The Future of Home According to Gen Z - Wellbeing Webinar

As The Property Marketing Strategists move through a series of research pillars, our latest webinar - focused on the pillar of wellbeing - reviews data collected from our Living and Learning survey.

Gen Z as a cohort places a great emphasis on mental and physical wellbeing. Undoubtedly exacerbated by the pandemic, Gen Z have experienced social traumas and societal challenges that may have forever changed their ideal of wellbeing, and in turn their expectations of student accommodations and PBSA.

As accommodation providers, it’s our responsibility to provide an experience that supports and promotes optimum wellbeing. Students face immense pressure, not just from their studies, but the unfamiliarity of living away from home in a new city. Gen Z on the whole are also incredibly aware of the fundamentals of good wellbeing. They understand the value of a good night’s sleep, access to outdoor facilities and the impact of great customer service. This self awareness and emphasis on mental wellbeing further increases the need for wellbeing to be integrated into the fabric of PBSA design.

Buildings that promote community and have been built around the needs of students. A building that serves to improve the day-to-day life of its residents with easy to access amenities. A building that is comfortable, optimises natural light, has outdoor areas and promotes a good night’s sleep. There is so much to unpack.

In this panel, we invited speakers John Wakeford, Director of Engagement at the University Partnerships Programme, Jo Richards from UCAS, Joanna Frank from President and CEO of Active Design Advisors Inc, and Scott Blakeway from the Class Foundation.

The relationship between wellbeing and the home

Joanna Frank: “We know quantifiably that the design of where we live, the design of our neighbourhoods and the design of buildings themselves, and how well maintained they are impact all areas of our health.”

We opened the discussion with a broader analysis of how the design of the home impacts welling on the whole. There were many different aspects discussed in how building design pertains to wellbeing, particularly operations, community, comfort and support.

Community

Making connections, meeting people, and socialising is a fundamental part of the wellbeing model. How can a building facilitate connections and community?

Scott went on to speak about the importance of getting people out of their rooms and interacting with others, facilitating those connections, and importantly, not neglecting those who are not as likely to attend events. He spoke about the need for a conversation about the format of events and different types of events, and how we get people out of their rooms. This encourages students to form those connections that are so crucial to improved wellbeing, but perhaps this isn’t the full answer.

Interestingly, Joanna elaborated on this point with the concept of operations quality. Air quality, sound, insulation - the fundamental aspects of the operational side area arguably have greater impact on the satisfaction of the residents. If you're not providing those basic amenities, you won't be able to overcome that with events.

Facilitating community and a sense of belonging is so important to the student experience. We need to think more broadly about how that community is built.

Jon Wakeford spoke about how the welcome and orientation part helps to generate a sense of belonging, and our relationship with the universities: “I think we see ourselves as providing life skills as well as where the university might be teaching the academic stuff, we see ourselves as providing lessons in life.”

“The residential environment is where a lot of the presenting symptoms of issues are raised, because students often feel that they can't bring them up in an academic sense. It's that blending of the university's duty of care and our duty of care together, so that we can signpost early, it went where students are having problems. And we can also build that into our design as well.”

Jo Richards: “It’s also about preparing applicants before they arrive to create those networks and what they can expect.”

Prior communication to moving in, informing residents about the community aspects of the accommodation available, and how to kickstart making those connections. Perhaps through forums and digital means. 

Comfort

There is a need for accommodation providers to be thinking about the reality of university life and that might be something that you don't really think about until you're in those environments. That could be things like a comfortable chair for studying, the positioning of a bed, or where your natural light enters.

Scott spoke about how great PBSA facilities need to look past the fancy facilities and how a room looks, focusing on how comfortable it is to actually live there. For example, is there background noise from an appliance, or does the room get too hot in summer? Is the bed comfortable and conducive to good quality sleep? Those fundamentals are the biggest things to address. We know more about the impact of sleep on wellbeing than ever before, so we should be prioritising it as a part of a residential package.

Sarah elaborated on her experience of sleeping in halls and recall doors, slamming, dire doors and lifts all contributing to background noise and impacting the quality of sleep. As operators, we need to understand how those spaces are being used and lived in, in order to identify those needs.

Sleep 

As Joanna pointed out, Gen Z are incredibly self aware when it comes to the impact of sleep on wellbeing. As a  result they place a great emphasis on it when choosing their accommodation.

Joanna Frank: “I think that their concentration on those fundamental things is really going to drive a whole industry in the direction that has a quantifiable impact on health.”

Jon Wakeford spoke how research has pointed towards future students who are also thinking about the impact of sleep on mental health perhaps before their experience has even started, and how it’s becoming a part of their decision making.

Jon also discussed how it goes beyond noisy individuals in other rooms, and as far as background noise from extractor fans and we need to focus on those finer details. Even as far as furniture fabrics and bathroom lights, all of those smaller details can impact mental wellbeing and contentment. 

Customer service

But, are we overlooking the importance of customer service? Sarah reminded the panellists of the results of their recent research and focus groups, and how important the role of customer service was in overall satisfaction. Students were not shy about voicing their frustrations over slow response times, and not having complaints dealt with effectively.

Scott Blakeway spoke about the importance of staff to the community: “Reception staff who understand some of the signs to look for when they see people are so so important. And those interactions create a thriving community.”

The panel discussed how there needs to be an element of trust between the residents, operators and customer services teams.

As Joanna points out, “Social isolation is obviously mitigated by a lack of trust, if you don't trust your neighbours, if you don't trust your community, you don't go out into that community, you then become more socially isolated.” That social isolation in turn has an impact on mental health.

Study space

Study is a central part of the university experience, but how students prefer to study differs. Shared workspaces are also becoming more common within the residential market.

It’s easy in the student accommodation to stay tied to your desk, pressuring yourself to study without distraction, but this is an area accommodation providers can help with. There is a strong association with the library and study, but can we break down some of those spaces and offer alternatives. For example, how can separate study spaces or areas for group and solo work be integrated into the accommodation? This takes us back to our first point about community and integration. Solo study can detract from that, and students may decline events for fear of missing out on valuable study time.

The package

It is in the landlord’s interest to be involved in the wellbeing of their residents, especially if there is a direct correlation between tenant satisfaction. But of course, these amenities cost. As Sarah pointed out, good people cost money. Having a good customer service team on hand can add the cost of a package. But it’s clear from our research that students aren't willing to pay extra for wellbeing add-ons, and that they are expected as a necessity.

One thing that we've really noticed is that students want their wellness to be catered for as part of the whole package.

When asked about whose responsibility it is to deliver health and wellness measures, Jon spoke about how universities have the capacity to encourage residential partners to deliver a certain level of customer service and wellbeing.

Conclusion

The partnership between universities and private providers is one that is going to be integral to supporting the future wellbeing of students. Where universities can facilitate academic needs and perhaps offer more tangible solutions such as counselling, sports, and other wellbeing activities, PBSA is a starting point for signposting, encouraging better connections and integration, and informing students on where and how to access support. 

As discussed at length throughout the webinar, the fundamental aspects of comfort, good sleep, good light, air should be prioritised first. Without them, wellbeing packages and community events are simply going to prove ineffective.

What is clear is that there is a close link between tenant satisfaction and wellbeing.

Joanna: “If you want to optimise the financial outcome of the financial viability of your property, it pays literally for you to optimise that environment.”