Professionals, and especially millennials, increasingly prefer flexible office spaces that enable social interactions and accommodate all kinds of work styles.
"Work gets done in several different ways throughout a given day," Stefanie Spurlin, workplace strategist for Capital One, told Bloomberg BNA. According to a Capital One survey of 2,500 of its employees, released Aug. 29, 82 percent believe that "companies cannot encourage innovation unless their workplace design and environment is innovative." Respondents also stated that workplace design is equally as important, or more important, than workplace location, which is "counter to what businesses have known for the last many years," Spurlin said.
The key to an office design succeeding with younger workers is the flexibility it offers them, Spurlin said. "Work spaces should provide options and balance for employees to both work together and work solo," because 88 percent of office professionals said they have their best ideas when they're working in flexible office designs, she said.
Other office space preferences for Capital One professionals in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Washington include: natural light (cited by 62 percent); artwork and creative imagery (44 percent); easily reconfigurable furniture and spaces (43 percent); collaborative spaces (37 percent); and bold colors (26 percent).