Impacting Your Personal

While I still consider myself to be at the beginning of my career, I’ve had a chance to work in several unique workplaces, from college internships in San Diego to the Manhattan headquarters of the publication for which I work now. The workplace is a product of the space itself, but also of the people who are there.

There are no bad ideas in our office. We brainstorm across departments, and as sub-departments. Our interns join the meetings and although some might take time to sit back and observe, others are ready to contribute on the first day. I am proud to say that we never had to tell an intern that ideas are welcome—they could feel it. How do you create this atmosphere? I believe it comes from the top down. If you’re a CEO and you believe your ideas are good, and that more ideas are even better, you don’t feel threatened by those under you or feel the need to shut down others’ ideas because “we tried something like that once and it didn’t work.” That willingness to engage, however briefly, with even the worst ideas will change your culture in the best possible way.

For those of us in creative fields, the tools we use day-to-day can make or break a job. I’ve come close to tears when my brain was moving faster than my browser. Whether it’s a laptop or a program you need, or a desk at the proper height and Wi-Fi at a reasonable speed—these simple things allow us to do work that we desire to do really well. You’d think more offices would invest in top-quality hardware to enable the best work from employees—and I imagine the companies that attract top talent do.

When startups are competing for engineers, the perks offered can get out of hand—free meals, a car service to get home, expensive gym memberships or in-house yoga classes—but none of these compare to offering a new hire a generous budget to buy themselves a workstation. An ideal workstation for the individual should be required while everything else—the art on the walls, the selection of snacks in the kitchen, the coffee brew on hand—is icing on the cake.

Of course, there should be space to not work as well, because sometimes a new perspective can come from sitting on a couch rather than in a chair. At we have an entire room designed for celebrations and spending time away from your desk. When I worked for a startup, we’d often ditch the office in the middle of the day and go work out of a coffee shop around the corner. At other jobs I felt chained to my desk for eight hours a day. My food budget was through the roof because I’d eat lunch out just to make sure I spent a reasonable amount of time out of the office each day. Did those other bosses know the difference? Of course not, but I know how monotony and an uncomfortable chair can kill hours of productivity each week. And so many of us endure our situation, saying nothing to avoid sounding like a 20something diva, until finally getting a better job in a intentionally designed workspace—and realize we knew better all along.

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