Having members of different generations work together can be really effective, as each brings their own strengths to the table. On Duolingo’s social media team, for instance, this looks like Gen Z members leading content creation while more experienced colleagues focus on framing that content to highlight its business impact. “I think having this [generational diversity] has allowed us to not only shine in execution, but keep it long-lasting. We’ve been viral not just for two years, but for almost five,” Parvez says.
Song compares building multigenerational workplace relationships to making friends during school group projects. Teams might spend hours discussing presentation details, but the real bonding happens in the in-between moments, when you initiate casual, non-work conversations about music recommendations or weekend plans.
On a larger scale, Gen Z’s workplace impact goes beyond the flashy trends of “Bare Minimum Mondays” and “Revenge Quitting.” It’s through quieter, daily actions — like consistently logging off for nights and weekends — that young people are truly shifting office expectations. “Gen Z’ers are like, ‘Yeah, it’s 4 p.m., I’m leaving’ or ‘I need this break,’” Parvez observes. “And I think it’s made other people on our team evaluate, ‘Why am I sitting here past 5?’”
These new considerations don’t stop at work-life boundaries. As the first members of Gen Z step into leadership roles, they’re also bringing with them a fresh focus on transparency, empathy, and purpose at work.
For Parvez, this means creating meaningful opportunities for her interns. Last summer, after learning about an intern’s background in comics and illustration, Parvez put her in charge of the company’s social campaign for a collaboration with Webtoon. The project was ambitious, but the intern excelled because she was working on something she was genuinely excited about.
“The biggest thing for me is creating the [internship] around the person [them]self, really investing in their potential and letting them go with it,” Parvez explains. “That means they’re probably going to message the wrong person or they’re going to accidentally say something they shouldn’t have. But,” she continues, “a core part of our ethos on the social team and in our internship programs is, ‘I will always protect you. I will always value you. But I need you to stand up, put in the work, and probably make some mistakes along the way.’”
Parvez’s team has a surprisingly simple tool for building trust: the word “pineapple.” When someone disagrees with an idea or needs some space, they can drop that word. “Using [‘pineapple’] to push back and building that trust from the beginning, as stupid as it sounds, makes [people] feel empowered to use their voice and not feel like they’re just doing what leadership is forcing them to do,” she says.
Building trust at the team level is crucial, but for change to last, it often needs to reach the top of the corporate ladder — and that’s still a major hurdle. Last year, 75% of executive meetings didn’t include a single Gen Z voice. Song sees two issues compound when leadership doesn’t change: Not only does it block new talent from advancing, but it lets old approaches become set in stone. For workplaces to truly evolve, we need more multigenerational decision-making tables, where experience is valued, but change is also welcomed.
