Author: Anita Turner

Amenities are key in attracting and retaining employees.  And, in today’s heated competition for talent, the value amenities offer is increasing.

I recently surveyed 51 companies ranging in size from 12 to over a thousand employees as to which amenities they offer those employees.

What was the most common amenity offered?  Stand up desks!

The least common (at least in Alabama where most of the survey respondents were headquartered)?  Public transit or carpool incentives.

Neither of these results were terribly surprising to me.

I was, however, surprised to learn that companies with less than 50 employees were far more likely to offer professional development allowances (77% do so) than companies with more than 1,000 employees (only 29% do so).

Other popular amenities included outdoor patios and roof decks, espresso bars, free sodas and genius gars.  For more results and thoughts about the popularity or lack thereof of various amenities, read the full report.

Read my White Paper on Amenities Reduced!

As those of you who regularly read this blog have likely ascertained, my curiosity about office space is insatiable.  Although I have been representing tenants for over twenty years, I still spend a significant amount of time and money traveling, touring and learning about space.  I want to understand trends, changing uses of space and new design approaches so I can be a better advocate for the tenants I represent.

The best teachers in my quest to date have been law firm managers (more on that another day) and architects.  Architects hafaceve welcomed me into the most generous work community I have known.  I have met architects at conferences, through clients and on the internet.  Without exception, they have made time to share their knowledge with me on the phone or in person.  They have set up tours of interesting build outs and accompanied me on those tours to answer my questions.  They have helped me get pictures of spaces when my iPhone photos were subpar.  They have flown to Birmingham to share their knowledge with clients and prospects.  (Thank you, Steve Martin and Gensler.)  They have even sent me homemade barbecue sauce (nod to Jennifer Hatton at IA Interior Architects).

My research and blogging aside, they are invaluable when working with my clients on specific projects.  Architects help clients think through how they use space and what they want their space to say about their businesses.  They are creative problem solvers who love to find a work around for design challenges, but they can also provide a needed reality check.  I have seen jaw-dropping space designed on a shoestring budget and awkward spaces made functional.

If you are an occupier of commercial office space who is either contemplating improving your current space or considering a move, my advice to you is to reach out to the architecture community with your questions.  Go to websites like www.officesnapshots.com and look at different spaces.  If you see something that intrigues you, call the architect that designed the space, tell them you saw and liked their work and ask them questions.  I am confident that if you are genuinely seeking knowledge, you will be warmly received and better off for your efforts.

The Danish word “hygge,” which refers to a cozy feeling, was shortlisted as the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2016. Not surprisingly, it is making its way into commercial office meeting room design.  Conference rooms in law offices and financial services firms are morphing from pretentious and stuffy to comfortable and calming.

At Bridgeworth Financial in Birmingham, the conference room interior design was done by local residential designer, Richard Tubb, whose website states that he creates “spaces that soothe the spirit.” Bridgeworth’s Managing Principal, DeLynn Zell, chose Tubb for just this reason.

Per Zell, often Bridgeworth’s clients are coming into the office after major life events like divorces or deaths, or to plan their estates.  These events are stress-filled in and of themselves, so it was important to Zell that the spaces where Bridgeworth’s professionals met with their clients be soothing and comfortable.

As a result, the primary client conference room is furnished with soft seating to feel like an incredibly chic living room.  The rooms do include large monitors so Bridgeworth’s professionals can advise their clients on their portfolios, but the room itself is less intimidating.  Zell wanted the same comfortable atmosphere in Bridgeworth’s internal conference room, so it is designed like a cozy residential living room as well.

In Littler Mendelson’s law offices, under the direction of Gensler Architects, they are building conference rooms that they call “living rooms” as well.  These smaller conference rooms are often used to prepare witnesses for depositions as they are not as imposing as the typical law firm board rooms.  Per Littler’s management, these conference rooms are universally the firm’s most popular.  (More on Littler’s San Francisco office here and here.)

At Balch & Bingham’s Birmingham headquarters, there are several small “Caucus” rooms on the firm’s conference floor.  These rooms each contain four comfortable chairs positioned conducive to informal conversation.  They can be used for settlement negotiations, deposition preparation or client consultations.  Regardless, the vibe is considerably more relaxed.

