Startup companies are exciting and thus it is natural for their offices to be exciting spaces.
Some of the economy’s leading startup companies are creating revolutionary exciting products and to go with that theme they also have state of the art workplaces as well.
Google is renowned for their high tech, innovative, office designs that offer fun and engaging activities for their employees to enjoy at work. Most startup companies don’t have standard 9-5 work hours, their employees work until their product hits the market ahead of its competitors and as a result employees often times spend a lot of time at their workplace.
Keeping in mind that startup companies feature a creative, collaborative workforce that often times work extended hours let’s take a look at some of the ideas and innovations that ensures an engaging workplace.
The office space
Modern startup companies have moved away from the common office setup with individual offices or cubicles. The trend among modern startup companies is to have an open plan environment where employees are free to engage and converse with their colleagues as they see fit.
Being able to brainstorm ideas without having to run back and forth between offices is a great way for creative and engaging conversations within the workplace that will ultimately improve performance.
The boardroom
Gone are the days where boardrooms were only for high level execs. Modern startup offices feature boardroom like rooms/settings with colorful and fun designs that allows employees to work together in a space on projects or on new ideas that promotes creativity.
Entertainment
It is hard to argue against the fact that food and drinks bring people together, modern startups offer spaces within the workplace that allows for their employees to sit and have lunch or coffee in that is welcoming with a fun atmosphere.
New York tech startup Ceros features a fully stocked British pub in their office, their British CEO wanted to create a workplace where employees can spend time together in order to form a cohesive culture within the company.
Another form of entertainment that has contributed dramatically to an engaging workplace is the addition of either ping pong, foosball or similar activities within the office. Ping pong in particular is a very popular feature in startup company offices. Ping pong doesn’t only allow for employees of a startup to engage with each other, it also stimulates their creative thinking and problem solving skills. An added bonus is the fun and competitive culture and positive moral that it adds to the workplace.
Quiet Spaces
Although open plan offices are created with the idea in mind to encourage discussion and conversation, there has also been a move for modern workplaces to include ‘quiet zones’ as well.
This has coincided with the growing awareness of mindfulness at work and the positive impact that meditation can have.
Visitors Welcome
In the past, offices would have been for workers and workers only. However this has started to change over the past few years with more and more startups encouraging workers to bring their children and pets to work, both of which foster a more welcoming work environment.
Jenny Nolan, founder of Cleaner Paws recently discussed this topic in detail and mentioned how “welcoming pets into a work environment can not only make for a more fun and friendly work space but has also been shown to improve productivity”.
The bottom line
In order to give your startup company the best chance of success it is key to have a workplace that is fun and engaging. Not only does it need to have a fun/creative design it also needs to have areas and activities such as break rooms and ping pong tables that allows for a workforce to engage with each other on a daily basis.