Even on the limited social pasture of Zoom, it’s clear that 23-year-old Delaney Trail is a delight, one who delights in doing her job well. If you ask how she’s doing, she’ll say, “I’m just peachy,” and then she’ll launch into the topic at hand armed with extensive notes for each agenda item, making it clear that she’s done her homework.

“I started introducing myself by saying ‘I’m peachy,’ because it makes people laugh and it breaks the ice,” Trail tells Fast Company.

Trail came of age during the pandemic and currently works in public relations at a mostly remote job where she comes into the office about once a month. She started in 2022, and prior to that, her only in-person work experience was at a pet daycare and as a receptionist. The pandemic hit during her sophomore year at college and all of her internships were remote.

“Starting my first PR internship was a huge learning experience,” Trail says. “I didn’t have a manager in the same room with me. I had to do a lot of self-management.”

A new workforce meets the new normal

Getting a job during the pandemic was a feat in and of itself, as unemployment among people under the ages of 24 jumped from 8.4% to 24.4%. But for those lucky enough to get jobs, the struggle was not over. Gen Z’ers who got their first job during the pandemic had to figure out how to survive and thrive at work during a time when most companies were struggling to find out the rules of the new normal.  

Gorick Ng, a Harvard career adviser and author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, stresses that work isn’t just about doing your job well. It’s also about building relationships and learning the culture of the new environment.

“Prior generations were used to not just doing the work, but also showing up to that work in a certain way,” says Ng. “All of that etiquette was thrown out the door when the new generation, who’d been educated on Zoom, walked in.”

To begin with, learning the ropes became more challenging since companies had to figure out how to train new employees remotely. In some cases, there is no comparable replacement for in-person training.

Zach Schmitz, 23, was sent home during his freshman year of college. He’d felt lost at school and realized getting his degree in marketing wasn’t the right path. He picked up a job installing gutters and fell in love with it, but since he started in June 2020 when social distancing was at its zenith, he had to learn from videos.

“We ended up getting feedback from trainers by sending pictures and videos of our work,” says Schmitz, who now works for the home-safety company Leaf Home.

Even for jobs that could be done entirely remotely, some lessons fell through the cracks. Natalie (last name withheld by request), 26, did her last semester of college remotely and was hired as a data analytics specialist. She found much of the nitty-gritty of getting started to be difficult in an environment where she couldn’t walk across the hall to ask someone a question.

“I didn’t get an onboarding,” she said. “I was given my laptop and sent home to figure it out myself.”

She struggled with setting up her work laptop and getting access to shared databases. “I have holes in my knowledge,” she said. “I didn’t know we could grab markers from the supply cabinet or where the supply cabinet was. I didn’t learn how to turn on the projectors until a few months ago because it never came up.”

Missed connections

Building successful workplace relationships is often highly dependent on how much your organization values relationship building, a prospect that changes when employees mostly interact on screens. Emma (a pseudonym), 25, works in staffing. At her first job, everyone had their cameras turned off during meetings. “I didn’t know what anyone looked like; I couldn’t read anyone’s expressions or body language,” she says. “It was impossible to get to know people. I didn’t make any long-term connections.” She left for another job after eight months.

Natalie had an in-person internship at her company the summer before she was hired. She credits this with helping her make new friends. “I was able to maintain my friendships when we were remote,” she said. “I didn’t make new ones.”

By comparison, Trail landed her first job at a PR company where there were 25 virtual trainings over the course of three weeks. New hires were paired with a peer, someone at the same job level with more experience who could offer guidance and answer questions. The company also had weekly all-hands chats for work discussions, and another for watercooler chats. When her company had its 45th anniversary, it sent champagne to a remote employee who couldn’t attend so she could celebrate as well.

Remote and hybrid jobs are to stay. According to Gallup, last year 52% of jobs were hybrids and 27% were exclusively remote. Moreover, Gallup found 80% of employees who can do their jobs remotely want to at least be hybrid. Emma is still a fan of hybrid despite her first experience. “Hybrid makes me appreciate days at home where I don’t have to pack a lunch and dress up, but I really enjoy talking to people the days that I’m in person.”

Trail doesn’t want a fully in-person job either. “I can’t imagine going into an office full-time—it’s not something I’ve ever experienced in my career,” she says. “I can transition from task to task faster at home, and it’s also made me value my office time a lot more. I try to make the most of it when I go in.”

Companies that want remote new hires to hit the ground running are best off taking notes from Gen Z’ers on what worked and what didn’t during their early years. “You can set up remote work so that everyone is getting the same experience and you aren’t falling victim to proximity bias,” Trail says.