The common denominator in each of these rooms is furniture choice.  Smaller (or no) tables.  Upholstered seating.  Lighting provided by lamps and other non-overhead fixtures. And softer, more neutral color palettes.

Is this approach one you should adopt?  Where would you rather have a sensitive meeting: in a traditional wood-paneled boardroom with oil-painting adorned walls or your own living room?  Ask yourself whether your client or employee meetings would benefit from the more relaxed mood promoted by these rooms.  If you have the space, the furniture investment may be worthwhile.

Food service can be a powerful tool to aid recruiting, increase employee engagement, encourage collaboration, or just make your employees’ lives simpler.

Full Service

In The Employee Experience Advantage, Jacob Morgan details how the Airbnb Food Service team constantly “considers and evaluates (1) general satisfaction with the food and beverage offerings; (2) balance of food options (healthy, indulgent, familiar, and exotic); (3) usage patterns, i.e. how many and which meals in the office; (4) how food affects the culture of the company by asking employees where they connect with their peers most often; and (5) how food affects overall outcomes of the business including productivity, recruitment and retention.”  They found that 50% of Airbnb employees say the three-meals-per-day-plus-snacks food program weighs into their decision to stay at Airbnb and 90% say it makes them more productive.

When I visited Airbnb last year, I witnessed the food service amenities in action, enjoying a kombucha brewed on-site and lingering after my visit with a glass of local wine.

Another example of the Airbnb implementation: Airbnb has a pastry chef who creates little treats that get wheeled around on carts throughout the day.  It also offers pop-up shops in various parts of the office.  For example, employees could get an email saying “Today from 3-4 we are offering matcha tea lattes in the upstairs kitchen.  Come grab one and say hello to your coworkers.”

Not to be outdone by Airbnb, Pinterest headquarters’ features the Wall of Snacks (not its actual name, but a fitting description).  This large wall is lined with bins of snack food, and this food offering is in addition to the free hot meals Pinterest offers three times per day.

Is a similar full service free cafeteria feasible for your company?  Probably not.  San Francisco-based Linkedin is rumored to spend $7,000 per year per employee to provide three meals per day plus snacks to every employee.  While that kind of spend might be justifiable in the hyper-competitive recruiting and retention market of San Francisco, it is less realistic in other markets.

You could, however, implement Airbnb’s pop-up idea today in your company for little cost; no catering kitchen required.  As Seth Godin says, “surprises and vivid action matter far more than we imagine, and we regularly underinvest in them.”

Weekly Plus

Birmingham-based Daxko has implemented a scaled down version of the Airbnb model.  Daxko brings in free lunch for its employees every Friday and calls it family lunch.  In addition, like Airbnb, Daxko’s employee engagement team has been known to wheel a cart of petit fours around the office as a midafternoon employee surprise.  This food service program is more manageable for a growing, budget-conscious company and still accomplishes the goals of encouraging interaction and showing employees appreciation.

Snacks and Beverages

At White & Case in New York City, the law firm built a coffee bar on the second floor of its two-story lobby.  The coffee bar is for employee and client use and, although it is not free, the firm does subsidize it.  The Denver office of Hogan Lovells took a different approach, installing a high-end espresso machine and self-service beer and wine bar in their main gathering area, all of which are complimentary. The firm also provides free snacks.  Meals are not provided in-house, as attorneys are encouraged to go out for lunch with clients and prospects.

Zappos feeds its employees three hot meals per day, and made the choice to do so even when it was a struggling start up.  During those early days, Zappos salaries were slightly below market, however, the food service benefit and the overall office atmosphere were so attractive to prospective employees that Zappos never had a problem hiring.  Thus, for the same overall spend, Zappos was able to encourage its employees to spend mealtimes together and minimize the time employees spent traveling to buy meals.  This was especially important given Zappos then-suburban location.

Which Is Right For You?

Our advice to our clients?  Look at your budget and your goals and test different approaches.  But definitely build some space into your offices for a food amenity/gathering space, even if it is small.  Per a well-known architect, food brings people together more than any other amenity or space.