For as long as I have been in the industry, workspace has focused on the “next” generation whether that has been the overly-discussed millennials or Gen-Z. As it has grown, the market for flexible offices has inevitably followed the same path, but in doing so its providers could have taken their eyes off the ball by lacking focus on the most cash-rich and flexible generation of all – Generation X.
Now this isn’t me looking at demographics and arranging marketing word salad to make a point about the sector. That is too easy. But this is a generation that is digitally savvy enough to embrace cloud technology, with big enough personal networks to run their own businesses of consultancies, and with enough disposable income to pay for premium workspace products.
And, more to the point, Gen X will account for over 50 percent of occupiers in the next 10 years as more companies adopt the flex model and workers stay in the work for longer. Shouldn’t this make them the prime target audience for flex space operators, and landlords, for the next five years?
Why Gen X, why now?
A lot has been written about the impact Baby Boomers and Millennials have on the workforce and the economy in general, whereas Generation X appears to be the ‘middle child’ of the workforce. The oldest Generation X workers still have at least ten working years left before they consider retirement with the youngest of this generation looking at 30+ years in the workplace.
How to cope with an ageing population and the tax imbalance that comes with it has long been at the forefront of policymakers’ decision making. Over the last year, British employment growth has been fuelled by over-50s – particularly women – according to data from the Office of National Statistics.
Office-based employment in the UK has risen by almost 19 percent since 2010 and the rate for the over 65s has risen to from 8.6 percent to 10.9 percent over the past 10 years. The number of people aged 65+ who are choosing to delay their retirement do so not only for financial reasons, but due to job satisfaction, favourable working conditions and the stimulating and sociable work environmen