Tips On Creating Spaces That Attract Millennials

Organizations have to adapt to survive and thrive in a changing economy, stok founder Matt Macko tells us. We caught up with Matt to get some top tips on what companies should consider as they design future workspaces (to learn more about the future of real estate, join us at our April 28 event in San Francisco).

By 2020, Millennials will make up half of the workforce, Matt says, making it critical for organizations to adapt to the needs of young professionals. Space design and organizational design determine how well a business transitions to the new economy, he says.

The goal of great space design should be to foster a purpose-aligned culture, as organizations with great culture outperform the market, according to Fortune.

Matt tells us the three design elements of a culture-driven space are biophilia, regeneration and balance. Here's his take on each:

1) Biophilia

Biophilia speaks to an innate desire to be surrounded by nature, Matt says. Biophilic design must nurture love for a place. Biophilic design elements have real, measurable benefits relative to human performance metrics, such as productivity, emotional well-being, stress reduction, personal enrichment and attrition rates.

2) Regeneration

Regenerative design demonstrates social and environmental impact in the built environment, Matt says. According to the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, young professionals prioritize working for organizations that share their values, and they want to work for organizations that are doing good, not just less bad. This is reflected in the physical space they occupy as much as in how the organization serves the world.

3) Balance

Balance is largely dependent upon identifying organizational purpose, according to Matt. Humans occupy buildings for 90% of any given day, and designers constantly tread a line between balancing spaces that are formal vs. relaxed or concentrated vs. collaborative, he says. Determining that balance depends heavily on why an organization exists. To design spaces and culture with intention, organizations must first identify why they exist or run the risk of getting lost along the way.

Matt tells us organizational design is equally if not more important than space design in driving business value. The holy grail of every organization is productivity, he says, and the core design elements for productivity in the Millennial economy are self-management, self-determination and self-actualization.