The ideal millennial environment
Our research into the chief motivations of today’s millennials found the working environment to be a pivotal consideration, so getting the office environment just right can pay dividends in terms of productivity. But what is it that our modern-day workers are looking for?
Surprisingly, the presence of natural light (41%) trumps break-out areas (29%), TV and radio (23%) and having a bar (11%). A ‘quiet area’ was a popular choice for one quarter of the people that we surveyed, while the availability of office games was prized by 24% of men (against just 7.5% of women). TV and radio ranked highly for those in the East Midlands (34%), but came low on the agenda for workers in London (17%) – and a snack area is top of the table for those in sales and marketing. Being able to listen to music at their desks is also important for 18% of men and 11% of women.
Happy office, happy workers
Beyond physical parameters, the office atmosphere can be sweetened by laughter for 39% – a figure that rises to 48% for those in the West Midlands, and falls to 27% amongst Londoners. Working in a fun environment is the top consideration for a fifth of millennials, so getting the atmosphere right really is crucial.
The opportunity to work from home would be well received by the majority of millennials, who typically value work/life balance more highly than their parents’ generation. On average, the millennials that we surveyed would like to work from home 2.4 days a week (rising to 2.8 for Londoners who are burdened by arduous commutes), while 14% would prefer home working for the whole five days.
With flexible and at home working the expected norm for many millennials, we’d suggest agreeing a mutually beneficial compromise if you want to engage this valuable portion of your workforce.
Get in touch
If you’d like to view the findings of our research in full, you can download our free whitepaper report here. Or, to discuss how we can help you to tailor your attraction and engagement techniques to target millennials, don’t hesitate to get in touch.