The Perfect Work Environment Has To Be One That Does Not Feel Like, Well, Work

If Virginia Woolf was right that having “a room of one’s own” is vital to nurturing a woman’s creativity, then female business owners should certainly take note. Our own observations have cemented the inkling that there is a traditional mindset governing how offices look, feel, and perform, with many workplaces internationally designed by men, for men.

Challenging these traditional norms, Silicon Valley has, in recent years, sold us on a futuristic and genderless ideal of the modern office, with open layouts, dynamic kitchens, removable walls, mini golf courses, standing desks, and privacy pods geared towards employee happiness and productivity. Despite the undeniable perks of these eccentric and forward-thinking spaces, we’re here to argue that what most employees want and need is a “feel good” space, conducive to focus, self-expression, privacy, collaboration, productivity, good health, and lifestyle convenience.

As female entrepreneurs with our own concerns for the wellbeing and productivity of our team, people often ask us: “What do you consider the perfect office for a happy workforce?” With years of experience between us working around the world in different companies, we can both attest that the perfect environment has to be one which does not feel like “work.” It is a place so well designed that it doesn’t actually look complete; it gives the final user an opportunity to add that final, personalized touch to their space. It is an environment filled with opportunities to become creative. A space that nurtures potential, and facilitates the expression of unique skills and passions. A place where both ourselves and our team can both focus and get distracted. A place which sounds, smells, looks, and feels good.

Over the past decade, the dialogue surrounding design and its impact on productivity and creativity in the workplace has continued to gain momentum across the architecture, interior, and psychology landscape. From a psychological standpoint, such a discussion makes perfect sense; the unity between accomplishment and success goes hand in hand with feeling great. Further, from a design perspective, we know from designers and architects that there are indeed many aesthetic and practical elements that have a direct impact on the mood, mindset, and well-being of an individual or team.

As both business owners and PR professionals representing a wealth of creative clients, we have become fervent advocates of exploring new ways to create healthy, inspiring, and sustainable workplaces in which employees can feel good about where they are, and what they do. We are also fiercely passionate about supporting our fellow females in achieving the same.

People want to feel comfortable at work, not intimidated by aggressive impersonal environments. The Future Laboratory released a report exploring how offices will evolve to meet the needs of an incredibly diverse workforce. The report presented contemporary working life as a monoculture created by and targeted at men between the ages of 25 and 40. Further, the report predicts a positive shift towards “sensitive workplaces,” that are more reflective of an individual’s needs, using smart technology to adapt everything from local temperature to lighting preferences.

We believe the limitations of the current approach to standard office design may essentially lie in its male driven approach. Spaces designed for men, by men. With this in mind, before designing our office, we tried and tested many different working arrangements -cafes, home, coworking spaces - to see what we could take from and what we could improve.

The result was an office designed with our client Medy Navani, architect, interior designer, and founder of Design Haus Medy. It is a space with multifaceted functionality at its heart; there are areas for hosting client lunches, lounges for networking, work benches for collaboration, and a private room for confidential meetings.

Proximate wellness and beauty facilities were also considered, including a Pilates studio in the building for easy access during and around the work day. The mix of ambience -light and dark, open and enclosed, formal and informal- promotes creativity in all its forms. Additionally, we looked out for easy access to supermarkets, green spaces, walking tracks and metro, to ensure individual lifestyle choices could be easily incorporated into the work day.