Companies, both big and small, are at war for talent. Battles are fought daily, and one of the most important strategies from an offensive and defensive standpoint is to develop a strong corporate culture
In a world dominated by social media – from Glassdoor to Twitter to Facebook – your brand can't be faked. Here are seven ways to create a place where people want to work:
1. Open concept design
Forget individual desks or cubicles. At our office, everyone works side-by-side at long tables, in the same space.
What better way to foster creative collaborations and the cross pollination of ideas than having your colleagues and boss hollering distance from your work station? What we’ve discovered as we’ve expanded, however, is the importance for an open concept office to have an equal share of breakout rooms for smaller meetings and brainstorming sessions – or a quick video-game break.
2. Unique office aesthetic.
Uber5000, BIRDO, Ansermysteriousdate, Kizmet, Poser and PUA69 – those are just a few of the local street artists we commissioned to create artwork for our office walls. Creativity is a key component to our definition of success and we want our employees to come to work feeling inspired to create.
From Neil Young to DJ Quik, music plays from the washrooms throughout the day, and there’s always a couch free in the office to take a chat-break on.
Knowing that spending time outside can reduce stress levels and relieve tensions, nothing is worse for brain blocks than being stuck in an office without natural light. We deliberately chose an office space with big north windows and an abundance of natural light. We also keep plenty of green around – you can’t walk 10 feet through our office without coming across a large-leafed plant.
As for furniture, you won’t find any cookie-cutter designs here. We have a table, for instance, that was converted from an old 1930s bowling alley; another was made with reclaimed douglas-fir beams from 1910 factory in Tennessee.
3. Plenty of snacks, coffee and beer.
We want our team to feel full and fueled when they’re at work. The office has an unlimited supply of healthy snacks and coffee on hand, including an espresso machine for those seeking the extra caffeine kick (which turns out to be most people).
But creative collaboration isn’t limited within the confines of a nine-to-five work schedule. The beer fridge is always stocked for those who want to stick around and crack a beer after work and get those other creative juices flowing.
4. Location, location, location.
When we expanded our office from our former west-end Toronto location, we thought (very very very briefly) about moving further north (rent would surely have been much cheaper!), but we ultimately settled on an entire floor in a brick and beam space in the heart of downtown Toronto, right at the corner of Adelaide and Spadina.
It’s important to us that our employees and visitors can walk to the office through the hustle and bustle of the entertainment district, or quickly get here from the subway.
5. An office mascot.
The newest addition to our team is the office’s three-month-old Tiny Golden Doodle, Schnitzel. Whether taking him out for a walk or just giving him a quick pat, Schnitzel is everyone’s best friend.
Animals – and dogs in particular – can provide physical, mental and motivational benefits to humans, and we want our team to be excited to come to work and feel happy when they get here.
Schnitzel is already the most popular guy in the office.
6. Flexible days off and benefits.
We value a healthy workforce , and part of that means letting our employees decide what they want to do with their sick days and vacation time.
Enter, flex days: instead of spelling out a sick day versus taking time off, our team doesn’t have to communicate with the bosses what they’re doing when they’re not at work. We feel that the flexibility of the flex-day program promotes more honesty and fosters a better boss-employee relationship – besides, we aren’t your teachers or parents! We also offer one of the best benefit packages out there, including medical services, prescription coverage, dental care, optical wear and full-coverage of massages and chiropractic.
7. Accepting the cost.
An awesome work environment doesn’t come cheap – we spend upwards of $16, 000 a month on rent, supplies and “Friday Fun Day,” our monthly office parties. But we do it because we understand that a positive work culture is what distinguishes a successful business in the long run from those that fizzle out.