An increased focus on post-work recreation from London’s office workforce should prompt businesses to think increasingly carefully regarding the ‘street life’ of office locations, especially surrounding food & drink operations if they want to win the ‘war for talent’, according to new research from Strutt & Parker.
The Office Futures: Workshift survey, which questioned 1,000 full-time office employees in London, found that where employees were asked about locational factors, commuting time and food & drink options were far and away the most important issues.
A subset of the overall sample, consisting of 210 employees in the 18-34 year old range and earning more than £35,000, ranked proximity to food and drink options (65% ranked it as important when determining an ideal work location) almost as highly as commuting time.
The research revealed that occupiers in the coming decade are likely to pursue far more flexible leasing strategies, particularly with regard to their satellite or non-core office space.
They will also seek to align real estate costs with a volatile business environment, technology that is redefining previously-fixed workspaces and a younger generation, different enough to their forbears, in order to shift long-established working patterns off their axis.
Tom Grounds, partner in research at Strutt & Parker, said: “Office occupiers’ demand for flexibility has driven incremental change in the office market over the last couple of decades - lease lengths are now a third of what they were. However, we believe that the ‘War for Talent’ and legislative and technological change have put us on the cusp of a more fundamental shift.
“Access to the latest technologies, a variety of communal work spaces and a vibrant location have been identified by younger workers as being important factors in shaping their ideal workplaces. These three aspects look set to shape the future of modern office occupiers in London as businesses vie to secure the best future leaders and provide them with a workspace that promotes productivity”.
A subset of the overall sample, consisting of 210 employees in the 18-34 year old range and earning more than £35,000, highlighted a number of key differences in millennials and older workers’ preferences for what constitutes a productive working environment.
The ‘future leaders’ ranked mobile work tools as the key devices for doing their job - 67% and 61% said that mobile phones and laptops respectively were important to them, whilst desktop computers and landlines were only thought of as important by 48% and 25% respectively.
A desire for communal working areas was expressed by the ‘future leaders’, who when asked which office features were most important to them ranked staff breakout and coffee areas, informal spaces and formal meetings rooms as being more important to them than older workers did.
With regard to location, ‘future leaders’ ranked proximity to food and drink options (65% ranked it as important when determining an ideal work location) almost as highly as commuting time, which 72% identified as being important.
Grounds said: “The ‘future leaders’ are part of the ‘foodie generation’ and associate having a large range of food and beverage options close to the office as conducive to a productive work/life balance. This focus on post-work recreation should prompt businesses to think increasingly carefully regarding the ‘street life’ of office locations if they want to win the ‘war for talent.’ The fact that prime office rents in King’s Cross have now hit £80 per sq ft, above many longer-established submarkets in London, is no coincidence.”
