When you start shopping around for a new location to accommodate your growing business after the local movers bring everything in, you’re likely considering space and functionality first. However, a great location offers more than just enough office space so that employees aren’t sharing desks anymore. Quality amenities please your workforce, which helps you curb turnover due to dissatisfaction. An attractive and engaging workplace also helps you bring in more qualified new workers when it’s time for hiring. Find out what kind of amenities to look for before signing a lease or putting money down on your next location.
Survey Your Employees
While it’s possible to rank amenities by usefulness or the “cool” factor, it’s far more important you match your extra services to the needs and wants of your actual workforce. A simple email survey sent out while you’re still shopping around for new locations can reveal exactly what your workers want. This prevents you from spending a ton on high-tech relaxation pods and space age trampoline meeting rooms when all your team really wants is a basic gym or space for working privately.
When surveying, start with open ended questions. Once you identify a trend, such as a common interest in fitness or food, you can narrow down your options by polling for preferences between the choices. For example, you get your first emails back and 89 percent of the work force wants some help with finding childcare for their children. Now that you know that, you can look for locations near an existing childcare center or talk to companies willing to contract an in-house care facility. If you get a response from both options, you can present the two ideas to the team and see if they prefer the full-sized daycare business or a smaller and closer alternative inside the building.
Popular And Useful Amenities
Of course, sometimes employees don’t have any ideas either. If you’re stuck trying to come up with helpful amenities all on your own, start with the basic needs of workers. All workers need healthy food, plenty of exercise and sufficient sleep to keep working at their peak efficiency. A kitchen stocked with tasty snacks is a start, but why not invest in a cafe where the meals are prepared for your team so they can get back to the office faster? Workplace gyms are a worthwhile investment too because taking a 30 minute break on the treadmill can dramatically boost energy and attention levels in employees. Finally, don’t shy away from the idea of a nap room. Wouldn’t you rather a tired worker take an hour off and come back ready to work at full speed instead of simply dragging around all day and getting little done?
In the end, it only matters if the amenities are used and make your employees happier. Instead of spending a ton right after moving with relocation services on fancy upgrades, start with a single upgrade everyone agrees on. It’s easy to grow from there as needed.