You can try to lure a candidate with your company’s mission. And you can try to convince them to join your team with the promise of challenging projects. At some point, you know you had better address salary and benefits. But you can bet that while you’re talking, the candidate is looking around and trying to picture themself in your workplace. The question is, What kind of picture has your office and office furniture created in their mind?
Your office can help or hinder workplace recruiting
No one ever said that a workplace should look and feel like a home, even though more of them, especially among Fortune 500 companies, seem to take their cues from comfortable home design. Still, it would be hard to imagine conducting an interview in a conference room over a table strewn with papers and coffee mugs. You’d tidy up first, much like you would if you were hosting a guest at the dining room table in your home.
You do this because you know full well that like your home, your office can make a powerful impression on visitors. And it can play a crucial role in your workplace recruiting efforts, particularly when you take the time to understand why it’s such a draw in the first place.
An office conveys personality and culture
Just as you may refer to your receptionist as your “director of first impressions,” your waiting area makes an impression, too. Are the paint, lighting, furniture and accessories warm and traditional? Modern and edgy? Casual and inviting?
Whatever qualities the waiting area exudes, they probably carry over to the rest of your workplace, revealing a great deal about your company’s personality and culture. Fair or unfair, accurate or inaccurate, the impressions created by the design and details can communicate as much as your website—your greatest marketing tool.
An office can be a deal-breaker
Candidates who compare and contrast career opportunities often have more than salary, benefits and promotional opportunities on their checklist. While these issues may be priorities, an office can be the deciding factor when two offers are similar. Look no further than social media for proof. Employers who know they’ve created special workspaces are happy to broadcast this fact to jobseekers.
Offices matter to millennials
They may not be a force you’re contending with now, but millennials are making their presence known in the American workplace. By some estimates, they’re expected to make up a full 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. Time and again, research shows that they care immensely not only about where they work, but how they work, with comfortable lounging areas tucked among more traditional workstations holding great appeal to their more laid-back attitude. If your goal is to attract and retain top talent, workplace design must speak the language of millennials.
An expert can lead the way
If you’re thinking that it’s impossible “to be all things to all people,” you’re right. Even the most thoughtful or expensive office renovation project can end up eliciting a range of reactions. It’s the nature of the enterprise; office design can be highly subjective.
This is why it’s important to work with an expert who can help you narrow your choices so that your office appeals as much to employees as to prospective employees you’re hoping will become part of your team.
Start now with a complimentary space plan consultation. We understand: office design is important in any job market. But in a competitive one, it could positively transform your workplace recruiting efforts.
