Designing heart and soul into an office may sound nebulous but bricks and mortar really can give shape to happiness, when designed with the human experience in mind. Core to that human experience is a shared desire for happiness so prevalent that some of today’s biggest companies such as Google and Zappos, now employ an official Chief Happiness Officer. Others, like Virgin, offer staff unlimited holidays in the quest for happy talent.
Increasingly, employee fulfillment is being fed by changes through experience-based design, reward and recognition at work, sustainability solutions, and companies’ investment in philanthropic activities, as well as efforts to make workplaces happy places to live and work.