Tech companies show their feet as they try to appeal to Gen Z

Over the past year, Silicon Valley has achieved a an all-out effort to get employees back to the office. Now that the industry has people at their desks again, it’s trying to figure out how to make them happy. The influx of office dwellers, including a growing number of Gen Zers, is pushing the Valley to try new things, like shoeless offices.

According to the New York TimesThe “no shoes” movement has been gaining momentum among startups, with companies encouraging their employees to leave their foot at the door. Ben Lang, an employee at shoeless AI coding company Cursor, launched a website called Noshoes.fun which tracks options for potential employees who like to let their toes get some air. The list includes digital workspace creator Notion, payroll company Gusto, mobile game developer Supercell, and a number of AI-focused startups like Replicate and Rime Labs.

Now, whether being shoeless around others really adds a lot of comfort to your workday is probably a matter of personal preference. But the idea behind it all, according to the Timesis to allow employees who are forced to return to work to regain the same comfort they once had when working from home. It’s also apparently, in part, because the workforce in these offices is quite young, and these companies are trying to figure out what exactly Gen Z wants.

Elsewhere, they go less towards the regenerator and more towards the degenerate. According to the Wall Street Journalsome startups have started stocking the snack bar with Zyn and other nicotine pouches. Palantir—the surveillance technology company led by Trump-aligned, pro-war crime CEO Alex Karp has apparently been on the front lines of this campaign, probably because pocket-slapping is the only thing keeping his employees calm after releasing a new update to improve the effectiveness of deadly drones.

At this point, there is widespread confusion among corporate America about how to adapt to a younger cohort who generally seem to expect more from their employers than previous generations. The leaders have labeled Gen Z is seen as “undisciplined,” “entitled,” and “lazy” — even though, frankly, every generation seems to experience this vilification when entering the workforce.

But the cultural divide seems greater than it has ever been. According to a CBS News reportsome companies even go so far as to send their Gen Z employees to etiquette classes so that they learn how to behave in a mixed corporate environment like an office.

Interpreted in the friendliest way possible, this trend is an attempt to help Gen Z catch up on some of the lessons they may have missed by having some of their socializing time stolen by a global pandemic. Taken a little less generously, these are companies trying to push a generation of people who have more expectations for work-life balance, better boundaries around their time and effort, and their request more respect from their bosses to align themselves with an industry that puts work first. Given this, it’s hard to imagine that letting people stand at the water cooler in socks and slippers is going to convince them.