If you are following our blog, you will know that we consider ourselves to be a cool unit. And even though during last year most of the unit has changed and is still changing this year, the coolness factor has not disappeared (as Steve duly noted in his blog), I might even dare to say that it keeps growing. In a different way, but it is growing.  One thing that I feel is lagging behind though, are our offices.

Yesterday, when thinking/browsing about the topic, I stumbled upon a study done 2 years ago, which said that if you let your employees to have a control over how their office layout would look, that can increase their happiness by up to 32%.  And as we all know it – a happy employee is more productive and more motivated employee. In our modern times with the amount of time we spend in the office, those 32% mean a lot…

What is our situation?

We are more or less 40 people in the unit at any given time. All together we are sharing 23 offices on 2 different floors. We have 1 almost always booked meeting room that we wanted to equip in a modern way and did it with our own resources (as the common policy did not allow for non-standard equipment) and a common small “kitchen” where you can boil some water or make a coffee or wash your dishes but which is not a place where you can gather and have a longer chat.

Our standard offices have grey doors, bright artifical light, windows that can’t be opened and little or no possibility for us to modify our office. Ironically enough, even though the building we are in is almost entirely occupied by DG Communication, we do not have Wifi coverage, nor do we have up to date technological soft- or hardware.

We do bring our own touches to the offices though (and, according to the study mentioned above, the fact that we are allowed to do so makes us 17% happier a.k.a. productive). Some of us bring plants, others make artistic coverage of walls, we have maps, pictures, photos, to do lists, Parliament’s and Commission's organization chats, useful contacts – you name it, probably, someone will have it on their wall. Yet, I can't stop but asking myself: wouldn’t any successful organization want to increase the productivity up to those 32%?

What would my perfect office look like

Now, I am not saying, that we all should have offices like Google,  Facebook or Twitter but the fact that these companies are doing so great on a large scale thanks to their motivated employees does make you think, doesn’t it? 

In WebComm we've been daydreaming about a more progressive office layout for a while now. Obviously, there are many opinions depending on our personalities, nationalities, gender, relationship status as well as other important personal factors. To me the more I looked at the examples of correctly designed open space offices, the more it made sense to me – people being able to move around easily, see each other, collaborate easily, have an area for relaxation, concentration and even fun! I know it might sound a bit idealistic but I truly believe that it could make us happier on daily basis which in return would make us even more productive.

If it would be in my hands to find an office for our future growth, probably the ad would look like this:

FOR RENT

Spacious 1 story office building with a roof terrace, located in a green area, filled with plenty of daylight. It offers possibility for open space offices of your choice with 2 separate meeting/brain-storming rooms, 10 private offices that can also be used for small meetings (2-4 people), kitchen/cafeteria area (fully equipped), library, game room and lounge for welcoming your customers and partners. Space is organized in a way that you can flexibly rearrange it according to your team's needs.  Building is equipped with high-speed wifi coverage, state of the art technological support (reservation of meeting rooms via tablets, interactive platforms for co-working areas, online platforms for following and developing various projects) as well as helpline service is provided to answer your questions. You will be able to get to the city center in 20 minutes, as well as there is an easy access to the main roads to exit the city. Underground parking is provided for your car, scooter or bike. Children’s day care is located in a nearby building Ideal for a team of dynamic and creative people.

p.s.

Couple of years ago, our bosses put in a request to make a study of a possibility to make an open plan office space for us. It was not followed up until last year, when we were contacted and informed that we were chosen to make a study case of our interest. I don’t know if that is going to turn out in a tangible result but I am, for sure, keeping my fingers crossed.  

 

Here are some other cool offices to check out

• Skype 
• Lego 
• Pixar 
• Tumblr