How an amenity strategy can attract the workforce you need

People’s attitudes are shifting—from a "live to work" to a "work to live" mentality. This evolution includes a greater desire for autonomy, mental health, and community—all with profound implications for workplaces everywhere.

As one sign of this societal change, a survey finds that the majority of people would take a 20% pay cut for better work-life balance.

Against this backdrop, workplace amenities are changing too. Instead of optional add on’s, amenities are now the driving force behind today's workplace. To understand what this shift means for your organization, it is critical to have an amenity strategy that considers questions like:

• What are the key experiences and activities your amenities should support?
• What spaces do you already have that could be transformed into enhanced amenities?
• What allied and neighboring organizations could you partner with?

As you craft an amenities strategy, here are five design ideas to consider that reflect how the "work to live" mentality drives the next generation workplace. Below we explore these ideas along with their application across industries, from healthcare to science to corporate offices.

1. Life doesn’t stop for work

The desire for work-life balance has shifted to work-life integration, a fact increasingly embraced by today's workforce. Therefore, amenities that simplify day-to-day life, and bridge the personal and professional, are essential. Examples of these amenities include concierge services, and proximity of basic needs like convenience stores, childcare and pharmacies. And with alternative transit like biking up significantly, consideration for bike storage can simplify daily commutes.

Rethink convenience

To provide convenience, amenities should evolve with people's preferences. For instance, with 70% of Americans ordering food delivery at least once a month, investments made in café and restaurant food service may be enhanced with drop-off areas for food deliveries.

Seek out partners

Many buildings struggle with empty or underused amenity spaces. Rather than activating these spaces themselves, organizations can work with experiece managers to program these amenities with engaging activities. For example, at the mixed-use development Gravity, experience managers enliven the front lawn with yoga classes, movie nights, concerts and soccer clubs.

2. People need to design their workday

There is growing recognition that no two people are wired the same. Amenities that provide variety and support neurodiversity, with a range of spaces and experiences for every preference and sensitivity, enable people to craft their workday around what they need most.

Amenities that support a diverse workforce do so by enabling choice: open and closed seating, spaces with high and low ceiling heights, bright and dimly lit spaces, and carefully attuned acoustics. Research supports this approach—providing choice and multi-sensory variety improve creativity and engagement.

Respite spaces provide privacy, quiet, access to nature, daylight and views, and a relaxing, comfortable atmosphere—all of which help lower stress levels according to our work with NBBJ Neuroscience Fellow Dr. Medina.

With stress causing American companies $300 billion a year in health costs, absenteeism and poor performance, respite amenities can make a significant impact. 

Carve out space for respite

In settings like hospitals, staff break rooms come at a premium as space for patient care takes priority. But respite spaces need not require major capital investments. Existing building elements like stairways can be used to carve out comfortable seating areas, nooks or even sensory lounges where stimuli such as color, scent, lighting and sound can be carefully calibrated to reduce stress.

Similarly rooftops, atriums and other interstitial spaces can be transformed into gardens providing staff with restorative, nature-infused spaces. In addition to hospitals, this type of thinking is readily applicable in office settings.

4. The team is an amenity

Though not often considered an amenity, effective in-person teaming space is critical—and a major advantage the physical workplace offers compared to remote work. Research shows that in-person teams generate 15% to 20% more ideas than remote ones. Workplaces that enable people to easily work together are key to improved performance— as research suggests physical proximity directly improves teamwork quality.

Create hyperflexible team spaces

Today’s teaming amenities are kinetic in nature, meaning they give people flexibility in layout, seating options, technology and even privacy to help them do their best work.

Change is a constant in organizations, requiring teams and departments to expand, shrink or merge. But buildings are typically static entities, making it challenging for teams to readily adapt.

One way to make workplaces more flexible is demonstrated at BlackRock's Headquarters. Infrastructure elements like power, data and air are moved under the floor and made readily accessible, with movable partitions for added flexibility. Even lighting systems can be easily reprogrammed using portable light switches.

5. The workplace is a community

Amenities that build relationships across departments and even with outside organizations provide the connection and belonging people desire. These amenities can be indoors or outdoors, but a common denominator is welcoming spaces that people gravitate to for shared activities.

Our work with NBBJ Fellow Dr. Medina suggests social connection is critical to wellbeing, drives productivity and reduces attrition. Surveys also show that socializing with colleagues and friends is rated as the main draw of being at work.

Amplify shared purpose

Community amenities reinforce a sense of shared purpose through creative branding that helps satisfy people’s innate need for connection, reminding them why they do what they do and the impact of their work.

In our projects with clients like BlackRock, lounges and auditoriums— spaces for socializing and convening rather than individual or group work— see higher utilization rates than traditional work areas like desks. 

Create communities

While amenities are traditionally located in-house, they don’t always need to end at the front door. To create thriving, connected communities, building owners can work together to share parks, educational and incubator spaces, restaurants and museums. With the underutilization of commercial buildings, thinking creatively about these issues together at a larger scale is a win-win.