Creating exceptional workplaces

It’s 2024: the year we’ve moved into a new stage of the amenity war. Employees aren’t simply interested in a well-equipped conference room or on-site dry cleaner. At this frontier, the full picture is what matters.

“They want their workplace experience to be as well-rounded as possible,” said Tyler Kethcart, JLL director of business development. “More of everything is the only way to describe it.”

That means coming to work knowing that there will be somewhere healthy for lunch as well as a place to socialize at day’s-end, that they’ll have equal access to professional collaboration and excellent coffee. It’s less about specific needs and more about a holistic look at a positive office experience.

The modern office’s approach to health and wellness looks different than in years past.

“(Fitness-studio) demand has softened as of late,” Kethcart said. “The focus needs to be throughout the workday. (Wellness needs) are being solved for in different ways.”

Whereas wellness previously meant addressing fitness needs, perhaps through an on-site gym, today it refers to an overarching approach. Health and wellness programs in the workplace range from smoking cessation to fiscal prudence to team-building activities. Mindfulness is also a major concern in today’s workplace, meaning a property owner may incorporate spaces for quiet reflection or an employer might subsidize employee subscriptions to online meditation apps.

According to the National Library of Medicine, wellness is an active, not passive, proposition. “In recent years, wellness has moved into the workplace as enterprises – meaning both for-profit and not-for-profit companies, businesses, firms, institutions, and organizations designed to provide goods and/or services – have recognized the role that the workplace can play in supporting worker health,” the organization posits in Wellness at work: Building healthy workplaces. “While enterprises have the responsibility to provide safe and hazard-free work environments, they also have the opportunity to promote worker health and foster healthy workplaces.”