Offices are evolving.
Urban workspaces are now cultural temples – murals adorning lobbies, gourmet kitchens, over-sized playgrounds, and stages equipped with fog machines. Yet, it’s not just the interiors that are transforming – it’s everyday work culture that’s going through a serious revolution.
Companies are drifting away from the standard lunch breaks and HR planned happy hours. Many start-ups and other businesses are abandoning the monotonous 9 to 5 and encouraging its employees to follow schedules that are more conducive to every individual’s unique productivity methods.
A happier workforce and more socialization and creativity increases productivity: it’s a philosophy that many Bay Area companies are embracing. According to a case study, 84% of executives and 88% of employees believe that a business’s success is determined by its workplace culture. Companies are spearheading community gardens on rooftops, catering in-house yoga classes, and taking their teams on agricultural retreats and wine tours. As crazy and costly as these extracurriculars might sound they’re actually showing benefits. Companies with a strong and generous work culture have higher financial success, happier employees, and lower turnover than related businesses. Author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, researched the emotional well-being of thousands of fortune 500 companies and discovered that on average, a happy work team with a strong workplace culture raises sales by 37% and productivity by 31%.
Whisk, a San Francisco-based start-up is capitalizing on the workplace culture movement. Their mission is to help businesses facilitate different cultural activities. They’re the people you want to call if you’re at a loss trying to figure out how to create some workplace fun. They believe in celebrating employees, and that camaraderie is the key to business success. They’ll cater your breakfast, start your work morning with a Gangam-style dance class, or just take you on an old fashioned field trip to a goat farm. They’ve helped companies like Square take part in neighborhood clean-up sessions. They’ve connected companies with designers, chefs, and artists that help reorganize and revamp stale work environments. It’s these small but crucial steps that help make a work place less horrible, and so far – it’s working.
