Millenial’s Workplace Dreams

What do the vast majority of millennials believe a workplace has to offer to inspire creativity and productivity? That’s the very question companies large and small are working hard to answer.

The rebellion against open office settings – where personal privacy is completely eliminated under the banner of collaboration-always environments – seems a foregone conclusion, as ill-conceived for worker happiness as any expanse of windowless cubicles. Yet, the ideal conditions permitting the possibility of creative ideas to form and gestate seems as uncertain as the Heisenberg principle, simultaneously requiring privacy and openness. Too much privacy, and collaborative efforts wane. Too little, and the solitary moments required for creative minds to explore ideas withers. Employers are beginning to recognize the key in achieving this equilibrium is neither here nor completely there, but achievable integrating environmental flexibility.

Capital One’s 2017 Work Environment Survey queried 2,500 full-time office millennial professionals in Chicago, Dallas, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., providing an overwhelming agreement (86%) that “companies cannot encourage innovation unless workplace design and environment is innovative”, identifying flexible workspaces are an integral mechanism for encouraging the best ideas (88%). Sadly, 62% of those polled said their company’s current workplace environment fails to encourage innovation, revealing the majority of companies are not only failing to meet the expectations of their employees, but also likely diminishing opportunities for innovative thinking to occur during work hours.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise the majority surveyed (62%) wanted access to natural light in the workplace. Capital One offices in Chicago designed by Gensler .25% cited spaces for rest and relaxation as important. Capital One offices in Clarendon, designed by Gensler, offers intimate nooks serving this purpose. Spaces inviting comfortable and natural collaborative interactions (37%) came in neck and neck with desire for easily reconfigurable furniture and spaces (43%). The Capital One in Chicago hits both marks.

One thing becomes obvious after reading the study’s findings: establishing an inspiring workplace isn’t a singular solution – it’s a sum of numerous factors. In light of these findings underlining design’s importance in driving innovation, the one-size-fits-all strategy of yesterday seems obviously ineffectual and antiquated. Multi-purpose, adaptable, and reconfigurable spaces are the new ideal, promoting employees to alter environments dynamically (while also facilitating focused productivity vs. mitigating distractions as needed throughout the day). In this way the interior itself becomes a vehicle of empowerment, a tool for collaboration.

Study Answers: What Do Millennials Most Want in the Workplace? [design milk]