for Gen Z, video communication will continue to play an important role for everyone in the workforce as employees collaborate remotely, because face-to-face meetings will not be possible all the time.

The report, titled, “Rogue One: How Generation Z is Going to Bring Balance to the (work)Force,” surveyed 1,000 respondents across the United States who use a computer or phone for their everyday work who were full- and part-time employed Gen Z, millennial and Gen X workers in November 2016. There were 200 Gen Z respondents, 400 millennial respondents and 400 Gen X respondents, ages 18 to 50.

"Our goal with this study was to benchmark for the first time how Gen Z communication and work preferences might impact the workplace, especially when it comes to adoption of newer technologies. We found that while millennials have encouraged the workplace to become more technologically advanced and remote-work friendly, Gen Z will bring more balance to the workplace through face-to-face communication and tools that will help them communicate more effectively," said Enzo Signore, CMO, 8x8, Inc.

According to Signore, this will start having an impact in the workforce in the next 12 months. But virtual PBX, video communications and other technologies developed to address remote work will still be key, because Gen Z preferences are a hybrid of the two, with those wanting a physical workspace at (57 percent) combined with the ability to work remotely (48 percent) and have flexible hours (73 percent).

Edited by Maurice Nagle