What Almost All Millennials Are Looking For In An Office Space
Millennials now make up the majority of the workforce, which is a reason to embrace their wants and needs. Millennials also have all sorts of wonderful characteristics, such as creativity, entrepreneurial mindsets, media understanding and a better grasp of what a good work/life balance looks like. All of this begs the question, what are they looking for in an office?
That’s what you – the employer – wants to know, right? You want to know what you can do to attract and keep the best of the best when it comes to talent because you know that a great Millennial worker is worth his or her weight in Unobtainium. Not just that, but Millennials also care about where they work, far more than any generation of worker that has come before them. They value the coherence between a workspace and a culture. They want your culture and values and ethics to extend into the office space you work from.
To help you with this and, more specifically, to help you create an office that Millennial superstars will want to work out of, we have come up with a few principles that will help them feel in their element.
Don’t Underestimate Variety
One thing we have noticed with Millennials is their desire to be free, to move about as they wish and find the right place to help them work effectively depending on their current mood. This may sound preposterous to you and that they should work where and when they are told, but this isn’t who they are, and for good reason. They have been brought up in an era where their biggest competitor is technology, and they have realized that what defines them is the creativity and relationships. As such, they like choosing where to be productive and with whom they can be most awesome. That’s where having a choice of rooms can make a great first impression and can really benefit you. Create rooms that are more like comfortable living rooms, add a library, have a selection of stand-up tables, some outdoor space and use nooks and crannies to allow staff to escape and focus on themselves and away from the stress of the office.
Accept Flexibility is Here to Stay
Sometimes your staff is going to be most productive working from home, or in a place that isn’t the office; a place where they can create and contemplate. The reason you shouldn’t be scared of this is simple: technology. The advancements in technology make collaboration much easier and allow staff to utilize their time effectively while being motivated by a better work/life balance. Basically, Millennials want to be able to work from anywhere and at any time and you shouldn’t stand in their way if you want to get and keep the best of the best in your company. What this means for your office space is that you should set up your design to allow for staff coming and going, which can be done quite simply.
Workspace That Reflects Culture
This idea of having purpose driven spaces where the physical space mimics and reflects the culture of your company has become a big power in attracting Millennials. However, it is a challenge. You are trying to show your purpose (intangible) through your office (tangible), that isn’t easy. But it doesn’t haven’t to be. It could be something as simple as harnessing the power of your business cleaning services to really mimic how smart and professional your company’s operations are. Yes, it can be as simple as that. If your staff members are walking into a clean and tidy space, that will rub off on their work. However, you could go even further and have a boardroom table that transforms into a ping pong table to show how you are a company that celebrates transformational ideas. Once again, yes, these are comforts and luxuries that the generations before wouldn’t even dare dream of, but by having rooms with yoga mats and sprawling sofas dotted about and a barista on call to make crazy, fun coffees you are showing that you value the community spirit of your office and want to have a culture that is fun for all. That is what Millennials love and what they thrive off of.
Lost In Translation
This is a common feeling among so many new employees and recent graduates, which is where having much more accessible mentors can have a wildly profound impact. Just think about it for a second, though. These types of employees have just come from a college campus where they thrived in an environment designed to encourage collaboration, designed to foster coaching and to utilize mentoring to great effect, and then they arrive at an office where everyone is wearing headsets, sitting in rows and working independently. That is a tough transition for many to make and one that turns so many Millennials away in search of something better suited to them. This isolating feeling can be eradicated by improving your mentorship program. The more fluid the access is between young people and high-level leaders the better for them and the better for you. So, if you have got your managers on a different floor that can only be accessed with a specific key card then maybe do away with this and have it so everyone is mingling and sharing their expertise.
Workshops Not Meetings
We touched on it above, this idea that Millennials thrive on the collaboration, and that is why you should really have space that encourages ideas to blossom through collaboration instead of meeting rooms where nothing gets achieved. What makes a great workshop space? Well, there are a lot of ingredients that can encourage vertical ideation, starting with vertical space. Whiteboards, easels, blackboards, foam/cork walls. Have a projector screen or a large monitor, and tables that can be moved easily and rearranged. The more freedom you create the more freedom they will have to run with and come up with things that are new, fresh and exciting. Stools and sofas and comfortable chairs are another great inclusion because they take away from the formality that is synonymous with meeting rooms. Windows are also important, or a wall of books, just something that insinuates there is a big old world out there, which will encourage your staff to think with the same openness.
Experiences Top Stuff Every Time
Those in the corporate world used to value stuff – expensive stuff – above all else. This was a mark of success and a way of saying “well done” for their effort. This has not trickled down into the priorities of a Millennial worker. They value experiences so much more than ownership, which is why creating a great atmosphere is so important to your retention rate. It is a simple thing to achieve too. Having spaces where your staff can grow as a community and gain positive experiences together is going to go such a long way when it comes to their morale and happiness. The same can be said for having weekly socials or having a place where they can go and relax at lunch. By achieving this sort of community feeling and rewarding people through experience, you are creating an office environment where people will look forward to Monday morning, and that is something every business leader wants to achieve. Your employees want to come to work, that is a phenomenal weapon to have your arsenal.
