Take a peek into any modern office then try to guess what makes it so different compared to the traditional ones you usually see portrayed in movies or dramas?
If you said unnecessary but aesthetically pleasing junk, then you’re absolutely right.
We millennials just love having certain things that tell us, “We’re young, we’re hip and we’re completely in trend.”
I realised that after the numerous times I’ve jumped jobs—because, commitment issues—there are a few key items that modern offices tend to have in common.
It then dawned on me how this could be part of the ingenious plan employers nowadays have to lure innocent millennials in. It’s super efficient, unfortunately. We just can’t resist these things.
So, here are 6 items you should have in your work space if you’re looking to reel in any millennial into your chamber—I mean, office.
1) Bean bags
Ah, bean bags.
The biggest cheese you can put when it comes to luring in a millennial mouse scurrying around for a place to work at.
You can’t have a modern office and not have bean bags. That’s like taking away artisanal coffee away from hipster culture.
It’s even come to a point where most modern offices prefer the idea of just throwing bean bags everywhere rather than arranging desk chairs because if there’s one thing that attracts a millennial, it’s a comfy working environment.
How could we not be attracted though? Being young usually means we’re restless. Being restless means we move around a lot.
Who wants to be trapped to the conventional desk and chair when we have the much more Insta-worthy beanbag to plonk ourselves onto? Might as well take a selfie while at it, to show our envious friends how awesome our office is.
You know your #dailyworkselfies isn’t complete without at least one bean bag in the background.
2) Snack bars
If you don’t have a snack bar in your office, my sincerest apologies on your hard life.
One thing people need to understand about most millennials: we snack a lot. And I mean A LOT. So when I go on an office tour after an interview and the employer shows me the snack bar, I’m so pleased that everything else pretty much pales in comparison.
Heck, some offices even go the extra mile and have healthy options like granola bars or dried fruits for the young ‘uns who gym not just for Instagram shots but also for their health in general.
Add extra brownie points if your snack bar has alcohol or energy drinks included because heaven knows when it comes to evening hours and our brains are mushed, a good drink is enough to give us that buzz.
3) Photo collage board
Place these in a prominent location, almost like a shrine or a monument.
Ensure that it’s decorated with ten million photos of the company team having craploads of fun in trendy locations all over town. Quotes that vaguely hint at motivation are also a good bet.
If that isn’t strategic hiring method, I don’t know what is.
Millennials are huge suckers for this whole work family bond feel, so showcasing it through quirky candid photos is the best way to assure candidates that the office is pretty happening.
To make it even more appealing, the photos could be all polaroids. Inception it and have it be a polaroid of a polaroid photo because nothing oozes a hipster millennial aesthetic more than that.
4) Fake grass
C’mon now. You can’t call yourself a millennial office until you have this.
It doesn’t even have to be on the floor anymore. Decorate furnitures, items and even walls. Heck, we’ve even seen it on the ceiling. Our own office has a wall of this stuff, and my eyes were very drawn to them.
We millennials love being out in the sun, just chilling on the grass. Trick us with this fake substitute; we’ll accept it. Even better, tell your employees that green is a therapeutic colour meant to calm people down if they’re stressed. Also say it’s good for our eyes. We’ll lap it right up.
5) Fancy lights/decor
You haven’t seen fancy architecture until you’ve stepped into a modern office.
Gone are the days when our generation thinks having the standard desk and tables are enough. Find a quirky cardboard box big enough to call a table and a millenial would most likely be impressed by that eccentric appeal.
As long as it’s an inexplicable shape that looks like it could be in the next IKEA catalogue, it’s good enough to bring in the young crowd.
I mean, why else do you think modern offices have marshmallow-like lamps as shown in the photo above?
6) Pool Tables/Foosball Tables
Need I elaborate?
If a parent walked into an office and saw this, they’d probably call it a waste of space. Show a millennial and they’d say there’s nowhere else they’d want to work at.
Never mind the fact that a schedule of a average worker probably consists of tight deadlines, just having a pool/foosball/ping pong table placed in any corner of an office gives off the impression that entertainment is an option should the stress be too much.
We want it all and we prioritise jobs that know how to have a steady balance between work and fun.
It’s something we thrive on, so having something like this gives us the impression that the work environment is more than just a corporate office.
So if you’re looking at a long list of job vacancies in your office and wondering what’re the best ways to attract millennials, try having these 6 items. I can say that a good handful of résumés would be sent, but just keep in mind that we might not hang around long.
Because at the end of the day, the fancy tricks and gigs may bring us in, but it takes a lot more to make us stay.
Did we miss anything that you’ve seen in all millennial offices? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image Credit: f2design.com