The best office amenities to lure employees back

As companies do their best to lure employees back to the office, building landlords are doing what they can to sweeten the pot as well. Their weapon of choice: building amenities. To be sure, offices have engaged in amenity competition for years, offering on-site fitness centers and landscaped indoor and outdoor spaces to name a few. But now, in this era of hybrid work, the turf war over what’s available is heating up, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report.

C&W analyzed 27 amenities offered from the start of 2020, across 50 buildings in 15 markets. The average number of amenities found was 14 with 10 buildings having more than 18.  

Results revealed that the top reasons that employees go to an office rather than work at home are to socialize, collaborate, balance their work/family lives, have access to tools and connect to the company. Here’s more detail on satisfying office-amenity needs:

• Activation. The best amenities energize the spaces for tenants to gain experience collaborating and socializing. What helps are special events to persuade staff to come to the office rather than stay at home. What also helps are tenant lounges that resemble those in a hotel or airport, and more are found in new buildings. Everyone needs a break. 
• Conveniences. This is key to supporting employees who lead busy, full lives. Having retail and food on-site saves time and may help staff save money. Food can also be available within a half-mile of a building but on-site coffee shops, cafes and fast casual restaurants in or adjacent are applauded as another way to permit breaks throughout the day. There is also said to be a growing use of on-site pop-up services, tech-friendly micromarkets, external deliveries, take-home meals and cooking demonstrations. 
• Commuting. Any ways that ease commuting are desired from parking on-site to avoid searching for a spot or public transit within two blocks.
• Wellness. Fear of getting sick with returning to communal spaces makes health initiatives huge. The report found that employees with high levels of well-being are 2 ½ times more likely to say they can do their best work at their job in their office. Wellbeing includes mental, physical, environmental and organization health. Half the buildings in the study are LEED certified, 22% are WELL certified and 18% Fitwel certified. What also helps are on-site fitness centers, outdoor spaces—ground level or rooftop, shower and locker facilities and bicycle storage.
• Security. Features that provide safety and security are always key, pandemic or not.
• Technology. Having the best infrastructure to get work done is important and include fiber availability and tenant experience apps. These make doing work from an office easier and quicker than at home—another incentive to come in. 

Related: Job development and skills training key to employee retention, new report suggests

 The bottom line is that if tenants have a choice between a building with high-quality amenities and one with fewer or lower-quality ones, the choice is a clear win-win for the office.