MADISON, N.J. -- Millennials are more flexible than the Gen X and baby boomers when it comes to office layout, length of their daily commute, their willingness to forgo working from home and their ability to work remotely from mobile devices, says a Coldwell Banker survey.

"Commercial real estate, and particularly the office sector, has entered a unique era of servicing three distinct generations," said Fred Schmidt, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates, which conducted the survey.

Overall, 72% of Americans would prefer to work in a private office than any other office setting, such as a cubicle, open desk or shared office.

However, millennials -- those born between 1995 and 1980 -- are significantly more open to other working arrangements than their co-workers:

• Millennials are willing to commute nearly twice as long as any other generation (an average of 51 minutes) to get to work each day, compared to 36 minutes for Gen Xers -- those born between the early 1960s to early 1980s -- and 31 minutes for boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964).
• More Gen Xers (77%) and boomers (71%) prefer to work from home than millennials (67%).
• Most millennials, 55%, prefer working in an office with an open floor plan to a floor plan with cubicles or private offices, compared to less than half of Gen Xers, 41%, and boomers, 41%.
• While millennials are "digital natives," they still believe face-to-face communication is an important part of business and are the most willing to share their workspace with someone else.
• More millennials (77%) believe face-to-face business meetings are important than Gen Xers (67%) and boomers (74%)
• 63% of millennials and 54% of Gen Xers would be as comfortable working from a mobile device, such as a phone, tablet or laptop, as they would be working from a desktop computer, but nearly half, 48%, of boomers are also as comfortable working from a mobile device as they would from a desktop
• Most millennials, 59%, would be comfortable sharing their workspace with someone else compared to only 46% of Gen Xers and 49% of boomers

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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