If you’ve ever seen the movie Office Space, you know there are only two options for workplace culture: (1) Cubicles, TPS reports, and birthday parties where the haves get cake, and the Miltons get sad music and, (2) 37 pieces of flare.
Except, that is, if you work for any number of big and small companies across the world that are radically reshaping what office culture can (and should!) be. After all, what better way to keep employees motivated and working until the job is done than helping them actually enjoy office life? Let’s take a look at a few truly unique initiatives at some of the world’s most fun companies for a few cues and a lot of inspiration.
1. Bigstock’s Random Holiday Celebration
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day. These are just a few of the many holidays most companies celebrate throughout the year, but how about National Doughnut Day? If you work for Shutterstock, that’s more than enough reason to roll up your sleeves and dig in.
Earlier this June, a very humorous series of images appeared on the company’s blog, with employees and their children weighing the merits of fruit vs. doughnuts. Perfectly on brand, the images paid tribute to the best doughnut stock images in the company’s vaults. While the delectable glazed treats were undoubtedly delicious, the real benefit here was likely the boost in morale and creativity that comes with doing something a little different and swapping deadlines for play.
What This Means for You: Do a little research and find the wackiest holidays out there. Then have your office vote on the ones they’d most like to celebrate. Initiatives like this not only boost morale, but they also make great blog posts, giving your customers and clients an inside look into your company and establishing rapport—a fact you can use to convince your boss.
2. Comvert’s Personal Skatepark
There’s BYOB and then there’s BYOS—Build Your Own Skatepark. That’s what the Italian clothing company, Comvert, did when they converted this old movie house into a warehouse. That’d certainly provide a better way to let off steam than rummaging through the break room cupboards for a good round of stress eating.
What This Means for You: Okay, so you probably don’t have the time, money or perhaps even interest to build an entire skate ramp. But that doesn’t mean you can’t outfit a good game room, complete with video games, ping pong, foosball, and hey, why not trampolines, too? This is another good one to put to employee vote.
3. Selgas Cano’s Outdoor/Indoor Retreat
Sure, most of us would prefer working outside to hunching our lives away in a windowless cubicle, but it’s not like we can plop our desks onto a dolly and haul them to the grass every time the sun peeks its way out from behind a wall of clouds (can you tell I live in Seattle?). This is one problem the architects at the Madrid branch of Selgas Cano don’t have to worry about, as their offices are made almost entirely from windows and are tucked away in a suburban forest. For knowledge workers of any stripe, this is the best kind of “fun” one can have: peace, quiet and plenty of natural inspiration.
What This Means for You: So maybe you can’t get your boss to replace all of your walls with windows, but you can bring the great outdoors to you. Decorate your personal office space with local plants, and see if you can outfit the hallways and break room with hanging plants and planter boxes. Tell your boss, “Nature is the source of all productivity.” It’s worth a shot!
4. Shutterstock’s Hackathons
Hack-athons have become pretty commonplace at many tech companies these days, and it’s no wonder: In these intensive, 24-hour (usually) marathons, engineers, designers and even non-tech employees meet to brainstorm and build “crazy” new ideas. Many will be left to gather dust once the hackathon is done, while a precious few will be further developed into prominent new features or even new and important products in their own right.
Shutterstock is famous for their hackathons, with the initial idea for the company actually stemming from an event in which CEO and founder, Jon Oringer, participated over 9 years ago. Given the intense conditions, hackathons like this also build camaraderie at the same time as they’re possibly birthing the world’s biggest next idea. How’s that for a great combo?
What This Means for You: From 24-hour play festivals to all night design marathons and mini-NANOWRIMOs, hackathons aren’t the sole domain of the tech sphere. Order some pizza, stock up on the Mountain Dew, dial up the intensity, and host a hackathon of your own.
5. Google’s…Um, Everything
No article on fun work environments would be complete without Google—the company that defines the concept. When it comes to office design itself, how do pods, swings, hammocks, ski gondolas, slides, pubs, forests and bowling alleys sound to you? (Take a peek at Google’s coolest offices here). Googlers also enjoy 20% time; an initiative that allows them to work on their own projects 20% of the time, as well as yoga classes, gyms, and easy access to healthy and delicious food, wherever they go.
What This Means for You: What can your workplace learn from Google? You mean… besides everything? While most companies won’t have the funds for Google-level perks, you can still argue for 20% time as an effective way to rejuvenate the mind and possibly even produce a useful and unexpected new feature. Google is also a great example of a way to give workspaces creativity and an individual feel without relying on cheesy posters and figurines. To decorate like Google, why not hold a hackathon specifically devoted to the subject, and see what creative spaces you can produce?
Takeaway
You may feel you work in the world’s most corporate, sanitized office, but chances are your colleagues are also looking for a little injection of fun. Fortunately, fun often leads to that business buzzword, “innovation”, and a well-reasoned argument should get your boss right on board. So hack your office with a little amusement, and make the office space of your dreams.
