A realtor asked his Gen Z employee to edit a video. The result went viral
Instagram users are calling for the promotion of an employee who who answered her realtor boss’s request for a video edit with a hilarious montage.
Mike Hege is a realtor at Pridemore Properties, a real estate brokerage based in Charlotte, North Carolina. In early July, the 43-year-old asked his company's 27-year-old video marketing manager to make a video for his Instagram and TikTok pages.
The employee shared the post with the caption, “Asked my Gen Z employee to edit a video for me, and this is what I got!”
What followed was a video compilation of the in-between moments of Hege’s tours — each time he paused to take a breath, clapped, fiddled with his hair and collected his thoughts. The location was set to "Mike's Breathing."
The playful post took off, racking up nearly 3.5 million views within just four days. Many comments commended the employee.
“Give her a raise because this 100% caught my attention far more than whatever you were going to say,” a user commented.
“Her audacity is so respectable tho,” another wrote.
“Put this in the dictionary next to millennial pause,” one replied.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Hege explained that he and the employee, who wished to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, have developed a trusting employer-employee relationship.
“We give her free reign. There’s a level of trust we have,” Hege says.
Typically, she films, edits and shares videos featuring Hege’s property tours and real estate insight. This time, though, she made a video set to an internet trend.
“I didn’t know about (the video edit at first). So it was, like, a complete surprise. I think, I think at first I was like, ‘OK, that’s pretty funny,” he says.
The video was part of the team's concerted effort to expand their social media presence beyond Charlotte, North Carolina-centric real estate content.
"We want to help people through the process of finance and real estate. This video was all about like the humanity of it. The authenticity that she tried to convey that we can we can have a good time,” Hege says. “This was the editor’s way of showcasing that we’re real people and that we can have fun and be on the lighter side.”
As for whether she'll be receiving the raise the internet wants for her? “She’s been an employee since February, and frankly, has been crushing it. So I think her six month and one year review is gonna look very good," Hege says.
The new Gen Z and employee trend has clinched users' attention on Instagram and TikTok. Here’s everything we know about how it works.
When you let your Gen Z employee edit video
This video is part of an ongoing TikTok trend that sees Gen Z employees give, well, wacky edits of their employers speaking.
On TikTok, the phrase “Letting Gen Z Edit My Videos” leads to videos with millions of views. One post with 1.7 million views shows a real estate agent saying "um" over and over again.
Another shared on the TikTok page of the Regional History Museum in Marquette, Wisconsin shows a museum curator's laughs and asides, rather than the presentation itself.
In another viral compilation, the curator at the Poe Museum's speech is reduced to vivid expressions and random sentences, like, “This is a door."
Playful inter-generational workplace interactions have unfolded in other TikTok trends.
In the "can you watch my boss for a second?" trend, Gen Z staffers bombard their bosses with a recording camera and capture their bewildered reactions.
The Gen Z employee's edits continue to roll in
In a follow-up post shared on his Instagram page, Hege shared that his Gen Z employee continues to be involved in his content.
"My Gen Z editor wrote my script," he wrote over a video that showed him using Gen Z slang as he gave house tours.
"This kitchen ate and left no crumbs," he says in one clip.
"You're clinically delulu if you don't think this is fire," he says of a living room space.
In the caption of the post, he jokingly implored his followers for help.
"Guys, please tell me what I’m saying because I have no idea ????"
This article was originally published on TODAY.com