How to Create an Office Space for Millennials
Whisper it quietly, but the much-maligned Millennial demographic is about to become the single biggest and most influential group of people in the whole of the UK. There’s a very simple reason for this; as the youngest members of this demographic have reached 18 over the course of the last 12 months, with this event helping to unlock the immense spending power of Millennials in Britain and throughout the rest of the world.
There are currently around 17 million Millennials in the UK, the vast majority of which have now reached adulthood. Incredibly, they also comprise the largest generational workforce nationwide, and this is something that employers need to consider when designing their office space.
So, here are some ideas to help you create a workspace that’s tailormade for your Millennial employees!
- Understand the Importance of Wellbeing
Aside from ensuring that you work with accredited, local painters when developing your office space, you’ll also need to place a considerable focus on health and wellbeing. After all, this is extremely important to Millennials, who are increasingly aware of how their environment and diet can impact adversely on their health. With this in mind, you’ll need to create an office that helps Millennials to maintain a healthy lifestyle, from the food that you stock in your vending machines to the use of plants to improve air-flow and quality.
On a similar note, you should also implement ‘cycle to work’ schemes and similar initiatives to promote a healthier lifestyle and enable Millennials to achieve their non-work objectives.
- Create a Flexible Workplace
Millennials are also adaptable and interactive individuals, who love to work in flexible workspaces that enable them to collaborate and operate with a degree of freedom. To achieve this, you should consider creating an open office plan that empowers regular communication and interaction, in a bid to boost Millennial productivity and the impact of collaborative projects.
You should also introduce communal working and meeting spaces, whilst removing barriers that separate departments and alternative areas within the business. Where possible, you should consider introducing an initiative such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), which enables Millennials to work using their own devices and access flexible working directives.
- Make Technology a Key Watchword
Arguably, the Millennial demographic is the first generation that has access to better technology at home than it does in the workplace. This is a unique issue, and one that schemes like the aforementioned BYOD have been designed to counter.
However, this affords an opportunity for businesses to incorporate technology into their initial office design, enabling them to capitalise on the fact that Millennials have grown up using advanced technology and are incredibly comfortable with it. You should definitely invest in tools that allow for easy and convenient engagement between employees, with communication apps like internal email and Skype now central to ongoing collaborations.
Try to make the most of online storage facilities and resources such as Microsoft Online too, as makes it far easier to work collaboratively on documents and negates the need for paper-based filing systems. This type of subtle but important shift in approach can be extremely impactful for your business, particularly when engaging Millennials and empowering this huge generational workforce.
Photo credits: eOffice
