Experiencing flow from a managerial perspective among different generations

In the world of work, it’s also important to maintain motivation in the long term and to enjoy what we are doing. It would be important for companies to better understand the process of flow and how it works. If the people who work for the company are happier and experience flow more often, the company can also benefit from it. In our pilot research, we conducted in-depth personal interviews in the service sector, in an organisation with nearly 250 employees. We investigated whether a position at a managerial level is directly proportional to the frequency of experiencing flow. That is, the more senior the position, the more often the flow experience is experienced in the workplace. The exact opposite result was obtained, i.e., the higher the position held, the less frequent the flow experience at work. Newly hired employees experience flow more often in their daily work. There is no significant difference between Generation Y and Generation Z in terms of the experience of flow and the frequency with which it is achieved. All of the respondents agreed that working at home office meant far fewer interruptions from colleagues and fewer distractions. They all rated it as a major positive and confirmed that the flow experience is more frequent in a home environment.