Gen Z and Millennial employees are more likely to feel left out in online meetings than older workers, new survey finds

• Gen Z and millennial workers are more likely to struggle to feel included in online meetings, a survey showed.
• Older, established workers are two times more likely to never have felt left out in online meetings.

Virtual meetings have become a norm since the pandemic and most employees have adapted but Gen Z and Millennial workers are struggling to feel like they're included in those meetings, a new survey has found.

Jabra, a Danish brand selling audio equipment, recently published a survey of 1,845 knowledge workers in the US, UK, France, Germany, Poland, and Japan in April 2023 to find out how hybrid work has impacted meetings.

Around 48% of employees say they're hybrid working in 2023, up by 3% compared to the same survey in 2022, Jabra found. Meanwhile, 42% say they're in the office full time which is an increase of 5% from the previous year.

The younger, more tech-savvy generation, Gen Z and Millennials were two to three times more likely to feel left out in online meetings, whilst Gen X and Boomers were roughly two times more likely to say they've never been left out.

Around 17% of Gen Z and 13% of millennials often felt left out in meetings, but only 7% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers felt the same.

Over a third of both the younger generations said they sometimes felt left out while 20% of Gen X and 23% of Boomers said the same.

However, only 15% of Gen Z and 22% of millennials never felt left out of meetings, while 32% of Gen X and 38% of Boomers felt they had never been left out in meetings.

Younger workers are likely to feel a lack of inclusion because they may be new to the workplace and haven't built an established network or rapport with other colleagues, Insider previously reported.

This means younger and newer employees may not have effectively caught up on the social norms and culture of their workplace, making it more difficult to speak up or express their opinions in online meetings.

Big Four companies including PWC, KPMG, and Deloitte have said that some new hires who graduated during the pandemic are lacking in soft skills like communication because of virtual studying and remote work.

As a result, some are offering etiquette training on how to send emails or even collaborate in person.