Something for the weekend: Online survey organisation SurveyMonkey ditched the mood boards when it came to designing a brand new office space for its San Francisco-based employees, and instead created a unique three-storey, 200,000 square foot office, complete with Las Vegas themed game room, using feedback from employee surveys.
The employee-inspired workspace, based in San Mateo, California, ticks all the boxes when it comes to office luxuries, boasting an on-site gym and yoga studio, free gourmet cafeteria complete with a state-of-the-art espresso machine, open-concept seating, and a communal library, which includes a book contributed by every employee.
Employees are also able to unwind in the Las Vegas-styled games room, which features ping-pong, pool and football tables, as well as Xbox consoles, a Pac-Man arcade machine, and an electronic basketball game. The new retro-themed experiential lounge on the other hand facilitates meetings with a difference, as staff can surround themselves with vinyl records, coffee-table books, velvet furnishings, and crystal scotch decanters. A social rooftop area, with sound system, fire pit and bar, provides the perfect party venue for organisation events too.
The impressive office, which houses 400 of SurveyMonkey’s 700 global employees, has a total of 128 conference rooms that are all named after unusual places, such as Galaxy Far Far Away, Stonehenge and Hogwarts.
Tying in with the purpose of the business, the new office’s lobby features a 900 square foot wall-mounted light installation, with an interactive display that alternates between live data feeds from SurveyMonkey’s servers and an image of the organisation’s mascot, a monkey head called Goldie.
The organisation even changed the road name of its new site to One Curiosity Way after gaining permission from San Mateo city officials.
The new facility was designed by Tim Murphy Design Associates and SurveyMonkey’s internal brand creative experience team. It was built by Novo Construction. However, the details of the office design were gleaned from employee surveys, with staff having a say on everything from office chairs to wood finishes.
Bennett Porter, senior vice president of marketing communications at SurveyMonkey, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “The philosophy was to make the new space super open and super collaborative. We wanted it to reflect the openness, inclusion and transparency of our culture.”
Here at Employee Benefits, we would love to dictate how our office space should be shaped, especially if we could dream up some creative downtime areas too. We certainly have some very competitive ping-pong players who would love their own games room…
