Large firms – in particular tech firms such as Google and YouTube have made headlines due to their working environments. We all know about the slide YouTube employees can take should they wish to instead of the stairs and that Google make their lunch queues long so people can stand in line, chat and come up with new ideas. The interesting thing about these companies though, is that in addition to receiving press about their working environments, they often top the lists of the best places to work.
Research Into The Consumer Market
Due to this fact, one recruitment firm surveyed 405 professionals in the consumer market: on the company’s side, results showed that one third of businesses had developed their offices into a more fun working environment in response to the tech companies such as those mentioned above, whilst on the employee side 88% of survey respondents that worked in a more contemporary and fun office felt proud to do so.
Examples Of A Modern Office Environment
When defining what exactly made an office “swanky” or “trendy” the main categories the research divided into were: having fun activities available in the office such as pin ball machines, nap pods or chill out rooms; the dress code employees were expected to abide by and the televised screening of major events during work hours.
Underlying Culture
Finally, it doesn’t seem that simply renovating your office in the above ways can serve to attract top talent and make staff proud to be a part of your organisation. It’s the underlying culture of the company that’s more important. We’ve previously discussed worker needs and monetary compensation isn’t high on the list – the contrast between your work life and personal life is. And this article from HR Grapevine says the same thing stating:
“Work and life have now blended in such a way that people seek more from work – and the notion of ‘work/life blend’ rather than a balance between the two is now a more prevalent approach in employee engagement strategy”.
So, want to attract those top candidates to work at your firm? Work on your brand and employee culture – they’ll come to you!
Jamie Mistlin, RecruitmentRevolution.com – find me on Google+.
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