What could your office do to improve your working day?

[Biancadelriosback]

I've recently been given an office building to run. I have some relevant experience however it's always been as part of a brand with brand standards. Now I actually have freedom to do things. So I'm looking for some inspiration.
The building will be occupied by different companies and will be premium. So I'm looking at things like free networking events, high-end tea and coffee facilities, free fresh fruit etc so yeah! Just after some ideas :)

Things I've had (and loved) in offices:
-good wifi
-jugs for water
-fruit bowls
-decent crockery and cutlery, chopping boards, sharp knives
-a cleaner who does the dishwasher/cleans the kitchen
-good coffee and teas, including herbal
-lots of fridge space
-a common room type area for lunch/coffee catch ups
-subsidised yoga, massage etc
-decent showers/changing space
-Hand cream/nice soap

I've never had but would love:
-A fridge with an ice machine
-A chair and desk actually suitable for someone under 5"4
-Toilets where the cubicle is floor to ceiling and sound insulated

best office Ive worked in (And it maybe won office of the year so bar is pretty high) had

• 2 dishwashers, so while one was running the other could be filled
• taps for instant hot water, iced water and fizzy water
• mini office rooms for skype meetings or two person meetings
• secure inside bike storage
• showers that were cleaned regularly
• Whiteboards and smartboards in the meeting rooms
• Good stationary (postiits)
• lots of break out areas for meetings

Another one with a much lower budget made a point of having hte cleaners responsible for cleaning all the cups at the end of the day (and the mugs had our names on them)

First and foremost make sure things work. We work in serviced offices and the lifts are always conking out. There are chilled water taps, one for still, one for sparkling. They mostly don't deliver. Recently bins haven't been being emptied. Someone spilt a load of milk on a carpet in the hallway. The smell became appalling and was masked with air fresher. Get the basics right. And don't pin 'Polite Notice' notices everywhere.

Oh and decent hand driers in the toilets. Ours can be heard throughout the floor and sound like planes taking off. But still you emerge with wet hands.

Areas to eat smelly food away from office space.

All desks (assume hotdesking) to be fully kitted out with appropriate equipment - I.e footrests etc.

Stocked up stationery area. A surface near a printer to collate stuff - even paperless offices generate some hard copies.

I suffer from something that makes some noises unbearable - loud typing. So either areas for people that need quiet or choosing materials that mitigates that noise - good, quiet keyboards and not cheap echoey MDF desks.

No unisex toilets. We have them, they are rank. Lots of men doing a morning dump in them! The entrance to the toilet not near desks. We can see who is using the loos, but can also hear handdryers. So you notice those who go to the loo a lot, those aforementioned men who have a routine of morning dump or they don't wash their hands - latter is usually men. But actually this is about dignity at work - nobody should be noticing this.

Windows that open.

No clutter. This includes plants. Absolutely no hotdesking. No cakes (sick of meeting desks covered with crumbs followed by ants in the summer).

I was very jealous of a friend of mine who worked in a office where they got shoulder massages at their desks once a month! I'd love that.

No dogs.

Yes to fruit bowls.
Skimmed milk!
Lockers.
Separate toilets! Hate being on the loo with a bloke in next cubicle.

Standard things that I see these days:

Cycle facilities with separate M/F shower, drying room and towel service (the latter isn’t expensive and is usually a service charge item)

Amazon style lockers for parcel deliveries

Free fruit, breakfast cereal, good quality coffee, variety of teas (as someone who can’t drink milk I’d like some non-dairy alternatives to be supplied!)

4pm Friday Happy Hour in the break out area once or twice a month with suitable drinks for non-drinkers

Quiet booths for calls or concentration

Good WiFi, Skype for Business, mobile phone signal booster on roof for all major networks (service charge item)

Variety of break out areas to avoid internal meetings in the meeting rooms

Toiletries and tampons in the bathroom are great, but they’ll get stolen in a co-working space.

Stationery is not important, it’s 2018. If you need a certain kind of pen just expense it.

And Follow Me printing is pretty important too.

The best office I worked in had a free canteen - porridge in the morning and hot healthy meals at lunchtime. It meant we all got away from our desks and teams tended to go for lunch together which improved the social aspect. It also was a massive benefit for recruiting new staff, as it saved us a fortune in food (or dragging in all our packed lunches on top of our laptops, work phones etc). Gym equipment and showers are also nice to have. A quiet room for those of us with neurodiverse conditions (available all day and separate to breastfeeding or prayer areas).

