Enough of the Millennials, Gen Z is Now the Forefront of Workplace Design Strategies in Commercial Real Estat

At the heart of every successful digital workplace is a great, engaging experience, one where team members forget about the technology. 

If your users prefer to communicate via the digital workplace instead of via email, phone or face-to-face meetings, and everything is running smoothly, then you’re doing something right.

“When people in the new generation say they want a private office, sometimes they just mean that they want private space when they want it. A lot of the tension [in workplace design] is about whether to support people for where they are now or incentivize them into different behaviors,” said Ashley Branca, director for CBRE’s Workplace Strategy in Seattle, highlighting one of the common trends about the impact that Generation Z are having on urban workplace design strategies.

The up-and-coming cohort, generation Z, follows Gen Y (affectionately referred by many as Millennials) and is influencing the commercial real estate market worldwide in more ways than one. At a CoreNet Global Summit held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle in early November of 2017, much of the focus was on the emerging generation (those born between 1995 and 2012), and how its members are beginning to impact the commercial real estate market that finds itself in a constant state of evolution.

One panel, “The Gen Z World: Shifts in Urban Design, Architecture and Corporate Workplace,” explored what the new generation is looking for in their work experiences, as well as how today’s emerging workforce is influencing real estate strategies and impacting urban, architectural and workplace design. The panel was comprised of William Hodges Hendrix, associate vice president and principal at Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA); Melissa Jancourt, designer and strategist with HGA Architects & Engineers; Celine Larkin, associate vice president with HGA’s Urban Design + Planning department; and David and Jonah Stillman, a father-and-son, Gen X and Gen Z duo and co-authors of Gen Z @ Work. The panel explored a wide range of topics, discussing technology, transportation, uses and new building typologies, as well as the impact the new generation will have in evolving the cultural norms informing workplace environment.