Virtual Natives

17Main Character Energy

As we suggested in the previous chapter, by the time they join the labor pool, Virtual Natives have already formed work habits that they will import into their business lives. But are businesses prepared to welcome these trends?

When we looked at Virtual Native workplace preferences in our discussion of personal agency and control in chapter 8, we focused on how their spirited sense of self‐worth, often supported by the direct experience of making their own money digitally before entering the workplace, gives them a wider sense of options than previous generations have had.

Not all companies are ready for this change. Let's look now at some of the key shifts in the perception of authority and agency in the workplace, the largest points of friction, and how businesses can adopt successful strategies to attract and retain those Virtual Natives whose digital skills may make a strategic difference to the company over the next decade.

Working from Home: A Structural Shift

“America, it's time for a nationwide family reunion,” reads a 2021 opinion piece in the New York Post.¹ “Come back to see the geezer who stands by the urn of Chock Full o' Nuts offering dad jokes; the ambitious young upstart quietly scheming his way into middle management; the girl in the corner who laughs too loudly at her social media …”

“It's time to go back to the office.”

The global response to the Covid pandemic of sending people home to work was originally a move to reduce the transmission ...