This Gen-Z CEO says you’re most productive working from bed and hits back at claims it’s lazy

A Gen-Z CEO has said she is hugely successful, after doing some of her best work whilst on her laptop in bed. Of course, this is a clap back at older generations who have previously slated young people for not working hard enough.

Earlier this month, 75-year-old Lord Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer and Asda, told BBC’s Panorama working from home is creating a generation who are “not doing proper work”. However, 24-year-old Vicky Owens, who runs her own social media agency, has said home working isn’t related to productivity.

She said “suffering through a long commute to the office” has nothing to do with how much work someone will get done during the day. Instead, she said her eight employees are more productive thanks to hybrid working. She added “resting” at home during the work day is not “lazy”.

Vicky said she thinks allowing employees to work from home makes you a more approachable boss, and she never forces anyone to come into the office if they don’t want to. The social media strategist has had huge successes, working with brands such as Netflix, Vogue and TikTok.

“I’m not sure why older generations think suffering through a long commute will make you more productive – I can’t believe anyone would say hybrid working is making us lazy,” she said. “Taking the opportunity to rest during work is beneficial – but don’t get that confused with laziness.

“We’re recognising, as the new generation, what’s going to make the team more productive. For that, we have to think smarter, not harder – and being mindful of employees’ wellbeing is the top priority.” Even as the founder of the company, Vicky said some of her best work has been done from her laptop in bed.

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via SWNS

After going through her own struggles with anxiety and panic disorder during her teenage years, Vicky has said this enabled her to recognise when an employee might need help. “When I initially wasn’t well with panic attacks and anxiety, it was good to have the option not to leave the house,” she said.

“Being aware of other people who might struggle with that has been a benefit – I’m not going to force someone to come in. Profit numbers have shown, if you give people that flexibility, time and space – productivity gets higher. As a good leader, you have to think about what’s going to make the team more productive; for some people, there’s too much going on in the office and they’d rather work from home.”

Vicky added Gen-Z has a better awareness of mental health issues than older generations, which makes them more open to hybrid working. She also “refuses” to force her non-local employees to do a long commute to the office, if they don’t want to.

“Usually what I do, when I have a new member of the team, is I ask them to be in the office as much as possible for the first month,” she added. “Once I see what they’re like, and how self-sufficient they are; that’s when we start to think about the set-up that would work best for them.

“If they’re not local – it might work to slightly change their hours, like letting them do 10am to 4pm in the office, and two additional hours from home. As long as people can be in for meetings on Mondays and Fridays, and can respect that there are boundaries to hybrid working, I think it’s great.”

She concluded: “When I work from home, I sometimes literally just stay in bed on my laptop. My body gets so exhausted from working, sometimes it’s beneficial to rest.”

All pictures via SWNS.