Shift in Chicagoans Attitudes Towards Work, Workplace During, After Pandemic According to Recent Survey, Based on Age

Changes in different age groups view of work, workplace occurred due to pandemic found in new survey

Natalie C. Frank, Ph.D August 5, 2025

Perceived stress of working remotely during, after pandemic found to be age related; University of Cape Town [CC BY-ND 4.0]

* This survey was conducted at various co-working spaces, coffee shops, subway stations, and public spaces throughout Chicago. The number of people surveyed was 153, with 58 participants in the younger group, 50 participants in the middle-age group and 45 participants in the older group.

A new survey of working Chicagoans age 18 – 70 showed that their attitudes towards work and the workplace are changing (Frank, 2025). According to the survey, there has been a shift away from the 9-to-5 traditional workplace model, particularly with younger workers.

Younger workers (age 18-39) have begun to work in more non-traditional settings during and after the pandemic. With the growth of the internet and remote jobs, many younger workers prefer to use a flexible workplace plan by working from different co-working spaces. Chicago has a wealth of such spaces including 25N Coworking (Arlington Heights), Ampersand Cowork (Logan Square), and WeWork (8 locations around Chicago). University Co-Work is the first full service co-working space, incubator and virtual accelerator on the Southside.  

Individuals in this age group were the most likely to have started their own online businesses during the pandemic. These included content creation, marketing, and consulting businesses such as IT consulting. Some reported that they preferred working for themselves so they could set their own guidelines and choose their own employment activities.

Those in the younger age group were also more likely to switch jobs or work multiple jobs some of which were “side hustles” or “gig work,” such as being an Uber driver or delivering food for Doordash.

Those starting their own businesses said they preferred the flexibility of working for themselves and didn’t care about benefits since most believed they could pay for them on their own through their current or predicted income. Members of the younger age group were the most likely to say that work-life balance and the ability to travel and take regular vacations were important.

Chicagoans in this group said that it was more convenient to be able to determine where they worked from especially during the extremely winter temperatures and snow and ice cover. However, this was seen as more of a convenience and they stated they wouldn’t let the weather prevent them from attending job related opportunities such as networking events or workshops. They also didn’t mind waiting for public transportation during the winter months.

Most of this group said they didn’t need any further tech training during and following the pandemic as they were proficient beforehand. They often took classes and participated in workshops that they were interested in as continuing or supplemental education to their college classwork. A number of Chicagoans in this age group used their time during the pandemic to obtain additional degrees or graduate degrees they believed would allow them to be more versatile capable of doing more types of tasks and earn more money.

After the pandemic those who had already been working remotely in the younger age group typically continued to do so. However, at the same time, many who had been working in traditional jobs at physical locations had determined that they preferred remote work. When employees wouldn’t allow this and called everyone back into the office, a number of younger employees quit in order to pursue their own job path.

Those in the younger age group were the most likely to feel confident in their ability to earn enough to pay their bills and have enough disposable income to maintain the lifestyle they preferred. The majority of this group said they planned to retire by age 55 or earlier.

Middle-aged workers (ages 40-59) were mixed in their preferences for work locations. About three-quarters of them preferred remote work. Most of these individuals said they preferred to work from home some of the time and use a co-working space once in a while, primarily to socialize and make business contacts. Those in this age group who preferred remote work were likely to spend several days a week at locations that had free WIFI, such as coffee shops.  

Chicagoans in the middle-aged group preference for remote work was partially due to it allowing them to remain home during the harsh winters. They felt that traveling to a job at specific hours during the winter was stressful because of the need to wait for the subway or bus for those who had used public transit to get to work before the pandemic. Participants in this group were the most likely to feel stressed by the need to travel to work in the winter. Additionally, several remarked that the traffic in Chicago was terrible and often caused massive delays. They also mentioned that there was little parking in Chicago and it was frequently impossible to find a parking space sometimes making it difficult to get to work on time.

About half of this age group had started their own online business during the pandemic but about a fourth of those said they hadn’t been sure how to do this successfully and had returned to online jobs working for others.

