It’s easy to be sceptical of high-end office design in an age that’s seen giant slides between departments and tipis with LED campfires in lieu of meeting rooms having become standard fare in that department. It’s not that I’m against these types of flourishes; I just find it hard to believe they’re all they’re cracked up to be in terms of benefit to staff and employers. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it’s not novelties like these make for a positive workplace experience. It’s much more nuanced than that.
For some people, maybe it isn’t that complex, and ‘fun’ features do actually enhance their experience and performance alike. That’s great for them, if they happen to work for one of these tech corporations with a ‘look how cool we are’ office space fitout. Specialists Melbourne wide seem to agree that there’s something to it, so who am I to argue? Personally, though, I can do without that. Furthermore, I might actually do better work without it. Maybe I’m just saying that because I’m secretly jelly, but I doubt it.
Yep, you can keep your rock climbing walls and hammock dens and float pods. You know what those things add up to? Procrastination. I guess some people are into it for that precise reason, but to me, it doesn’t seem to get me anywhere in the long run. It’s like, what’s downtime for if not for that type of thing – rock climbing, napping and floating? Okay, maybe not those things specifically, but you get my drift.
Maybe that’s part of my critique: I’m concerned that people will forget about having downtime because they’re always partially having it while they’re at work. Or, at least, they’re having the illusion of downtime thanks to these sorts of commercial office design concepts. Melbourne office-goers, what’s your take? Am I being a fun-sapping, old-hat conservative here, and failing to understand that work and play can now legitimately overlap? Or is this all a trend that’s going to blow over within five years?