What makes office space desirable as a means for recruiting and retaining the best talent? That has long been the $64,000 question for facility managers. If your office skews towards millennials, is it the fancy perks, such as slides and coffee bars, that many tech companies seem to love?
Or if your workforce is a little older, is it private offices for executives and semi-private, quiet spaces with ample daylighting and fresh air for everyone else? Much like whether or not an open office plan will be successful, the answer to the question probably really depends on the culture in the organization.
Every year, the career site Glassdoor rates its best places to work, and this year, it also published a list of the 15 coolest office spaces among those best places to work organizations. These office spaces located all over the country showcase a variety of design strategies.
From a colorful space for sock-maker Bombas in New York City to the prototypical — if there is such a thing —tech company space for AppDynamics in San Francisco to Facebook’s Seattle office designed by Frank Gehry, these workplaces represent the state of the art in workplace design. One space, an Adobe office in Lehi, Utah, even has an indoor rock climbing wall and basketball court.
Greg Zimmerman is executive editor of Building Operating Management. Read his cover story on how buildings are tackling climate change.