More than half of the middle-aged Chicago workers surveyed said they felt the need to get additional computer and tech related training during and after the pandemic and felt moderately comfortable using these skills following training. They mostly used online training courses like Coursera and Google. About 10 percent of these workers said they completed degrees, got first degrees or obtained a graduate degree but these individuals believed it would allow them to develop advanced skills in one area making them more marketable. This is a contrast to the younger age group who felt that education would give them the ability to work on more types of tasks.

Around half of this group (49%) said that job benefits such as health care, paid time off and investment or retirement plans involving company matching were important. They weren’t as concerned about work-life balance as the younger workers but still found it to be important.

Middle-aged workers were generally less confident than the younger group in their ability to pay their bills and were concerned they wouldn’t be able to put away enough money to retire comfortably. Many in this group said that they had revised their earlier estimate of when they would retire and would need to work longer than they’d planned, past the national retirement age (age 67 for those born after 1958; from age 65 to 67 and 10 months for those born before 1959).

The older age group (ages 60 +) leaned more towards traditional workspaces such as 9-to-5 jobs with physical office space and a traditional managerial hierarchy. They had found the pandemic stressful because of the sudden job loss when many were laid off or because of the need to learn how to work remotely. This age group was the least likely to switch jobs or have multiple jobs, preferring to stick with one company throughout their working life if possible

After the pandemic these employees were eager to return to the office and felt relieved when they could work again in a physical office space. Most of them said that benefits were a must. Those in this age group were the least concerned of the age groups to say work-life balance was important.

These Chicagoans said that it’s not always easy to travel to work in the winter but it was just part of what was required. They found traveling to work during the winter months to be moderately stressful. Many said that this was due to the physical difficulties that came with growing older such as the cold making arthritis pain worse or having trouble walking through the snow to get to public transit stations.

Additionally, many of those in this age range enjoyed being able to work from home once or twice a week  due to avoid long travel times involving Chicago transit delays or rush hour traffic. This age group was more likely to feel stressed about the need to know how to navigate the internet and use computers in their jobs. While many felt the need to gain new tech skills, many of these individuals said this was extremely hard for them to grasp. They preferred in-house training that was specific to their positions. No one in this age group completed or obtained degrees during or after the pandemic.

Those in the older age group were the least likely to feel confident in their ability to pay their bills, especially after retirement. Those still working in this age group often stated that they were working past the age at which they thought they’d retire and could not give an estimate as to what age they’d feel comfortable retiring. Most of those still working in this group said they would have to work until at least age 70.

Chicago workers found certain aspect of living in Chicago to affect their satisfaction with working remotely or in a traditional work place. All of them said that it was harder to get around during the winter months due to the cold and snowy Chicago conditions but they differed in how stressful they found winter to be. Traveling to work was said to be difficult across age groups due to traffic if driving, or public transit delays if using the subway or bus.

Factors affecting the ability to travel to and from work are important to pay attention to in Chicago as the majority of people living there do not have cars. Those needing to travel to a physical workplace at a specific time were significantly affected by public transit delays, the need to walk to transit stations during winter and then stand outside waiting for the bus or train which was often delayed.

A part of the shift that has occurred in Chicagoans views of work and the speed with which it has occurred, was apparently due to the Pandemic. The forced “shelter at home” order precluded anyone from working onsite so everyone who intended to remain employed had to find a way to earn money online. In older age groups this necessitated taking online classes and workshops to improve their tech abilities so that they would be marketable. They also found the effects of the pandemic and post pandemic on employment more stressful than younger groups.

For younger age groups, while the initial reality of the pandemic and being homebound was undoubtedly hard as it was for everyone, they quickly pivoted and became enthusiastic about creating an online business, something they may not have done before the pandemic or at least not as soon as they did. The speed with which technology and internet further developed during and after the pandemic was faster than ever seen before.

While the younger generation had already identified co-corking spaces, remote work, serial or multiple jobs and side gigs as how and where they preferred to work, this solidified during the pandemic. After the pandemic, many people who had transitioned to working at home, preferred to continue doing so.