For the first time this year our European What Workers Want (WWW) survey looked into whether those who used certain social media platforms had different views on their office from those who didn’t.

In WWW we polled approximately 11,000 office-based employees across Europe on a whole range of factors, from whether they want to work in a conventional office, co-working space or their home to how important standing desks, breakout areas and the smell and colour of the office are to them.

We also collected some anonymised data about our respondents, including what social media platforms they use. We then correlated the use of Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter with the importance placed on several ways they could interact with their workplace.

The findings show that those who said they use Instagram find the colour of the workplace more important than those who didn’t. Meanwhile, those who use LinkedIn place more importance on being in close proximity to teams they work with. For those who use Twitter, the importance of available meeting rooms is more important than it is for those who don’t.

So, does this mean that the desires of an employee change depending on their social media use? The simple answer is that there’s far more to it than that. The use of these channels may signify that people’s desires differ based on their social media preference, but many other factors will come into play, not least that we’re now seeing a new generation of workers entering the workforce, with different ideas of what they want from their office.

According to Brandwatch, 75 per cent of all Instagram users are aged between 18 and 24. Instagram has helped create a generation of staff who are more attuned to the aesthetics of a building and to the importance of eye-catching design. This trend has been picked up in particular by hotels, co-working spaces and some retail stores, creating environments that can be photographed and shared on the platform. The discussion about a space being functional as well as visually appealing is certainly gathering more pace. 

For those using LinkedIn and Twitter, spaces where discussions and corporate networks are important, it is not a huge leap to say that users may desire more meeting spaces and a closer proximity to wider teams. However, these desires may also be centred on more traditional ways of working and personal connections due to the average age of a Twitter user being 40 (Hootsuite) and 61 per cent of LinkedIn users being between the 30-64 age bracket (LSE).

While there isn’t strictly a correlation between specific social media sites and interaction with the workplace, the results we found were indicative of a wider generational shift, driven by the increasing number of younger people in the office and their different wants and needs.   

Further information

Read more What Workers Want: Europe 2019