There is little difference in workplace preferences between millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers study finds

Designing the office of the future? Don’t plan it around (what you think you know about) U.S. millennials. The study, based on aggregated CBRE Workplace Strategy surveys from more than 5,500 office workers across numerous industries, found that while current assumptions about millennials are driving the design of many workplaces today, there is actually little difference in workplace preferences between millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers.

“The results of this study clearly suggest that variety, choice, access and transparency—attributes typically associated with what millennials want—are indeed important, but not only for millennials,” said Georgia Collins, CBRE’s senior managing director for Workplace Strategy. “Our study actually found that most of these attributes are equally important to Generation Xers and baby boomers.”

With millennials currently accounting for approximately 24 percent of the adult population in the U.S., and with a projected 75 percent of the workforce being millennials by 2025, much has been made about this new workforce generation, particularly when it comes to workplace strategy. While this is causing many companies today to debate how to balance the needs of millennials with those of a more tenured workforce, the CBRE study suggests that the generational divide is more perception than reality.

via New CBRE Research Report Debunks Generational Myths About What Employees Want in the Workplace.