What Is Your Ideal Work Environment?

I’ve spoken at length previously about my ideal work environment.  I could talk about it everyday.

Just recently I remembered how I used to picture my ideal work environment as a house type environment.  This was before the days of the OPU and the offspring of course, so much of this is only really applicable to a singleton I suppose.
But anyway, I didn’t really think much about the type of work being done, other than I knew it was ‘computerized’ and ‘creative’.  So naturally that included the latest necessary hardware and software on the market.

There would be no dress code for work, sneakers, gym wear, bathing suit whatever blew my hair back would suffice, I considered this ideal.

The actual office would be a house type environment where you could put in your own hours.  If you were someone who programmed late into the night, great. If you wanted to work for two hours and then go and run on one of the company treadmills, while thrashing out one of your ideas in your head, or simply switch off while listening to your favourite music and re-energise, then great. If you’d already been working through the night on some ‘project’ then you could go and crash on your own assigned bed (kind of like Doctors working the ER).

There would be an endless supply of great healthy food constantly available by an in house team of chefs/caterers. Naturally, chocolate and entirely unhealthy soda would be constantly available too.

An in house masseuse would be available to supply in chair head/neck massages. You could sit on a big pilates ball in stead of a chair if you wanted to. (I actually had a job once where these two things were realities, but the masseuse was only available at head office in Brisbane, but I can’t tell you how happy that pilates ball made my back and butt!).

In the Summer, it would be completely acceptable to spend the heat of the day in or next to the company pool just a stones throw from your desk, and provided you’d be putting in the required number of hours into your project of course.  Your required work time would be a total number of hours for the year. If you’d put them in, and your work was good, then you’d be allowed to take the rest of the time off.

The company would have it’s own in house cinema style theatre, albeit a small one, but with seriously plush leather lazy-boy chairs, used for conferences, pump sessions, and of course ‘goof’ time with a proverbially endless supply of DVD’s for you to watch, for creative inspiration of course.  Now while this might seem stupid to some, and an invitation to lack of productivity, take something as mainstream as Top Gun. Go and watch it again, as a photographer, and then try and tell me you are not influenced by all those great tints and filters they use on their shots, fading to the horizon point.  It made me go through a purple/magenta/maroon sky phase for months.  The dog-fighting scenes will make you reinvent that whole ‘rule of thirds’ thing we’re all slaves to.

What if the company made it a priorty to make sure you went to see “Quantum of Solace” the MOMENT it was released?

What if the company encouraged dress up day on the release of a new Harry Potter movie? Tell me who hasn’t thought about hexing a colleague or co-worker, or felt the urge to thrust a wand (or a ruler) at a colleague and yell “FINITE INCANTATUM” at them when they seemingly won’t shut up?

Now that I’m a parental unit myself, with offspring to consider, I realize that while this day dream is not entirely cut out for those of the parental persuasion like myself, it can be achieved with added perks, how about awesome, stimulating in house day-care? How about apprenticeship/internship programmes for the school kids?  I.e. they get school credit for say a computer course requirement, by spending time helping on various projects?  Even my 3 year old has inspired me to new creative heights with some of his scribblings. What if the company allowed all the parents who worked there, to work on a rotational basis at taking the kids out on awesome fieldtrips?

What if this is the whole new way to work?

What if you could get a hair stylist to visit you at WORK, and not only do you get the time to make yourself over as and when you need it, but the company actually encourages it, knowing that you’ll project a better image, and work better because you feel better?

Okay, who’s with me on this?? I so want to work at a company like this!