How important is the office in the life of a company and its employees? Today the answer is quite obvious. Office space and working environment where a person spends 9 – 12 hours daily has a huge impact on the performance and feeling of inner comfort. Companies which care about their employees, especially those in the sphere of IT, have brought the notion of a comfortable office to a new level.
It is no longer just an air-conditioned space divided into cubicles with standard desks and chairs. You have probably seen tempting photos of beautiful lofts furnished with high-design pieces, tropical gardens, spaceships or tanks, tree-house offices, to name just a few alternative solutions of organizing the working space and standing out from the crowd. And once you have seen these photos, you will no longer be ok in your grey cubicle and will keep searching for a more attractive place to spend a bigger part of your life at.
The minimum requirements of an employee in the IT branch would be a cosy kitchen or dining area with a microwave, a coffee machine, cookies, a toaster and fresh milk in the fridge. A chill-out zone with a couch to lie on and relax is an absolute must-have, as well as table tennis, darts, or some other sports facility to break-up the working routine with some exercise. These requirements are mostly general, but there are also individual wishes which should not be ignored. Someone prefers to sit on the left side of the window and another person cannot stand the daylight and insists on keeping the windows closed, the third one drinks neither tea, nor coffee and demands a glass of freshly pressed juice instead. In other words, every employee wants to have proof that they are been appreciated and taken care of. The company shall create this feeling of comfort and homely atmosphere because then employees are happy, loyal to the company and work efficiently.
At SoftSwiss we have always tried to be up to date with the standards of our highly competitive industry. As the number of employees grew, we had to move several times in search of a more comfortable and spacious office. With our current space found, we kept moving desks and chairs, exchanging rooms and working places in order to reach complete harmony for each employee and synergy between all. Finally, when we are more than 80, we seem to have found our ideal solution and created our perfect office.
Our two-level office formally divides the company in two parts, managers and technical staff. When we need to talk to a colleague in person to discuss some issue, we go up and down the stairs, but that’s more of an advantage as it’s a chance to exercise and change the surroundings for a while.
On both levels the office has been recently redesigned and renovated. All employees had a chance to take part in the creation of the new design and all opinions counted. The freshly painted walls feature corporate colours, yellow, red and grey, and are decorated with corporate prints, such as Bitcoin and casino symbols.
The first floor is occupied by programmers and technical support staff and is subdivided into smaller spaces. Each team has its own room, but there are no doors. This way, we offer a certain level of privacy, but still we are all together and close to each other.
The tech support room is the most spacious one (the team is fast-growing). Guys work 24/7 and there are night shifts, so the wall opposite to the desks depicts a yellow lighthouse: tech support never sleeps.
An important thing is that no one sits with their face to the wall. A small detail, which creates the feeling of inner comfort. No one is standing behind your back and watching your monitor.
A pirate flag, Futurama Bender, the all-seeing eye, matrix… everyone had a chance for self-expression. And most importantly, all of the various interests are peacefully living side by side within one office space.
A small and cosy kitchen packed with all of the above-mentioned gadgets, besides (but not for long) toaster and juicer. It’s a perfect place to meet a colleague for a cup of tea and a relaxed conversation.
Our silent room is a perfect place to relax on your own after a cup of tea with a colleague, get ready for important negotiations or think over a complicated work issue.
The sports room is a work in progress: already equipped with turnstiles and darts, it is awaiting table soccer and other training and fun exercise equipment.
Managers up a floor are just as comfortable as their technical colleagues: it’s bright, lively and with boundless love for their job. There is also a place to relax, organize a conference call or discuss project status with the colleagues.
All in all, the redesign helped create a fresh, super employee-friendly and inspiring atmosphere in our cosy office. We work and have fun while we are at it. However, we are not stopping on that and are working further to bring more ideas to life because constant movement helps the progress.
Neo… you need to choose either the blue or the red pill…
