Play at Work!

Companies reap the benefits of fun, playful workspaces “Work while you work. Play while you play. This is the way to be happy each day.” So begins a traditional poem taught to children for the sake of instilling an attitude of diligence and dedication to the task at hand. But lately, the amalgamation of work and play areas is becoming a trend in many innovative and forward-thinking workplaces. The “Googleplex” of Google’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland use the element of play in their workspace, including a fireman’s pole and child’s slide to name a few. Photos courtesy of Camenzind Evolution. Companies such as Zappos, Google, and Red Bull are welcoming “play spaces” into many of their workplace locations as a strategy to increase creative thinking, productivity, and an overall positive environment. These companies, among others, are intentionally throwing off the traditional form of the office and creating new styles of workspaces that allow employees to literally play at work. To implement the philosophy of separating work and play, classrooms of the past were generally austere, colourless spaces meant to keep children in line and form, attentive to the teacher at the front of the room. Adults found themselves in similar surroundings at a typical workplace. Doubleday Publishing’s office in Toronto, during the 1970s for example, was a model of efficiency, austerity and hierarchy. Desks for secretaries and support staff were placed in rows all facing the glass windowed offices of the higher level employees, i.e., marketing managers, VPs and presidents. The workspace was filled with the usual paraphernalia: grey desks, metal filing cabinets, typewriters and telephones. There were cold terrazzo floors, white walls, and a large, slowly-ticking clock to gaze upon. An echoing staircase with a shiny brass handrail led the way to this pragmatic place of business. Imagine heading to a meeting one floor down from your workspace and instead of taking an elevator, you jump on a shiny carbon slide and make it to the meeting in half the time. This would be reality if you worked in Red Bull’s London office. The only rush you feel is the adrenaline you recall from the playground activities of your childhood. Not only is time saved, but also the electrical power to run an elevator. And,employees claim, it is really much safer than teetering precariously down a flight of stairs in three-inch heels. Google’s office in Switzerland not only has a similar slide for between-floor travel but a firefighter’s pole as well appealing to the adventurous, imaginative employees. Taking the stairs back up is, of course, a health benefit, and if you “forget your cellphone” downstairs you have another opportunity for a slide back down again. Different workspaces at the Googleplex in Zurich, Switzerland. Photos courtesy of Camenzind Evolution. The slide at Red Bull is an artistic element as well as an efficient travel mode, as it is part of an ultra-modern, minimalistic decorating scheme. The building is decorated like a futuristic space pod in white and grey with lots of stainless steel. Spacious social areas with sparse, but comfortable furnishings invite lounging, and fun is added when round ping-pong tables are used for board meetings. Some of Google’s offices also have ping-pong, pool and foosball tables for employees to use. With locations all around the globe, Google is a trend-setter regarding relaxed, recreational formats for their employees. While not all offices are identical, they all share elements of fun, and many are decorated in ways to show their unique locale. Google’s office in Buenos Aires houses a mural depicting the area and the Zurich office has ski gondolas. The “Googleplex” (the corporate headquarters of Google, Inc.), located in Mountain View, California, is the ultimate example of a work/play-space combination. Gone are the boring offices of the past. Instead employees share flamboyantly decorated cubicles, yurts, or huddle rooms. They can take advantage of volleyball courts, rock climbing walls, and video games. Bicycles and scooters are provided for travel between meetings and office areas are decorated with lava lamps and large inflatable balls. Employees can work quietly in hammock chairs or relax in massage chairs. They can also take part in dance or yoga classes, wine tastings or film screenings. At Pixar, the California studio famous for creating Toy Story, employees work not in cubicles but in little cottages, all uniquely decorated and lined up like a little village. Mind Lab, an organization within the government of Denmark, works with citizens and businesses to develop new ideas. Work areas designed by Bosch and Fjord, also of Denmark, were created precisely to stimulate innovation. Large, open, shared spaces with moveable furnishings eliminate hierarchical structure and can be rearranged to suit employees. Workers are surrounded with modern, comfortable furniture. White walls can be written on for brainstorming sessions, in egg-shaped boardrooms. Zappos, an online shoe and apparel shop, has a head office in Nevada. While Zappos prides itself on being a customer-service company first, it certainly has not neglected the comfort and development of its employees. Zappos has created such a unique, playful environment that they published a book about it. The Zappos Culture Book is filled with nearly 300 pages of employee testimonials and photos of their wacky workplace. Next to one long row of desks is a five-pin bowling alley. A large paper maché tree is redecorated regularly in honour of all kinds of occasions. A statue of Elvis, and a mannequin or two, stand sentry in various areas and employees are encouraged to display their own art work. Playfulness and creativity are important elements of the Zappos’ mission statement. In fact two of Zappos’ 10 core values are: “Create Fun and A Little Weirdness” and “Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded”. These values are reflected in the way the Zappos workplace is designed and decorated. Employee creativity is not stifled, but celebrated and encouraged. It is not surprising then, to find that in January 2009, Zappos made FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. A place where “fun” is part of the environment is something many people value today. Photos of the Zappos headquarters workspace. Photos courtesy of Stephen Searer / Officesnapshots.com. Creating a fun place to work “takes more than a foosball table”, says John Reeve, cofounder and web designer at Pelago, a web design and development company based in Santa Barbara, California. The physical work environment must reflect and enhance the tone the company is trying to promote. If playfulness, creativity and teamwork are valued by a business, then adding some fun architecture can help move a company in that direction. Employees that play together, build friendships and trust. Freedom to display their creations gives individuals confidence to explore and continue to create. A light-hearted atmosphere allows workers to feel welcome and comfortable. Much like the changes we have seen in the education system, where classrooms of stark white walls and severe rows of individual desks have given way to bright, spacious group-work areas, conducive to exploring, building, and mess-making, so are changes coming to the workplace. Employers who want to encourage the development of new ideas, a spirit of levity and friendliness, are doing so by changing the physical environment within their walls. Inspiring images, comfortable furnishings, and innovative elements all work together to break the restraints of the traditional workspace. Workers can feel free to explore, create and have fun at work which allows them, in turn, to be productive and satisfied with what they do.

COVID-19 Information Hub

Play at Work!

By:

Companies reap the benefits of fun, playful workspaces

Get your FREE trial now!

Already a subscriber?

Share

Related Posts

Learning Lab: Internal Communications Should Be Up to Speed

Time for a Culture Tune-up

Diversity and the Workplace

Get Started

About

© 2020 Your Workplace. All rights reserved. Your Workplace is a registered trademark of 1427509 Ontario Inc.

Whoa! Don't Go Yet