Your work environment has a large bearing on how you feel and your productivity levels. While some offices sap our energy and leave us wishing the day away, others fill us full of energy and creativity.
Amazing views, co-working spaces and relaxation areas all contribute to an inspiring working environment that helps businesses to attract and retain talented, sought-after people. Here are seven work environments around the globe that we can all aspire to:
1. Google Zurich
What: Home to the search engine giant’s engineering hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it opened in 2008 following employee input on its design.
Quote, unquote: According to its creator, consultancy Camenzind Evolution: “While personal workspace needed to be functional and more neutral, communal areas had to offer strong visual and more aesthetically enjoyable and entertaining qualities to stimulate creativity, innovation and collaboration.”
Perks: Employee slide, fire pole, fish tank relaxation room, ‘thinking gondolas’, meditation bathtubs and ‘serenity eggs’, ski lifts, mini basketball court and work-out spaces so staff can burn off the free breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, prepared in-house by Google chefs.
2. Inventionland
What: Inventionland in Pittsburgh is “America’s largest invention factory, where retailers, corporations and inventors come for their innovative products”. Since opening in 2006, its creations have been sold in more than 1,200 outlets.
Quote, unquote: The Inventionland website says: “The inspiring setting includes three running waterfalls, life-like trees and butterflies and grass-lined sidewalks.”
Perks: Employees work in 16 unique themed sets, including a shipwrecked pirate ship, cave, tree house, pet shack, giant shoe, cupcake kitchen, giant robot and castle (complete with turrets and drawbridge). The idea is to stimulate creativity, immersing adults in distinctly “child like” environments that correspond to different age groups, interests and activities.
3. Coca-Cola London
What: Set over four floors in a smartly retrofitted 1920s building in Fitzrovia, this is the London home for the UK subsidiary of one of the world’s most iconic brands and favourite soft drinks. It opened in April 2014 and houses 300 staff.
Quote, unquote: Linda Morey-Burrows, principal director of MoreySmith, the architectural designers that created its interior, said: “Using the brand’s iconic history, we’ve created a vibrant space that draws upon the organisation’s positive energy. The diversity of work spaces and unique social areas will hopefully inspire all who inhabit or just visit the building.”
Perks: Open-plan offices, flexible hot-desks, café, rooftop terrace offering superb London skyline views, ‘heritage wall’ spanning three floors showcasing memorabilia, art and advertising from the company’s archives in Atlanta. The office received a SKA Gold rating for sustainability – the highest level of certification available.
4. Missguided HQ
What: The new Salford Quays HQ of online fashion retailer Missguided, which employs 210 staff. The building overlooks Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, and is close to the Coronation Street studios.
Quote, unquote: Nitin Passi, Missguided CEO and founder, said: “I want to have the best office in the world and something that embodies what the brand is. We are not a ‘corporate’ company, so we don’t want corporate headquarters. We want people to walk past and say ‘what’s going on in there, are they really working?’”
Perks: Tunnel with selfie mirrors, floating meeting rooms, swings, arcade games, spiral staircases, indoor and outdoor gardens, dancefloor, bar, DJ booth, changing rooms and showers, living room and canteen with a pop-up food theme.
5. Ticketmaster
What: In 2013 leading online ticket seller Ticketmaster moved into a new office in Angel, north London, where 450 staff now work.
Quote, unquote: The Ticketmaster blog says: “Designed specifically for boosting creativity and encouraging socialising, the office includes many communal areas that allow our folk to work, rest and play. We have a large open-plan eating, dining and chatting space called The Hub. There are distinct dining areas, less formal picnic-style seated areas and a lounge, complete with a popular pool and football table for when employees need time out.”
Perks: Fancy a drink after work? Take the slide down to the in-house bar area, where pinball machines and a jukebox also await. Staff can also use a dedicated fitness studio or visit The Sanctuary, “where those who aren’t feeling well or who need space for personal contemplation can chill out”.
6. Comvert HQ
What: The Italian fashion company for skate- and snowboarders converted a disused cinema into a 70,000 sq ft office, warehouse and flagship store in one. With room leftover for an indoor skate bowl.
Quote, unquote: AEC magazine: “When alternative fashion company Comvert looked into a new space for its Milan headquarters, it came upon a vacant cinema from the 1940s. The movie theatre had enough square footage for design offices, warehousing, and its flagship retail store. The building also had volume – 6,600 cubic metres of vaulted space above the old audience seating. This gave room for a more unusual amenity.”
Perks: Did we mention the skate bowl? In addition, there are plenty of wood-panelled, stylishly upholstered work nooks. In keeping with the company’s ethos, there is minimal division between being at work and feeling at play.
7. Dtac House
What: Telecommunications firm Dtac’s Bangkok office was designed to help employees put the company’s “play and learn” motto into practice.
Quote, unquote: ArchDaily: “The majority of materials and loose furniture were sourced locally. This was informed by both the client’s aesthetic design direction and their preference to support Thai products and designers.”
Perks: A dedicated Funfloor with football pitch, table tennis and concert space, a library amphitheatre, and roof terrace overlooking the Bangkok skyline.