When you think of office amenities, the first ideas that come to mind are probably cold brew on tap, ping-pong tables, and beanbag chairs. These amenities are nice to have, but they’re more superficial than functional in the workplace. When considering new office additions, you might want to think about what’s going to make a real difference to your employees’ well-being.
The purpose of office amenities are to enhance the lives of your employees, foster a healthy workspace, and to retain talent with your company. While the above perks bring fun to the office, you need amenities that are useful to make a real difference. Opting for new office features that can enhance employee commutes should be at the top of your list.
Employee Happiness
Investing in commute-friendly amenities can significantly improve employee happiness. Employees leave jobs because of bad commutes. Adding 20 minutes to a commute has the same effect on employees as a 19% pay cut.
Employees want benefits and amenities that help them where it matters, and commutes matter a lot. When employees have easier commutes, their productivity levels can increase to the equivalent of them receiving a $40,000 raise. This means there’s a direct correlation between commutes and how hard your employees are working.
Useful Office Amenities
When you have meaningful commute-based amenities at your office, you can remove more stress from your employees’ lives. Biking to work is a favorite for some, but for a lot of people, biking can be a little daunting. Between not knowing the unwritten rules of the road, to fearing potential mechanical issues, there are uncertainties that tend to hold people back. You can help by resolving these issues before they come up.
A bike repair station at the office means employees have the opportunity to fix existing issues or prevent future issues whenever they need to. We know this isn’t a glamorous sounding feature to offer, but it’s functional, available, and can lead to a higher bike-to-work adoption rate.
Gathering commuting information
Before you make any decisions, it’s important to find out what your employees actually want. It’s easy for us to say bike rooms and real-time transit information are the amenities you should be providing your employees, but everyone’s situation is different.
This is where you should conduct employees surveys or interviews to find out what you can provide to help make alternative commutes easier. You want to make sure that whatever you offer is going to benefit everyone, or at least most of your workforce.
Whichever amenities you and your employees decide to implement to make commuting easier, the most important step is to follow-through. Ideas are great but action is when change happens.
