CREJ

34 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / December 2021 ELEMENTS Future Workplace Future Workplace: Younger Workers’ Preferences, Workstyles A s organizations solidify their re- turn-to-office plans and consider a post-pandemic future, there’s one critical segment of the workforce that shouldn’t be overlooked: younger workers. Over half of the U.S. professional workforce is nowbelow the age of 45, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With Gen Z entering the workforce and boomers retiring at a rate of 10,000 a day, the workforce is going through a fundamental shift. Add in labor shortages, high- er turnover (a.k.a. the Great Resignation), and it could shift even faster. In a time of exponential transformation in the preferences and workstyles of our younger work- ers, it is imperative to provide actionable insights to help our clients unpack what their influence means for the office of the future. In Gensler’s U.S. Workplace Survey Summer 2021 research, and for the first time in our research, we uncovered some distinct generational differences for both how generations prefer to work and how they value the office differently. We asked all 2,000-plus survey respondents to rank their top 10 primary purposes of the office from a long list of selections. Universally, all four generations rated the No. 1 purpose of the office is to “collaborate with their team.” But that is where the similarities between generations ends. Gen Z respondents are significantly more like- ly to select “maximizing individual productivity,” and the only generation to rank “being visible to be promoted” in its top 10 list. Surprisingly, Gen Z and millennial respondents also are the only gen- erations to rank “inspiring creativity and innova- tion” as well. • Flexibility is preferred over assigned desks. Two out of three workers would prefer to work from a desk when they’re in the office. Again, we see unique generational differences. Almost half of the baby boomer respondents prefer primarily Jenny West Strategy Director, Gensler Denver Gensler’s U.S. Workplace Survey Summer 2021 research Ryan Gobuty/Gensler Northwood Investors – Denver