If you could build the perfect office setting, what would it look like? Would it be a frugal environment in which everyone had similar desks and cubicles, what I imagine working for the Government would look like, or would it be a Google like campus setting so you felt compelled to never leave.

I’ve worked in fairly neutral settings in my career, no lavish office spaces but at the same time they have been great places to TCOB (take care of business). My belief is the office setting has to match the company culture and if your goal as a company is to inspire and create then that giant slide from the fourth floor to the candy room makes sense. I don’t believe that every business has to use their office setting as a recruitment tool either. The candidate either matches the business model or they don’t. You will never see the Insurance Sales industry build a recreation room for their predominately older male employees, but if Google wants to recruit the brightest twenty something’s then having basketball courts and massage services on site makes sense!

There was one time in which a company’s office completely turned me off from the idea of working for them. Now I still would have most likely accepted the job but it was going to be rough to walk in there every day. The lobby had these tall long dirty curtains, the walls were in desperate need of paint and floors of new carpet and the windows could have used a scrub. I remember thinking the office space probably would have flared up asthma in me on a daily basis and the low ceilings would have caused for a bruised head every once in a while.

Never the less I wasn’t offered the job but that office still rings in my head. Office spaces are key for recruitment and you want your employees to feel a sense of worth when they drive into the garage daily.

If I could change my office I would make my own office a little larger, maybe a better break room and some greener outdoor spaces. I would also like to relocate to a better space in town, one in which Nordstrom and Starbucks was right next door! Of course if I was really dreaming I could add a basketball court, 24 hour gym, shooting range in the basement (that might be bad on days people are fired), Whole Foods personal catering system, and of course the slide to the candy room! Why not!!

So, how would you change your office?