You’ve made the jump. You took the risk and have officially set out alone, swimming against the current in an overwhelming sea of large corporations. Your ideas get legs, even take flight, and your workload begins to demand an ever-growing crop of new talent. You beef up your compensation offerings and benefits packages. You move into a new space and add a slew of amenities to attract the best and brightest in the industry. What could possibly go wrong?
For companies experiencing rapid growth, work-life balance can be a challenge to maintain, yet it remains a vital aspect of a healthy work environment.
There is an opportunity to create social opportunities within the workplace, while offering simple gestures that allow employees to more efficiently accomplish day-to-day life, customized to each individual.
Our workplace team at LEO A DALY aims to shape physical environments to allow these features to thrive. However, at the end of the day, many amenities are truly operational in nature and rely heavily on an owner’s long-term commitment.
As you set out on your quest to provide every available amenity to your employees, it can be overwhelming. We recommend prioritizing your desired amenities and considering the following principles to help employees maintain a healthy balance.
Redefine the traditional view of work-life balance
We spend a lot of time in our jobs. The 40-hour work week no longer exists. In fact, in today’s workplace, there is no longer such a thing as “after work.” Employees’ lives can exist largely within the office, or they can work remotely from home with little-to-no direct interaction with their co-workers.
Definitions of work-life balance are numerous and vary widely. This balance has been traditionally perceived as having equal time committed to work, family, hobbies, outside social events, etc. – doing whatever it takes to accomplish all things for all people. However, this balance is truly individualized. It is driven by each person and will vary over time, sometimes every day. The right balance for one employee will seem absurd to someone else. The right balance today may be different tomorrow.
Most importantly, striking that perfect balance has undeniable health benefits. Overly stressed employees can become susceptible to workplace burnout, increasing the potential for disengagement, errors, accidents, sick leave and eventually high turnover rates. To combat stress, service-based amenities can help employees reduce demands on their time. Social amenities can brighten their days, providing interaction and engagement. When employees feel balanced (by their own definition), they will be happy, healthy, productive and a shining example to recruit new top talent.
Understand the difference between service-based and social amenities
Service-based amenities make life a little easier. They are conveniences that would otherwise take time away from our day. They allow life to happen outside the workplace.
- During site selection, plan for access to public transportation.
- Coordinate internal ridesharing programs.
- Offer powerful Wi-Fi for untethered collaborative working.
- Strategically arrange healthy food selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Provide reusable flatware, plates and water bottles with filling stations throughout.
- Provide a staff concierge service for mail service and package delivery/reception, dry cleaning, last-minute grocery needs, airport travel.
- Staff a full-time handyman to complete odds and ends at employees’ homes, reducing the stress of at-home coordination.
- Set aside space for dedicated lactation rooms for new mothers and quiet rooms for private matters, no questions asked.
- Investigate childcare options: internal daycares, subsidizing nearby daycare centers.
- Provide temporary pop-up specialties: barber, hair stylist, clinic/health assessment services.
Social amenities are engaging, bringing people together to create a vibrant work culture. They activate interaction between employees, and potentially invite the community to join the experience. Employees engaged in their community only strengthen your culture. They create life inside the workplace.
- Activate common break areas with nearby circulation and seating variety.
- Provide coffee and other beverage options in common spaces to start the morning.
- Boost Wi-Fi capacity, and allow connectivity to personal devices.
- Create large multi-purpose spaces and encourage use by community groups.
- Integrate spaces for activity: gym equipment, group fitness, multi-purpose space, outdoor walking trails.
- Offer access to an on-site staff trainer and instructed classes.
- Provide locker rooms with showers and changing facilities.
- Create recreation spaces with video games, simulators, pool tables, foosball, etc.
- Incorporate a theater room.
- Provide access to snacks and beverages, alcoholic and otherwise.
- Partner with local retailers for ground-level access to coffee shops, boutiques, eateries, etc.
Designing for balance
You know your people, and you are the subject matter expert as we begin our work. LEO A DALY’s workplace team has the privilege to listen and learn about a new process with each new client. Direct collaboration with you leads to design for the right variety of service-based and social amenities, customized to your specific workplace culture. We craft experiences and curated views of workplace features. We create spaces that are flexible to adapt to new trends.
As you grow, be smart and prioritize the conveniences you offer, find the right mix of service and social perks to fit your culture and encourage employees to break the mold as they find their perfectly customized work-life balance. Healthy employees make for healthy companies.
Related Stories
Office Buildings | May 2, 2019
HOK’s latest study takes a new look at tech workplaces
The report provides insight into the relative importance of such things as amenities and occupant health for recruiting and retaining workers.
Office Buildings | Apr 25, 2019
Study: Half of corporate and government offices offer wellness programs
Nearly 30% of worksites offer programs for physical activity and fitness, according to the CDC.
Office Buildings | Apr 8, 2019
It’s time for office amenities to get to work
Amenities with the greatest impact on effectiveness and experience are those that directly support the work needs of individual employees and their teams.
Office Buildings | Apr 8, 2019
Denver office building features 13,000 sf green roof
Dynia Architects designed the building.
Office Buildings | Apr 5, 2019
2019 trends in the workplace
From retention and career advancement to the ethics of inclusion and diversity, these five trends will play a major role this year in design, strategic planning and workplace development.
Industrial Facilities | Mar 10, 2019
The burgeoning Port San Antonio lays out growth plans
Expansions would accommodate cybersecurity, aerospace, and defense tenants, and help commercialize technologies.
Office Buildings | Mar 6, 2019
How to leverage design and culture’s two-way relationship for better workplaces
The relationship between workplace design and company culture isn’t all that different from a tango.
Office Buildings | Feb 15, 2019
A healthier perspective: Office developers bet on wellness amenities to attract top-notch tenants
Owners and developers are driving demand for wellness features and practices—active stairways, biophilia, enhanced air quality, etc.—as one more way draw tenants.
Office Buildings | Feb 15, 2019
Vancouver’s new office building will be a stack of reflective boxes
OSO and Merrick Architecture designed the building.
Office Buildings | Feb 11, 2019
Real-world wellness pays off
3form, a materials manufacturer, did a top-to-bottom remodel of its Salt Lake City headquarters campus that included adding a 14,500-sf gym.