16.09.2019

Workplace design is the single most important thing to millennials

A survey of young leaders in corporate real estate, What Millennials Want From the Workplace, presented at the CoreNet Global Summit in Amsterdam, has revealed that workplace design and flexible working are top priorities.

Even as Generation Z enters the workplace, designers and advisers concerned with the war for talent continue to make efforts to accommodate the outlook and preferences of millennials – the generation born between 1981-1997 which is set to represent 75 per cent of the workplace by 2025.

The research conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of millennials at PWC, Colliers International, CBRE, Deka Immobilien GmbH and HLW International, challenged some of the usual stereotypes about the working preferences of their peer group, but also examined what really attracts and retains this generation.

What Millennials Want From the Workplace focused on two areas – workplace and employer – covering topics such as design, flexible working, workspace, wellness, loyalty, work/life balance and culture.

What Millennials Want From the Workplace delivered key findings:

The single most important thing to millennials when it comes to the workplace is design, followed by the work itself, location, and then colleagues
98 per cent of millennials consider that culture is an important component of their workplace
95 per cent of millennials believe that flexible working is important to their workplace experience, with employer trust being a key theme in the debate at the Summit
81 per cent of millennials consider that workplace design has a moderate or high impact on day-to-day productivity, with 86 per cent stating that well-designed common areas are very important
87 per cent felt wellness was important, while 80 per cent of millennials now demand healthy food options in the workplace but more traditional aspects of the workplace such as socialising are still ranked high at 82 per cent
75 per cent felt that they had a good work/life balance, with 72 per cent considering that their employer supported this balance
Millennials are loyal, with 74 per cent intending to stay with their current employer for three or more years, a finding that goes against the stereotype of this “job-hopping” generation
Talent retention is also a key factor, with 87 per cent wanting employers to be more transparent about growth prospects