The domestication of the workplace has been well documented in recent years, with landlords and occupier fit-outs increasingly acknowledging that we spend a significant amount of our time at work. Gyms and staff canteens offering healthy food options have long since been a fixture of trophy office schemes, but is this enough?
For example, how do you cater to sleep-deprived parents who have come back to work after having a new baby? There are now a number of examples of on-site childcare provision being incorporated into office buildings. Goldman Sachs has pioneered this idea here in the UK, offering working parents free use of the nursery for four weeks to support the transitional period between parental leave and full-time paid childcare.
Even for those who tend to shun conventional ways of working, co-working initiatives such as Cuckooz Nest offer flexible childcare to offer new parents a place to work away from the distractions of their toy-strewn living room. A fairly new concept, the space was fitted out with this particular purpose in mind.
There are also a number of things companies are doing to make new mothers in particular feel comfortable once back at work. In the US businesses such as Alley, an entrepreneurial hub in Manhattan, have created special 'mothers’ rooms' that include nursing facilities and basic amenities. When designing their new office space, the firm specifically asked to create a small getaway from the chaos of corporate life.
Sleep, or lack thereof, can be a sore point not just for new parents but for people across the working spectrum. Last year the National Sleep Foundation survey found that the average adult in the UK is getting just six hours and 49 minutes a night, which is below the seven to nine hour recommendation.
While long hours in the office was once the preserve of high-powered employees, businesses are starting to wake up to the fact that this can in fact be damaging to productivity and overall effectiveness.
For this reason a number of companies have started to incorporate things like nap pods. In Nike’s HQ in Portland, Oregon, they have designed in rooms where employees can sleep or meditate. Google has also done something similar by installing places where people can get some shut eye in its offices.
More and more we are seeing these ideas creep into our office space here in the UK. What’s clear is that fit-outs are no longer just about functionality. If we have to spend the majority of our time in the workplace then it has to reflect real life, be that babies, nap times or simply just a break.
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