Big no's for me are hot desking and booking desks (massive pain and triggers a lot of mental discomfort), and too noisy/open plan.

Good coffee - not Nescafé instant or those horrible coffee machines

Fresh fruit bowls topped up

An easy to use meeting room booking system

An area for less formal meetings - colourful, more relaxed but still with whiteboards for idea generation and meetings

Whiteboards / whiteboard wallpaper in all meeting rooms

Wi-fi throughout

Newspapers and magazines available

Worked in an office which had a visual display in the lift area of breaking news/weather/travel updates which was useful

Somewhere women can express without sitting on a toilet

I know a company that once a month have beers and snacks available at 4pm on a Friday

Networking events, monthly socials with free beers etc. Random "events" such as free hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows, flakes etc one day in the winter as a little treat surprise. Similarly with ice lollies in the summer.

^ Oooh. This!

I like the randomness. Something regular and expected soon becomes the 'norm' but seasonal surprises would be awesome and bonding "Did you see they've got a hot chocolate bar on next Friday"..."OMG...they're giving out twister lollies this afternoon". Etc.

I'm in a very serious role, reasonably senior in financial services. Me and my equally senior colleagues would still react like kids to this kind of thing! It would genuinely brighten up my day!

We have ‘follow me’ printing which I absolutely love. You need to swipe pass to print your papers (and can be at any printer in entire company). Means you aren’t printing something confidential and forgetting to pick it up, and also can print wirelessly from laptop anywhere if on network WiFi.

Just saw the first aid / lie-down area - agree this is a massive benefit, I got really ill at work once (miscarriage) and there was nowhere private to get first aid while I waited for an ambulance. The male first aider and security guy had to look after me in the ladies loo. Massive loss of dignity for me and took me ages to brave the office again - a small private room with first aid facilities would have been less distracting for everyone on my floor too.

Things like post-work Pilates/yoga (doesn't need to be free).

Post work sessions on resilience/stress management, other wellness topics (again, don't need to be free), followed by chance to chat and mingle over drinks and snacks

Speed networking (meeting people across businesses) could work pretty well

I've also seen people be able to book reflexology and back/neck massages in a room (someone external came in so just a case of facilitating the bookings)

Music in the bathrooms...

Plug sockets on TOP of desks so you can plug in laptops if you need to without crawling on the floor

^ So much this. I am sick of crawling under desks to get laptop power in a dress. Could only be set up by a man 

PLANTS!

@Satsumaeater

...in good offices you employ a company who look after the plants. They water them, maintain them, swap them out if they die, etc.

A decent, well stocked fish tank?! Relaxing and fur free so no allergy concerns? (Admit dogs would be way better but appreciate some people would disagree!)

OP all sound great suggestions. Discounts on local sports centres etc if they can't be provided inside. I sort of understand hot desking if some people are out/working from home - but someplace secure to keep papers/books/files (which exist even in a paperless office) or just to leave your refillable cup/high heeled shoes/change of clothes would be great

Somewhere to hold a private bloody conversation. There are little booths in my office but they are always occupied so not enough.

As a freelancer I've worked in lots of different offices, and working in tech lots of companies tend to invest quite a bit in the office space

The most recent office I've worked in absolutely smashed it:

Fridge with free cans of soft drinks as well as lots of herbal teas and proper coffee (nice fruity drinks like Cawston and San pelligrino as well as diet coke etc)

Freezer full of mini ice creams to help yourself to in summer

Fizzy water on tap (I love this a ridiculous amount)

Booths for phone calls so you don't have to take up a meeting room

All meeting rooms bookable via our Google calendar and can also take a free meeting room using the iPad system outside, so people can see it's booked if you hop in for 15 mins. I can't remember what the system is called, but it's got a slack integration so you can just ask the slack bot if there are any rooms free

Big workshop space with tonnes of wall space and whiteboard walls to leave stuff up for collaborative working

Every meeting room is fully equipped with whiteboards, boxes of post its, sharpies etc and magnetic things to clip up stuff to the wall without using blu tac.

Built in cameras and chrome cast in each meeting room with the big screen for easy Google hangouts for video conferencing

Lots of breakout areas of different sizes - sofas, small tools and tables etc

PROPER DESK SETUP

Fully stocked stationery room with all the right stuff always there. Good quality stuff - I've worked in places where designers brought in their own sketch pads and pens etc as the office didn't supply decent quality materials

Beer fridge on Friday (which means prosecco trolley) and nibbles

Cheese and wine Thursdays

Breakfast laid on Friday morning

Really great company to work for and as a freelancer I've worked in a few!