Fun Places to Work

Let's face it, it's about time people started to realise that the monotone, monochrome and mundane cubicles and offices that most people are forced to work in are far from ideal. They crush creativity, dilute inspiration and dampen stimulation. So I bring to some of the coolest places in the world to work in. Now they are not the coolest jobs, moreover they are the coolest office spaces that you could work in. Psychologists have already shown that in environments that are colourful, vibrant, relaxing, playful and interactive, that employees are far more innovative, creative and productive. Let's start with one of the biggest and baddest examples. The Googleplex.

There is an overall sort of green, eco-friendly vibe too the office, but considered the most entertaining things in most offices, is the water cooler, you have got to admit that it looks like a lot of fun. When Ideo a design and innovation consultancy firm was founded, the companies general manager, Tom Kelley said how he wanted every employee to be his best friend and that would be the basis of the company, sounds like a great idea to me. In Ideo they embrace the idea of play and how play facilitates creativity and thinking outside the box, all around the office you will find, paint, play-do, plasticine, modelling clay, along with many other craft supplies, the idea being that if you have an idea and you want to show, a visual presentation will be much more successful. They also have this really cool VW conference van. 

The offices for Disney Pixar's studios are also a cut above the rest, little huts, fairy houses and sheds. Slides are another big one and the red-bull HQ in London and the Google Zurich, have both added in slides for good measure to help get there employees from one floor to the next. 

And skeptics can say whatever they like but Google, Ideo, Red-Bull and many of the others who have adopted these relaxed, fun and playful working model are reaping the rewards for it financially. We all know how important it is to be happy in your job, stimulating and engaging environments like the above breed happy workers. People who work for the company and not for themselves. What I would really love is to see this model being transferred to all offices and then making it's way from there into colleges (which has begun) but then most importantly back into secondary and primary education, where it is needed the most. Instead of boring and 'blanding' the minds of the next generation we should be stimulating them and encouraging them to be playful, resourceful and innovative. So many societies take themselves so seriously, adhering to meaningless conventions, stereotypes and social norms. If we can work productively and innovatively by throwing in a little play and a little fun well then I say go for it. If it feels good do it.