Millennials: Changing the workplace

Millennials are replacing Baby Boomers in the workplace, and more importantly at the decision making stage. Gone is the traditional top-down corporate structure, with Millennials bringing a ‘flatter’ managerial approach, more collaborative and flexible working, and a bigger push for diversity, not to mention technological advances.

How does this impact upon the offices we work in?

While flexible working is no longer a new concept, Millennials are driving this change. The traditional 9 til 5 culture is becoming less regimented. So long as productivity levels are high, hours worked become less relevant. Changes in hours worked and home working have fuelled a rise in hot-desking and more recently a far more collaborative working environment, with more projects being worked up in break out areas.

Millennials are often labelled as job hoppers and the appeal of good quality offices with amenities such as bike spaces, showers, outside space, cafes/ bars are crucial to attracting and retaining the best talent. We are also seeing initiatives to relieve stress and increase employee performance such as pets in the workplace, which has been introduced by companies such as Google, Amazon and Etsy. Other Millennial driven initiatives include access to healthy food, plants, physical and mental health support and even snooze-friendly policies!

It’s crucial that office developers keep pace with the demands of the Millennials and it will be interesting to see what new concepts are next to impact the property industry.