Is An Office Renovation the Key to Retaining Millennials?

It's important to make the office space a nice place to be, as your employees spend most of their time there so it’s only the right thing to do. However, a full renovation just to retain those millennials you’ve hired?

It might seem like an over-reaction to a group of individuals who are shaking things up too much already but if you want the cream of the crop, perhaps this is the answer.

If we start by looking at a few statistics, in a Great Place to Work survey, offices that were more ‘fun’ were around 15% more innovative and experience higher net profits. However, doesn’t everyone want to work somewhere that is fun? It can’t just be millennials. The Nova Loca blog explores the idea: ‘Should offices be ‘Fun’’? Eventually, it comes to the conclusion that it isn’t to everybody’s taste and some people are just as content on spinning on their castors at their own desk, with their own PC.

“For a great many, work does not breed harmony without order, and for those with busy home or personal lives, it might even be a source of respite,” they write. “Yet it might be drastic to dismiss the modern workplace as a crude joke of professionalism; so long as it is applied responsibly, it gives workers a choice of working environments where before, arguably, there was none.” This last point is crucial in the office renovation argument. Finally, employees have a choice and they can choose a company with an open plan, hot desk and fun office - or if they prefer, stick to the ‘professional’ environment.

So perhaps the way forward is flexible work zones like well-known company Lego have adopted. The BBC reported that Lego’s offices based in London and Singapore have introduced a system called activity-based working where you don’t have your own desk. This might sound stressful, but it just means you are free to float between different areas of the business depending on your mood.

Senior director Sophie Patrikios told the BBC that the new system was going well. “In our May 2016 survey, 88% of staff said they liked the choice of where to work. They get a choice of different settings to suit their activity or mood,” she says. The different areas include a quiet library, a buzzing social area with background music, comfy chairs in cosier rooms and grouped desks to share with colleagues.

Whether this sort of office renovation is the key to retaining millennials is still to be debated. Managing Director of Baker Tilly, Laura Fries, thinks that millennials are worth the extra effort and shared her experience with The Business Journal. Having decided to invest in redesigning the place of work, Fries believes there are four things to consider that are important when it comes to retaining millennials.

Firstly, Millennials believe in collaboration and innovation so need to have the team space to collaborate in. Next on the list is the flexibility to work anywhere either sitting, standing or seeking privacy in a private office space. Another thing to consider is having strong company morals such as sustainability and conservation.

Finally, Fries says the most important thing to deliberate throughout the process in communication. “Begin by communicating,” she says. “Millennials believe they can and will drive change. Give them that opportunity by starting with a survey.” It seems that the office that will get the best results is to be decided by your employees, renovation is a big investment so find out what they want and then respond to the findings.