From a speakeasy, indoor slide, and putting greens to in-house gyms, rooftop gardens, and walking tracks, today’s most envious offices look more like adult playgrounds than the traditional office. Trend-forward companies like Google, Red Bull, Cambridge, and LinkedIn have shifted away from the traditional, fluorescent-lit cubicle lands of old, adding fun to the office. Implementing creative office benefits and perks creates a culture your team will love. The result is more creative and committed employees.
And while we can’t all have a three-story slide or unlimited supply of candy in the office, any company can tweak its operations to lift morale, increase employee engagement and create a stronger sense of community. Here are our top five creative picks for enhancing your company culture to build a culture they love.
Book Club Perks
Book clubs at work can play several different roles. Sometimes, the focus is on professional development in a particular area. Other times, the focus might be more general, like leadership practices. Of course, some are purely recreational. The goal could be to read more by doing it with others (kind of like a workout buddy) or to grow intellectually by challenging each other. Fun ways to kick off a book club, give free books to employees, offer an Amazon stipend, or create a book library for swapping and sharing.
Love and Promote PTO
Promote, protect, and encourage PTO. Employees who take PTO return refreshed and bring new perspectives. Elevate your employees’ vacations with the coolest gadgets. Develop a system that allows reserving and checking out the coolest gadgets, i.e., go-pros, underwater cameras, music-playing sunglasses, etc. Make these vacation enhancers available to all.
Your wish comes true! We all have a wish list of things we want to experience, but sometimes because of time or resources, we don’t get to check them off the list.
Gather a list of experiences your team wants to do; once you know the list, you can sponsor, co-sponsor, or provide a bonus to help fund the adventure.
Community Service Culture
Get together as a team every month or quarter for a service project. This culture is embedded in some big corporations, like Starbucks. The size of your organization doesn’t matter; two people getting together to serve creates change and good. Remote teams can do individualized events for a national non-profit, i.e., a food drive with a synchronized delivery day, participation in their local Komen race, and park clean-up; the opportunities are plentiful. Regardless of how you accomplish the outreach, the key is to encourage volunteering. You can offer paid volunteering days. Let the employee select their cause and make it a simple process to take off work.
Built-In Wellness
Work wellness incentive programs encourage healthy behaviors and reward employees. A healthy workforce is a happy and productive workforce. From in-office benefits, think gyms, to building design, bike availability, to bringing your pet to the office, all contribute to the well-being of your team. Cambridge is developing communities that improve health for people who live, work and visit their buildings. See how they accomplish this in their Cambridge – Mindful Healthy Living, Made Easy video.
Working with existing structures, you can add brain break stations (beyond the break room), standup desks, gym memberships, and/or discounts or incentive programs. Big or small, any program will promote wellness and community.
Recognition Culture Love
Encourage on-the-spot recognition for behaviors and accomplishments. Celebrate circular recognition daily. When an employee goes for an extended period without any recognition, they feel unappreciated and unvalued. Peer-to-peer recognition can be just as impactful as leader-to-employee. Quick hits on accomplishing this environment include celebration awards, traveling trophies, and attribute awards (kindness, excellence, hustle, etc.). Encourage and reward everyone for recognizing teammates frequently and naturally. We love a good high-five, virtual or in-person, both internally and externally. It’s a feel-good way to encourage each other.
Employees thrive when they feel they belong to a strong workplace community. Baseline ideas like birthday clubs, social hours, team meals, and gatherings can be discussed and custom-built to design a culture everyone will love. Implementing one or two ideas can evoke a culture change, and you will be on your way to a culture your team loves (or loves even more).
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