This is Not Your Grandmother’s Office: The Millennial Workplace

Take a second and picture your office 20 years from now. How much has changed? No matter which profession you’re in, the answer to that question is: the workplace of millennials will be radically different as we progress towards middle-age and beyond. Just how different depends on the field and company.

Redefining Office Culture

The idea of working in a cubicle row does not fit into the vision of the ideal millennial workplace. Go into the office of almost any startup and there will hardly be a cubicle in sight. Many of the tech companies out of Silicon Valley are known for their collaborative office layout. All workstations are in an open room, which promotes collaboration and productive socialization. In many of these companies, the executives also have desks in the same room as their employees. This lessens the divide between employee and boss, and makes everyone function as a cohesive unit.

Technology in the Millennial Workplace

Millennials love technology. We use our devices for everything from making lists, taking notes, getting directions, discovering new restaurants, keeping appointments, and a variety of other things. I know I use my phone to take and store notes when my manager leads a meeting at work. I also have used my phone to record video of trainees as they pitched a product, and then used the video to show the trainee exactly where they’re going wrong. The point is today’s technology already has immense value in the workplace. One can only dream of how next-gen technology will shape the millennial workplace.

There may be a day in the near future when Virtual Reality conferences are the norm instead of a Science Fiction pipe dream. This and similar technologies will revolutionize how and where millennials work. With a technology like Virtual Reality, millennials would only have to physically come into the office when absolutely necessary. This means the ability to work anytime and anywhere, which can be a good or bad thing. It can be good if companies allow their employees to utilize this communication form to work from home a couple of days a week. On the flip side, this could add to the increasing dependence millennials have on technological devices.

What does your dream workplace look like? How do you think technology will change the way we work? Drop us a line below!