6 Things That Will Make Your Office a Better Place to Work

It may be a high-class problem, but many companies are so focused on getting the job done that they never really take the time to invest in the place where that actually happens. You don't need a giant ball pit to have the kind of office where employees are happy to spend their time. I’ve listed six suggestions that will considerably improve your office culture, and are also significantly easier to routinely clean than a ball pit.

1. Sunlight

Don't get lazy and leave your blinds closed after the midday glare. When you’re pulling long hours, there's nothing that makes you feel more like your life is slipping away than to enter work in daylight and leave into the blackest night. Your employees shouldn't mind putting in the time, but they should be able to experience the physical cues to its passage as our species has for millenia.

2. Couches

This is especially necessary when your company has become large enough that employees sit grouped in their respective departments. Couches provide a location for casual inter-team interaction. This nongoal-oriented exposure to other sections of the business is part of what makes a startup so special, and unfortunately, growth can often undermine this. At Thrillist, we really value that small-company mentality whereby each employee feels as though they are connected to many elements of what’s happening with the business. (Read more on corporate culture.)

3. A legit toolbox with a cordless drill

There is a tremendous amount of normal wear and tear going on in any office. And nothing makes a space look more generally shoddy than cabinets missing handles, un-hung pictures collecting dust in a pile or wild wires snaking everywhere. If you have a decent set of normal tools, replacing that handle, sinking that nail and stapling that wire to the baseboard are quick and easy tasks. The collective impact of these trivial tasks will prevent your $90-per-square-foot, world-beating HQ from looking like Garbagetown.

4. Employee-celebrating decorations

Your company is only as good as the people in it, so what could be more appropriate than to illustrate this in the very space where the work is taking place? In our editorial pit for example, we have a large painting of one of our senior editors Bruce Lee’d-out with nunchucks, as well as an epic 6x8 ft. rug of our very first employee, David Blend, covering our floor. Beyond providing hilarious opportunities for walking-all-over-you jokes, these decorations show that our office is a place that’s all about its people, and that they are appreciated. (Get more tips on rewarding employees.)

5. Games and booze

When all the work is done, it’s great for people to chill out with one another, set aside the linear thinking of the day, and let their thoughts, observations and ideas flow while they unwind. And how better to entice your employees to stick around than with a game of shuffleboard, and any office's signature cocktail, the “what-we-got-tini”? Some of the most innovative ideas I've ever heard from my staff have been said while trying to negotiate the maddeningly inconsistent rebound angles of a broken-down bumper pool table.

6. A full office library

Just kidding. Unless the books can teach us to code some new programming language, we sell our books for beer (see No. 5).

Adam Rich is co-founder of Thrillist. Follow him on Twitter at AdamMatthewRich.

Photo credit: Thinkstock
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