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 | Mar 5, 2015
Goettsch Partners unveils plans for dual office towers in Warsaw
The Mennica Legacy Tower development is divided into a 35-story tower located on the south east side of the site and a 10-story building on the west side.
High-rise Construction | Mar 4, 2015
Must see: Egypt planning 656-foot pyramid skyscraper in Cairo
Zayed Crystal Spark Tower will stand 200 meters tall and will be just a short distance from the pyramids of Giza.
Transit Facilities | Mar 4, 2015
5+design looks to mountains for Chinese transport hub design
The complex, Diamond Hill, will feature sloping rooflines and a mountain-like silhouette inspired by traditional Chinese landscape paintings.
Office Buildings | Mar 3, 2015
Former DuPont lab to be converted into business incubator near UPenn campus
The new Pennovation Center will provide collaborative and research spaces for educators, scientists, students, and the private sector.
Office Buildings | Mar 1, 2015
Google unveils dramatic tent-like, modular-focused plan for corporate HQ
The master plan by Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick will wrap highly flexible office blocks in soaring translucent canopies.
Office Buildings | Feb 26, 2015
Using active design techniques to strengthen the corporate workplace and enhance employee wellness
The new Lentz Public Health Center in Nashville, Tenn., serves as a model of how those progressive and healthy changes can be made.
Sponsored | Shopping Centers | Feb 26, 2015
A color-changing gateway for Altara Center
Valspar works with developers to complete a multicolored shopping center façade in Honduras.
Office Buildings | Feb 23, 2015
The importance of quiet and the consequences of distraction
Recent work style studies show that the average knowledge worker spends 25-35% of their time doing heads-down focused work. Once thrown off track, it can take some 23 minutes for a worker to return to the original task.
Codes and Standards | Feb 18, 2015
USGBC concerned about developers using LEED registration in marketing
LEED administrators are concerned about a small group of developers or project owners who tout their projects as “LEED pre-certified” and then fail to follow through with certification.
Office Buildings | Feb 18, 2015
Commercial real estate developers optimistic, but concerned about taxes, jobs outlook
The outlook for the commercial real estate industry remains strong despite growing concerns over sluggish job creation and higher taxes, according to a new survey of commercial real estate professionals by NAIOP.