Gen Z Wants More Tech

LOS ANGELES—While we have a few years before Generation Z, the generation succeeding Millennials, lands in office spaces across the country, employers and office developers may want to start considering their cultural characteristics and needs now. While Millennials are renowned for their abundant use of technology, Gen Z trumps all, using more double the devices that Millennials use, according to research from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

“At work, Generation Z has a desire for culture to be immersive, so amenities are not just proximate to a specific office, they are things that the generation expects to have in the office,” Josef Farrar, executive managing director at NGKF, tells GlobeSt.com. “That culture goes beyond having ping pong tables. Our research has shown that it is not just having a play-oriented environment. More often it has to do with allowing for certain types of privacy, different types of work environments and having a third place within the office. The third place is important and it means something different depending on the company. It is not necessarily a workstation or a dedicated conference space; it is something else. It could have the characteristics of a café or activity room. The idea is that it is something outside of the focused or collaborative office spaces. The space really depends on the company culture.”

According to a chart from the firm, Gen Z uses an average of five screens, where Millennials use two, and the generation uses devices for content creation rather than content consumption, like Millennials. The differences are numerous: Gen Z communicates with images, while Millennials communicate with text; Gen Z is future focused, while Millennials are focused on the now; Gen Z are realists, while Millennials are optimists. The list goes on, and employers will need to incorporate these cultural characteristics into future workplaces, in the same way adjustments have been made for Millennials.

However, there will need to be a balance. “People in the older generations are often in the prime of their earning potential for an organization, and you can't forget about them while listening to the younger generation's needs,” William Robertson, senior managing director at program management at NGKF, tells GlobeSt.com, adding that the differences are not all generational. Some members of older generations adapt more fluidly to technology, while there are likely some Gen Z members that aren't consumed by technology. Either way, workplaces will have to once again adapt to meet these needs.

“The things that Gen Z are drawn to and the way that they want to work are definitely going to be having an impact over the next 10 to 30 years, and companies should be listening to that,” Robertson says. “They are going to have an impact on everything from the way that homes are developed to the way that companies are run and office space is designed and built. Even in the next 30 years, you are going to have people from Gen Y and Gen X in the workforce, and a workplace needs to accommodate all of those people.”